Generations

by Richard Matheson

GENERATIONS is an autobiographical novel by Richard Matheson. GENERATIONS takes place at a gathering of the Matheson family after the funeral of Matheson's father. While this meeting didn't actually took place Matheson uses the meeting to explore the many secrets and demons his family harbors. Matheson has never written an autobiography and his adolescence is something that has never been explored in articles or interviews. Matheson is sixteen when he tells the story. The book concludes with Matheson tell of the contentious relationship he had with his father.

127 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2012

About the author

Born in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of whom (Chris, Richard Christian, and Ali Matheson) are writers of fiction and screenplays.

His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.

Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.

He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.

Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.

In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.

He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87

http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...

Reviews

[Vanessa Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really hope this is made into a play someday. Matheson's last novel is less a novel and more toward that strange version of literature that dabbles in a few genres, but is ultimately its own beast. This is unlike his other work for a few reasons; one it is semi-autobiographical, and two, it is written like a novel, but set in acts with an interlude.
The story itself is a man visiting his family after a funeral. They all speak of both the dead and each other. Sven was absolutely my favorite character, as Matheson paints himself in smaller strokes than his family. It is the conversation of both a particular family and the things that should have been said, and the conversation of every family at a certain time in their life if the starts align and enough of the right drink has been consumed. It is a lively story, though at times a bit difficult to differentiate who is speaking. Overall, it is a bitter-sweet tale, and a touching parting gift from so private an author.

[William Retherford · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book about one of my favorite authors it should have been a fascinating read.

It wasn’t.

It was a book consisting of small talk that never really got interesting until the last 30 pages.
I feel that this book would be better suited as a play as Matheson states in the book several times.