David Wingrove Collection
Contains typescripts of the first seven volumes in the Chung Kuo sequence, accompanied by editing notes and comments. The Collection also contains typescripts of A Perfect Art, the forerunner of the Chung Kuo books and Imagine a Man, an unpublished novel.
David Wingrove (1954-) was initially known as a science fiction critic. He was editor of Vector: the Critical Journal of the BSFA and published several important studies, including Trillion Year Spree (1986), which he co-authored with Brian Aldiss and which won a Hugo Award.
During his fifteen years as a critic, Wingrove experimented with writing his own fiction but only embarked seriously on a career as a writer with the publication of The Middle Kingdom in 1989. This book signified the start of his epic Chung Kuo sequence, which became an eight-volume novel, eventually culminating with The Marriage of the Living Dark (1997).
Set in a globally dominant, technophobic China in the 22nd and 23rd centuries, Wingrove had aspirations towards the literary high ground for Chung Kuo. Although Wingrove later admitted that he did not completely fulfil his ambitions for the book, he did succeed in creating an extraordinary future history with meticulously detailed characterization and social background. Since 1995, Wingrove has also co-authored the Myst books.
Finding Aid
The Collection has not been fully catalogued but has been sorted and given a basic listing. A printed copy of the list is available for consultation in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room at The University of Liverpool Library.
Access
All material in the collection is available to scholars for consultation in the University Library's Special Collections and Archives Reading Room by prior arrangement. Please refer to Visiting & using SC&A.
Related material
Search the SF Catalogue for David Wingrove's fiction and non-fiction and for critical material about the author. Our Offprints Collection contains some Chung Kuo publicity material and a magazine feature on David Wingrove's first visit to China. The Chung Kuo site also contains useful biographical and bibliographical information. A bibliography of Wingrove's work with a brief biography can also be found on Infinity Plus.
