Клайв Эрик Касслер (15 июля 1931 г. — 24 февраля 2020 г.) — американский писатель-приключенец и подводный исследователь . [1] Его триллеры , многие из которых посвящены Дирку Питту , более 20 раз входили в список бестселлеров художественной литературы The New York Times . Касслер был основателем и председателем [2] Национального подводного и морского агентства (NUMA), которое обнаружило более 60 мест кораблекрушений и множество других известных подводных затонувших объектов. Он был единственным автором или основным автором более 80 книг. Он часто помещал себя в свои книги как самого себя.
Его романы вдохновили на создание множества других художественных произведений.
Клайв Касслер родился в Авроре, штат Иллинойс , в семье Эрика Эдварда Касслера и Эми Аделины (урожденной Ханневелл), [3] и вырос в Альгамбре, Калифорния . Его отец был из Германии, а предки его матери были из Англии . [4]
В своих мемуарах « Морские охотники: настоящие приключения с известными кораблекрушениями » Касслер рассказал, что его отец служил в имперской немецкой армии на Западном фронте во время Первой мировой войны . Кроме того, один из дядей Касслера служил в имперской немецкой воздушной службе и стал летчиком-асом , сбив 14 самолетов союзников . [5]
He was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout when he was 14 years old.[6] He attended Pasadena City College[2] for two years and then enlisted in the United States Air Force during the Korean War.[7] During his service with the Air Force, he was promoted to sergeant and worked as an aircraft mechanic and flight engineer for the Military Air Transport Service (MATS).[8]
After his discharge from the military, Cussler went to work for the advertising industry, first as a copywriter and later as a creative director for two of the nation's most successful advertising agencies.[2] As part of his duties, Cussler produced radio and television commercials, many of which won international awards including an award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.[9]
After the publication in 1996 of Cussler's first nonfiction work, The Sea Hunters, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters degree in 1997 by the Board of Governors of the State University of New York Maritime College who accepted the work in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis. This was the first time in the college's 123-year history that such a degree had been awarded.[2]
In 2002, Cussler was awarded the Naval Heritage Award from the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation for his efforts concerning marine exploration.[10]
Cussler was a fellow of the Explorers Club of New York, the Royal Geographical Society in London, and the American Society of Oceanographers.[11]
Clive Cussler began writing in 1965 when his wife took a job working nights for the local police department where they lived in California. After making dinner for the children and putting them to bed, he had no one to talk to and nothing much to do, so he decided to start writing.[12] His most famous character is marine engineer, government agent and adventurer Dirk Pitt. The Dirk Pitt novels frequently have an alternative history premise—such as "what if Atlantis were real?" or "what if Abraham Lincoln wasn't assassinated but was kidnapped?"[citation needed]
The first two Pitt novels, The Mediterranean Caper and Iceberg, were relatively conventional maritime thrillers. The third, Raise the Titanic!, made Cussler's reputation and established the pattern that subsequent Pitt novels would follow: a blend of adventure and advanced technology, generally involving megalomaniacal villains, lost ships, beautiful women, and sunken treasure.
Cussler's novels almost always begin with a chapter set in the past. These contain none of the novel's main characters and often seem disconnected from the plot until the main characters discover a mystery or secret relating the events of the first chapter to the rest of the story. This is almost always in the form of a long-lost artifact that is important to the villain's or hero's objectives. Often in the first chapter, a ship or airplane carrying a top-secret, important, or dangerous cargo is lost and never found, until it is recovered by a modern character later in the book.
Cussler's novels, like those of Michael Crichton, are examples of techno-thrillers that do not use military plots and settings. Where Crichton strove for scrupulous realism, however, Cussler prefers fantastic spectacles and outlandish plot devices. The Pitt novels, in particular, have the improbable quality of the James Bond or Indiana Jones movies, while also sometimes borrowing from Alistair MacLean's novels. Pitt himself is a super-hero reminiscent of Doc Savage and other characters from pulp magazines.
Cussler had seventeen consecutive titles listed on The New York Times fiction best seller list.[7] In 2014, McFarland Publishing released The Clive Cussler Adventures: A Critical Review by Steven Philip Jones, the first critical review textbook of Cussler's novels.[13]
As an underwater explorer, Cussler discovered more than 60 shipwreck sites[14] and wrote non-fiction books about his findings. He was also the initiator of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), a non-profit organization with the same name as the fictional government agency that employs Dirk Pitt.
Important finds by NUMA include:
Визуальное и интерактивное описание экспедиций Фонда NUMA Касслера стало доступно в качестве расширения оригинального веб-сайта NUMA, который впоследствии был удален.
Находки, которые ранее считались важными, включают:
Клайв Касслер женился на Барбаре Найт в 1955 году, и они оставались женатыми почти 50 лет до ее смерти в 2003 году. [17] У них было трое детей — Тери, Дирк и Дейна, четверо внуков и четверо правнуков.
Он был страстным коллекционером классических автомобилей, которые выставлены в музее Касслера [18] в Арваде, штат Колорадо . Клайв Касслер был временным жителем как Аризоны, так и Колорадо. [19]
Касслер умер в своем доме в Парадайз-Вэлли, штат Аризона , 24 февраля 2020 года в возрасте 88 лет по неизвестным причинам. [20]
This series of books is based on the character Kurt Austin, Team Leader of NUMA's Special Assignments division and his adventures. Some characters from the Pitt novels appear such as Sandecker, Al Giordino, Rudi Gunn, Hiram Yaeger and St. Julien Perlmutter. Pitt makes brief appearances in the books Serpent, White Death, Polar Shift, Devil's Gate, The Storm, Zero Hour, and Ghost Ship and is mentioned in Lost City. Juan Cabrillo, the captain of the ship Oregon, also made a brief appearance in The Pharaoh's Secret.
This series of books features a ship named the Oregon, which Cussler introduced in the Dirk Pitt Adventures novel Flood Tide (1997). While appearing to be a decrepit freighter, it is actually a high-tech advanced ship used by an unnamed and mysterious "Corporation" under the leadership of Juan Cabrillo. The ship is run like a business, with its crew being shareholders, taking jobs for the CIA and other agencies to help stop crime and terrorism. The crew is adept at disguises, combat, computer hacking and more to aid them in their missions. Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala, and Dirk Pitt all make cameo appearances in the fourth volume, Skeleton Coast (Cabrillo speaks to Pitt on the telephone; and Austin and Zavala appear at the end).
These books are set mostly in the U.S. in the early part of the 20th century. They center around Isaac Bell, a brilliant investigator for the Van Dorn Detective Agency, which appears to be modeled after the real-life Pinkerton Agency. Like Pitt, Bell has an affinity for automobiles and is a crack shot. The first book reveals that Bell survives into 1950 with a wife and grown children. Though the setting is a century ago, the books still qualify as techno-thrillers, since they feature the advanced technology of that time such as private express trains, telegraphs, telephones, dreadnought battleships and early airplanes. Isaac Bell also is a principal character of the background story in the Fargo Adventures novel The Gray Ghost.
The series focuses on Sam and Remi Fargo, a married couple who are professional treasure hunters.
(*) indicates books co-authored with Paul Kemprecos.
(†) indicates books co-authored with Graham Brown.
(††) indicates books authored by Graham Brown.
(‡) indicates books co-authored with Craig Dirgo.
(§) indicates books co-authored with Jack Du Brul.
(§§) indicates books authored by Jack Du Brul.
(‖) indicates books co-authored with Justin Scott.
(^) indicates books co-authored with Grant Blackwood.
(+) indicates books co-authored with Thomas Perry.
(×) indicates books co-authored with Russell Blake.
(≠) indicates books co-authored with Boyd Morrison.
(**) indicates books co-authored with Robin Burcell.
(***) indicates books authored by Robin Burcell.
(╛) indicates books authored by Mike Maden.
