Flossie E. Hardart, Unheralded SF Writer

Abstract

670 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 46 (2019) NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE Flossie E. Hardart, Unheralded SF Writer. On or about 13 May 1913, Flossie Elizabeth Hardart was born in Akron, Ohio, to John A. Hardart and Gladys (Mossholder) Hardart, German-born Americans. As a child she showed a creative side with interests in art and dance; she also was an avid reader and the valedictorian of her high-school class. After high school, she was involved in an auto accident as well as a short marriage that ended in a bout of amnesia and a hard-fought divorce case. When the divorce was settled, she left Akron and in 1939 made her first appearance in sf history. She and her second husband (Arthur J. Murphy, an itinerant draftsman and mechanic) are both listed by Sam Moskowitz as attendees of the first World Science Fiction Convention, held in New York City in 1939 (Moskowitz 8, 10). Hardart’s visibility in the sf world of the 1930s and early 1940s made her something of a rarity. Jane Donawerth has identified some women writers from 1926 to 1930 who followed their male contemporaries in using male narrators, adopting a “romanticized” view of “science and technology” (138), and offering a more skeptical portrayal of male heroes. Evidently some women felt pressured to be “one of the boys” (146), however, and the number of women writers active in the genre actually declined during the late 1930s (Donawerth and Kolmerten 9). Lisa Yaszek and Patrick B. Sharp report that women made up only 16 per cent of the sf writing community between 1926 and 1945 (xvii). They often were drawn to sf because they loved speculation and science (xx-xxi) and because “SF ... offered the opportunity for meaningful paid labor in a relatively egalitarian environment” where they were often seen as “equals in the workplace” (xxii). Yet equality had limits. Sarah Lefanu notes that women writers who continued into the 1930s and 1940s often “assumed a male voice and non gender-specific names to avoid prejudice on the part of editors and readers alike”—C.L. Moore and Leigh Brackett are key examples (2). Flossie Hardart began with gender-neutral initials in signing her sf; but after she left the genre, she assumed leadership roles in almost every one of her future fields. Hardart eventually was among the first women members of the American Society for Mechanical Engineering, yet she received mixed notices (and messages) about her involvement in science fiction. She published six letters, three stories, and one non-fiction article in sf periodicals between June 1939 and July 1941. To camouflage her identity, she often gave her address as a post office box in Poughkeepsie, New York, rather than her home address. The letters, one signed as “Mrs. A.J. Murphy” and five as “F.E. Hardart,” shared many characteristics. She commented in detail on most stories published, praising those that were original and plausible, not merely “a typical space yarn with nothing to differentiate itself from the rest” (“The August Number” 103). She preferred short stories to novels (“Likes Human Interest” 6667 ) and editors who chose work that inspired “excellent ideas for plots for more” (“Why Amazing Leads” 139). She appreciated the difficulty of preparing illustrations within the limits of the printing technologies of the time (“F.E. Hardart Types” 22). But she also had her eye on the masculine world she was 671 NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE inhabiting, calling editors to account for not publishing enough stories by women (“Dear Editor” 124), complaining about excess profanity in some stories (“F.E. Hardart Types” 22), and arguing that “sex just has no place in a science-fiction magazine” as she lobbied against provocative cover illustrations, saying “nudity is out” (“Likes Human Interest” 66-67). Her letters were well received, but Hardart’s non-fiction article “Early Science Fiction Stories” led one reader to question her identity and authorship. An anonymous contributor to Science Fiction Weekly in April 1940 argued that Flossie Hardart was a pseudonym for Sam Moskowitz, who had “upon occasion, submitted his writings under the names of friends.” The writer wondered whether Moskowitz was “the greater part of the author known as F...