John Marlyn (April 2, 1912 – November 16, 2005) was an

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

-born Canadian writer who also used the pseudonym Vincent Reid when writing science fiction. Marlyn was born in Nagybecskerek (Veliki Bečkerek), Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary (today Serbia) but grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, after arriving in Canada as an infant. During the depression-era 1930s, he found work as a script reader for a film studio in England. Just before World War II, he returned to Canada and worked as a writer for the Canadian government in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario. He also taught creative writing at Carleton University 1963–1967. Marlyn received a Beta Sigma Phi award for his first novel, a tale of poor immigrant life during the 1920s, set in Winnipeg's North End. Marlyn's papers were acquired by the University of Calgary in 1987. He lived in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

until he died of a heart attack.

Excerpt

:"The English," he whispered. "Pa, the only people who count are the English. Their fathers got all the best jobs. They're the only ones nobody ever calls foreigners. Nobody ever makes fun of their names or calls them, 'Baloney-eaters,' or laughs at the way they dress or talk." "Nobody," he concluded bitterly, "cause when you're English it's the same as being Canadian." —''Under the Ribs of Death''

Works

* ''

Under the Ribs of Death ''Under the Ribs of Death'' is a novel by Canadian author John Marlyn. It was originally published in 1957. Considered part of the canon of Canadian immigrant novels,{{Cite web, url=https://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2011/11/escape-to-purgatory/, tit ...

'' (1957) * ''Putzi, I Love You, You Little Square'' (1981) * ''The Baker's Daughter'' (2000)

References

* ''The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature'', 2nd ed., pp. 742–743. * Wenzl, Bernhard. "… beyond the invisible barrier at Portage and Main": Liminality in John Marlyn's Under the Ribs of Death". In: In-Between – Liminal Spaces in Canadian Literature and Culture, Ed. Stefan L. Brandt. Peter Lang Verlag, 2017, 91-100. {{DEFAULTSORT:Marlyn, John 1912 births 2005 deaths Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to Canada Canadian male novelists Canadian science fiction writers Canadian people of Hungarian descent Writers from Zrenjanin 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian male writers