In 1939-1947 van Vogt published at least thirty-five sf stories in Astounding alone, some of novel length (further titles appeared in Unknown), and it was the work of these years, much of it not to be published in book form until long afterwards in reconstructed versions, that gave him his high reputation as a master of intricate, metaphysical Space Opera. His late works have generally, however, been disregarded in any assessment of his importance to the field. But Van Vogt also converted to Dianetics, an action which seems to have derailed his surprisingly fragile afflatus he became virtually silent for several years, releasing no new stories in English between 19, after which date he entered a second period of high productivity. A few prime stories by Van Vogt appeared, like The Enchanted Village (July 1950 Other Worlds as "Enchanted Village" 1979 chap), which rebukes triumphalist assumptions about Homo sapiens's supremacy as a species. Hull's career ended in 1950 with her conversion to L Ron Hubbard's Dianetics. Whatever the case, she can be thought of as plausibly sharing van Vogt's inherent "Canadianness" with respect to the ambient wilderness. There remains some doubt as to how much she contributed to these collaborations, and even her solo works have been speculatively credited to van Vogt (for further comments, see her entry). He made his move to California with E Mayne Hull, whom he had married in 1939, and whose claimed collaborations with her husband appeared almost entirely before their emigration. Van Vogt had been active for several years in various other genres, but starting with "Black Destroyer" in Astounding Science-Fiction for July 1939, he wrote at a rough estimate (including stockpiled tales published later) at least fifty shorter works and four novels for John W Campbell Jr before his emigration, firmly establishing his name as the first Canadian sf writer or real importance, and as one of the creators and main figures of Golden Age of SF. The many Space Opera empires in his work generally pre-exist the tales that describe them, and are conquered from within by protagonists who may be revealed already to have been Secret Masters.
Van Vogt had not left his native land until his early thirties, and it is arguable that a Canadian solitudinousness colours his work throughout it is certainly the case that he wrote very few tales that, after the American pattern, involve the penetration of frontiers by culture Heroes whose relationship to Homo sapiens is patriotic. He was born Alfred Vogt and legally changed this to Alfred Elton van Vogt during the process of applying for American citizenship in 1945. (1912-2000) Canadian author, in the US from November 1944, when he was welcomed to California by the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society and made regular appearances at its meetings (see Fandom).
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