The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad

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Norman Spinrad and his SF work The Iron Dream Norman Spinrad has been an acclaimed science fiction writer, editor and critic since the mid 1960s. He was born in New York City, on September 15, 1940. In 1957, he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco, then to Los Angeles, and now lives in Paris. He married fellow novelist N. Lee Wood in 1990, although they divorced in 2005. They had no children. His first published SF novel was The Solarians (1966), followed by Agent of Chaos and The Men in the Jungle (both 1967). His 1972 novel The Iron Dream is an unusual alternate history novel; the bulk of the text is a reprint of a (fictional) fantasy classic, written in a couple of weeks by a famous fantasy writer shortly before his death in 1953 from (it was rumoured) tertiary syphilis; the book won the 1953 Hugo Award. The remainder of the book is a commentary on the text, pointing out the elements of fetishism, phallic imagery, and paranoia in this most famous and beloved of fantasy epics. The novel is, of course, the 1953 fantasy classic Lord of the Swastika, by Adolf Hitler. As a commentary on and parody of the fascistic undertones in popular fantasy fiction, Spinrad’s book was not enjoyed or understood everywhere. The French edition of this novel earned Spinrad the 1974 Prix Apollo. This is a book which shows what a true Nazi would do if he could do absolutely everything he wished. According to an article attributed to Spinrad, the book was banned for eight years in Germany, but was finally exonerated after appeals. Actually, the sale of the book as such was not prohibited, because that ban would have been contrary to the freedom of speech, but the public display of the book or its covers was prohibited, because of the swastika symbol, which is banned in Germany.
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