Death
Sheldon continued writing under the Tiptree pen name for another decade. On May 19, 1987, at age 71, Sheldon took the life of her 84-year-old, nearly-blind husband and then took her own. They were found dead, hand-in-hand in bed, in their Virginia home. According to biographer Julie Phillips, the suicide note Sheldon left was written years earlier, and saved until needed. In an interview with Charles Platt in the early 1980s Sheldon spoke of her emotional problems and previous suicide attempts. Much of her work contains dark and pessimistic elements, which in retrospect can be seen as reflective of her troubled emotions.
Award winning science fiction authors Karen Joy Fowler and Pat Murphy created the James Tiptree, Jr. award in honor of Alice B. Sheldon on February 1991. Sheldon influenced this award through her use of a masculine pseudonym, James Tiptree, Jr., demonstrating that there is no distinction in works of science fiction when written by either gender. This award also coincides with her main theme, feminism. The criteria for winning this award would be for authors who focus their stories on the exploration of science fiction and gender. Novels such as "Half Life" by Shelley Jackson and "Light" by M. John Harrison have received the James Tiptree, Jr. award for incorporating themes of fantasy and sexuality. The James Tiptree, Jr. Award is given in her honor each year for a work of science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender; funds for the award are raised in part by bake sales
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Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Death does determine life.... Once life is finished it acquires a sense; up to that point it has not got a sense; its sense is suspended and therefore ambiguous. However, to be sincere I must add that for me death is important only if it is not justified and rationalized by reason. For me death is the maximum of epicness and death.”
—Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975)
“Ai! ai! we do worse! We are in a fix! And you’re out, Death let
you out, Death had the Mercy, you’re done with your century, done with God, done with the path thru it—”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)
“A pun does not commonly justify a blow in return. But if a blow were given for such cause, and death ensued, the jury would be judges both of the facts and of the pun, and might, if the latter were of an aggravated character, return a verdict of justifiable homicide.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)