Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger
Biographical Summary

[Note: This is a partial working summary, based in large part on Paul Linebarger's own autobiographical lists. I will add to it and further correct it as I continue to work on his biography. For additional biographical information and many photographs of PMAL, see the website maintained by his daughter, Rosana Hart: http://www.cordwainer-smith.com/]

1913, July 11: Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1915: Moved with family to Chicago

1916: Moved with family to Point Paul Myron, outside Ocean Springs, Mississippi

1919: Moved with family to Shanghai, China; after several months, moved with mother and brother to Honolulu

1919-20: Student at Punahou Academy, Honolulu

1920: Lost one eye in accident; other eye infected; rushed to San Francisco for operation

1920: After several months in San Diego, CA, and a brief visit to Japan, family returned to Shanghai

1920-22: Student at British Cathedral School, Shanghai

1922: Travels throughout Europe; several weeks in Monte Carlo; moved with mother & brother to Baden-Baden, Germany

1922-24: Student at municipal Oberrealschule, Baden-Baden

1924-25: Force Elementary School, Washington, DC; Graduated from Woodward School, DC, 1925

1925-26: Attended Central High School, Washington

1926: Returned with family to Shanghai; student at Kaiser Wilhelmsschule, Shanghai

1927, January-June: Lived with family in Long Beach, CA; attended Polytechnic High School

1927, July: Returned with family to Washington, DC; graduated from Central High School in June, 1928 [age 14]

1928, June: Entered George Washington University as freshman; continued through sophomore year

1930:Moved from DC to China; student at University of Nanking

1930-31: Student at North China Union Language School, Peiping

1931-1933: Attended George Washington University; February 1933, received A.B. degree [age 19]

1933: Auditor, Oxford University (spring); travel in Germany, Russia, major European capitals

1933: American University, DC (summer)

1935: University of Chicago (summer)

1933-1936: Graduate student in political science, Johns Hopkins University; A. M., 1935; Ph. D., June 1936 [age 22]

1936, September 7: Married Margaret Snow

1936-1937: Instructor in Government, and Tutor in Division of History, Government and Economics, Harvard University

1936-37: Post-doctoral auditor, Harvard-Yenching Institute

1937: Intensive Chinese language course, University of Michigan

1937: Publication of first book, The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen

1937-1938: Instructor in Political Science, Duke University

1938: Publication of second book, Government in Republican China

1939: Auditor, advanced Chinese course, University of Michigan

1938-1945: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Duke University [but did not teach at Duke after 1942]

1941: Publication of third book, The China of Chiang Kai-shek

1942: Chief, Far Eastern Section, Psychological Warfare Branch, Operations Group, Military Intelligence Service, War Department (February to August)

1942: Chief, Far Eastern Section, Operations Planning and Intelligence Board, Overseas Branch, Office of War Information (August to November)

1942 (December): 2nd Lt., AUS (MIS, Washington); detailed to work with Joseph Grew, who had recently returned from assignment as U.S. Ambassador to Japan

1943: 1st Lt., AUS; transferred overseas to G-2, CBI [later China Theater], serving under Generals Stilwell and Wedemeyer; stationed initially in India, then China

1944: Captain, AUS; stationed in Chungking, China, with visit to Chinese Communist headquarters in Yenan

1945: Major, AUS (Chief, Far Eastern Section, Propaganda Branch, War Department General Staff G-2, Pentagon)

1945: Wrote "Scanners Live in Vain"

1945-46: Associate Professor of Political Science, Duke University (promoted in absentia)

1945-1946: Lecturer, School of Advanced International Studies [part-time appointment]

1946-1966: Professor of Asiatic Politics, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University

1947: Publication of first novel (as Felix C. Forrest), Ria

1948: Publication of fourth nonfiction book, Psychological Warfare

1948: Publication of second novel (as Felix C. Forrest), Carola

1949: Publication of third novel (as Carmichael Smith), Atomsk

1949, December 14: Divorced by Margaret Snow

1950: Married Genevieve Collins

1950: First Cordwainer Smith story, "Scanners Live in Vain," published in Fantasy Book magazine

1954: Publication of fifth nonfiction book, Far Eastern Governments and Politics (with Djang Chu & Ardath Burks)

1955: Second Cordwainer Smith story, "The Game of Rat and Dragon," published in Galaxy magazine

1957: Visiting Professor, Australian National University, Canberra

1963: Publication of first Cordwainer Smith book, You Will Never Be the Same (short story collection, published only in paperback and not mentioning the words "science fiction")

1964: Publication of second Cordwainer Smith book, The Planet Buyer (also a paperback original; published as a novel, without mentioning that it was less than half of the novel Cordwainer Smith had written, titled Norstrilia in its complete form)

1965: Visiting Professor, Australian National University, Canberra

1965: Publication of second collection of Cordwainer Smith short stories, Space Lords (a paperback original, clearly identified as science fiction; third-person autobiographical note in front of book is mostly true but highly misleading)

1966: Publication of Quest of the Three Worlds as paperback original; described as "a complete novel in itself" but actually a three-story sequence plus a vaguely connected story

1966, August 6: Died at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center, Baltimore

1968: Second half of Norstrilia published posthumously as paperback original, The Underpeople, with no mention that the first half had been published four years earlier

1971: Third Cordwainer Smith short story collection, Stardreamer, published as paperback original with flying saucer on cover (but not in any CS story)

1975: Ballantine Books publishes Norstrilia, described on the cover as a "cult classic," for the first time in its (more or less) complete form as a single novel 

1975:   Ballantine Books also publishes The Best of Cordwainer Smith, a collection of most of the major shorter works, with a biographical introduction, notes on the stories, and a timeline for CS's Future History, all by editor J. J. Pierce (with assistance from Genevieve Linebarger)

1979: Ballantine publishes The Instrumentality of Mankind, a collection of most of the rest of CS's shorter works

1993: NESFA Press publishes The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith, which contains authoritative versions of (nearly) all of CS's shorter works, plus several stories by Genevieve Linebarger

1994: NESFA Press publishes Norstrilia, the authoritative version of the novel, including corrections of errors in all previous editions plus several portions of Smith's manuscript omitted fromthe Ballantine Books edition

Copyright © 2001-2008 by Alan C. Elms