View source for Cordwainer Smith

{{Short description|American science fiction writer (1913–1966)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox writer
| name         = Cordwainer Smith
| image        = Cordwainer Smith in red chair.jpg
| imagesize    = 200px
| alt          =
| caption      = Smith, c. early 1960s
| pseudonym    =
| birth_name    = Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1913|7|11}}
| birth_place   = [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1966|8|6|1913|7|11}}
| death_place   = [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], U.S.
| occupation   = {{flatlist|
* Writer
* professor
* military officer
}}
| education    = [[Johns Hopkins University]] ([[PhD]], 1936)
| period       = 1937–1965
| genre        = [[Science fiction]]
| subject      = East Asia [[political science]], [[psychological warfare]]
| movement     =
| notableworks = "[[Scanners Live in Vain]]"<br/>''Psychological Warfare''
| spouse       = Margaret Snow<br/>Genevieve Collins
| partner      =
| children     =
| relatives    = [[Sun Yat-sen]] (godfather)
| awards       =
| signature    =
| website      =
| portaldisp   =
}}
[[File:Fantasy book 1950 n6.jpg|thumb|right|Smith's first professionally published science fiction story, "Scanners Live in Vain", originally appeared in ''[[Fantasy Book]]'' magazine in 1950.]]
[[File:Galaxy 196210.jpg|thumb|right|Smith's novelette ''The Ballad of Lost C'Mell'' was the cover story in the October 1962 issue of ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'' magazine. Artwork by [[Virgil Finlay]].]]  
[[File:Amazing stories 196310.jpg|thumb|right|Smith's novelette "Drunkboat" was on the cover of the October 1963 issue of ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' magazine.  Art by [[Lloyd Birmingham]].]]

'''Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger''' (July 11, 1913 – August 6, 1966), known by his pen-name '''Cordwainer Smith''', was an American author of [[science fiction]]. He was an officer in the US Army, a noted scholar of [[East Asia]], and an expert in [[psychological warfare]]. He was one of science fiction's more influential authors despite his relatively limited output and his early death at the age of 53.<ref>Gary K. Wolfe and Carol T. Williams, "The Majesty of Kindness: The Dialectic of Cordwainer Smith", Voices for the Future: Essays on Major Science Fiction Writers, Volume 3, Thomas D. Clareson editor, Popular Press, 1983, pages 53–72.</ref>

==Biography==
===Early life and education===
Linebarger's father, Paul Myron Wentworth Linebarger, was a lawyer, working as a judge in the Philippines. There he met Chinese nationalist [[Sun Yat-sen]] to whom he became an advisor. Linebarger's father sent his wife to give birth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so that their child would be eligible to become president of the United States. Sun Yat-sen, who was considered the father of [[Chinese nationalism]], became Linebarger's [[Godparent|godfather]].<ref name="JH">{{Cite magazine
|last1=Stimpson|first1=Ashley|last2=Irtenkauf |first2=Jeffrey |date=5 September 2018|title=Throngs of himself|url=https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2018/fall/cordwainer-smith-paul-linebarger/|access-date=2023-02-03|magazine=The Johns Hopkins Magazine|language=en}}</ref>

His childhood was unsettled as his father moved the family to a succession of places in Asia, Europe, and the United States. He was sometimes sent to boarding schools for safety. In all, Linebarger attended more than 30 schools. In 1919, while at a boarding school in Hawaii, he was blinded in his right eye, which was replaced by a glass eye. The vision in his remaining eye was impaired by infection.<ref name=JH/>

Linebarger was familiar with English, German, and Chinese<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hornbeck |first1=Stanley K. |title=Paul M. A. Linebarger, 1913-1966: An Appreciation. |journal=World Affairs |date=1966 |volume=129 |issue=2 |pages=79–82 |jstor=20670775 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20670775 |access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref> by adulthood. At the age of 23, he received a [[PhD]] in [[political science]] from [[Johns Hopkins University]].<ref name=JH/>

===Career===
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2015}}
From 1937 to 1946, Linebarger held a faculty appointment at [[Duke University]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://polisci.duke.edu/about/history |title=Our 85 Year History |publisher=Duke Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Political Science |access-date=January 26, 2021}}</ref> where he began producing highly regarded works on [[Far Eastern]] affairs.

While retaining his professorship at Duke after the beginning of [[World War II]], Linebarger began serving as a [[second lieutenant]] of the [[United States Army]], where he was involved in the creation of the [[United States Office of War Information|Office of War Information]] and the Operation Planning and Intelligence Board. He also helped to organize the army's first [[psychological warfare]] section. In 1943, he was sent to [[China]] to coordinate military intelligence operations. When he later pursued his interest in China, Linebarger became a close confidant of [[Chiang Kai-shek]]. By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of [[Major (rank)|major]]. In 1947, Linebarger moved to the Johns Hopkins University's [[School of Advanced International Studies]] in Washington, DC, where he served as Professor of [[Asiatic Studies]]. He used his experiences in the war to write the book ''Psychological Warfare'' (1948), regarded by many in the field as a classic text.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Psychological Warfare, a Project Gutenberg eBook by Paul M. A. Lineberger. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48612/48612-h/48612-h.htm |access-date=2025-06-01 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref>

Linebarger eventually rose to the rank of [[colonel]] in the reserves. He was recalled to advise the British forces during the [[Malayan Emergency]] and the [[U.S. Eighth Army]] during the [[Korean War]]. Though he sometimes called himself a "visitor to small wars", he refrained from becoming involved in the [[Vietnam War]], but he did some work for the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA).  In 1969, CIA officer [[Miles Copeland Jr.]] wrote that Linebarger was "perhaps the leading practitioner of 'black' and 'gray' propaganda in the Western world".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Copeland |first1=Miles Jr. |author-link=Miles Copeland Jr.|title=The Game of Nations|url=https://archive.org/details/gameofnations0000unse |url-access=registration |date=1969|publisher=Simon & Schuster|pages=[https://archive.org/details/gameofnations0000unse/page/100 100], 113|isbn=9780671205324 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=New Book Points Up Middle East Involvement|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/62613878/|access-date=22 June 2017|publisher=San Antonio Express|date=12 August 1969}}</ref> According to Joseph Burkholder Smith, a former CIA operative, Linebarger conducted classes in psychological warfare for CIA agents at his home in Washington, under cover of his position at Johns Hopkins University.<ref name=JH/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Joseph Burkholder |title=Portrait of Cold War |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |year=1976 |location=New York |pages=86–87}}</ref> He traveled extensively and became a member of the [[Foreign Policy Association]], and he was called upon to advise President [[John F. Kennedy]].

In April 2026, Linebarger was posthumously inducted as a Distinguished Member of the Psychological Operations Regiment (DMOR) by the United States Army [[John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School]], recognizing his contributions to the development of psychological warfare and the early institutional framework of U.S. Army psychological operations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dr. Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, Colonel Inducted 2026 |url=https://www.swcs.mil/Regimental-Honors/Psychological-Operations-Regimental-Honors/ |website=The United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School |publisher=USASOC |access-date=9 April 2026}}</ref>

===Marriage and family===
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2015}}
In 1936, Linebarger married Margaret Snow. They had a daughter in 1942 and another in 1947. They divorced in 1949.

In 1950, Linebarger married his second wife Genevieve Collins; they had no children. They remained married until his death from a heart attack in 1966; he died at [[Johns Hopkins University#Medical|Johns Hopkins University Medical Center]] in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], at the age of 53. Linebarger had expressed a wish to retire to Australia, which he had visited while traveling. He is buried in [[Arlington National Cemetery]], Section 35, Grave Number 4712. His widow, Genevieve Collins Linebarger, was interred with him on November 16, 1981.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/linebarg.htm |title=Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger |access-date=November 29, 2008 |archive-date=December 26, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226011453/http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/linebarg.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== "Kirk Allen" debate ==
Linebarger is rumored to have been [[Kirk Allen]], the pseudonymous patient of psychologist [[Robert M. Lindner]] whose case was featured in a chapter of Lindner's 1954 book ''The Fifty-Minute Hour''.<ref name="JH" /><ref>Lindner, Robert. ''The Fifty-Minute Hour.'' New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1954.</ref> Allen was described as a college educated man who worked for the United States military and imagined himself as the protagonist of an elaborately detailed science fictional world. 

According to Cordwainer Smith scholar Alan C. Elms,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Elms |first1=Alan C. |title=Behind the Jet-Propelled Couch: Cordwainer Smith and Kirk Allen |url=https://elms.faculty.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/98/2014/07/20021-Behind-the-Jet1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614071906/https://elms.faculty.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/98/2014/07/20021-Behind-the-Jet1.pdf |archive-date=2018-06-14 |url-status=live |publisher=UC Davis |access-date=29 May 2020 |date=May 2002}}</ref> this speculation first reached print in [[Brian Aldiss]]'s 1973 science fiction history ''Billion Year Spree''; Aldiss, in turn, claimed to have received the information from science fiction fan and scholar [[Leon Stover]].<ref>Aldiss, Brian W. ''Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction.'' New York: Doubleday, 1973.</ref> More recently, both Elms and librarian Lee Weinstein<ref>Weinstein, Lee. "In Search of Kirk Allen," ''New York Review of Science Fiction'', April 2001.</ref> have gathered circumstantial evidence to support their case for Linebarger's being Allen, but both concede there is no direct proof that Linebarger was ever a patient of Lindner's or that he suffered from a disorder similar to that of Kirk Allen.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scholarly Corner, by Alan C. Elms|url=http://www.cordwainer-smith.com/scholarly.htm|access-date=2023-02-03|website=cordwainer-smith.com}}</ref> Other investigators have proposed that Allen was someone other than Linebarger.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nyrsf.com/2016/06/saul-paul-sirag-was-kirk-allen-kiko-harrison-annotations-for-the-jet-propelled-couch.html|title=The New York Review of Science Fiction: Saul-Paul Sirag: Was Kirk Allen Kiko Harrison? Annotations for "The Jet Propelled Couch"|publisher=}}</ref>

==Literary style==
[[Frederik Pohl]] commented on the imaginary universe of Linebarger's fiction:
{{blockquote|In his stories, which were a wonderful and inimitable blend of a strange, raucous poetry and a detailed technological scene, we begin to read of human beings in worlds so far from our own in space in time that they were no longer quite Earth (even when they were the third planet out from Sol), and the people were no longer quite human, but something perhaps better, certainly different.{{r|pohl196612}}}}

Linebarger's identity as "Cordwainer Smith" was a secret until his death.<ref name="pohl196612">{{Cite magazine |last=Pohl |first=Frederik |date=December 1966 |title=Cordwainer Smith |department=Editorial |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v25n02_1966-12_modified#page/n5/mode/2up |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction |page=6 }}</ref>  ''Cordwainer'' is an archaic word for "a worker in cordwain or [[Shell cordovan|cordovan]] leather; a [[shoemaker]]",<ref name=OED>[[Oxford English Dictionary]]</ref> and a ''smith'' is "one who works in [[iron]] or other metals; esp. a [[blacksmith]] or [[farrier]]";<ref name=OED/> these are two kinds of skilled workers using traditional materials.
Linebarger also used the literary pseudonyms "Carmichael Smith" (for the political thriller ''[[Atomsk (novel)|Atomsk]]''), "Anthony Bearden" (for poetry) and "Felix C. Forrest" (for the novels ''Ria'' and ''Carola'').

Some of Smith's stories are written in a narrative style closer to traditional [[Chinese literature|Chinese stories]] than to most English-language fiction, and reminiscent of the [[Hikaru Genji|Genji]] tales by the Japanese writer [[Lady Murasaki]]. His total science fiction output is relatively small, because of his time-consuming profession and his early death.

Smith's works consist of two parts:

* A novel, originally published in two volumes in edited form as ''The Planet Buyer'', also known as ''The Boy Who Bought Old Earth'' (1964), and ''The Underpeople'' (1968); the novel was later restored to its original form as ''[[Norstrilia]]'' (1975)
* 32 short stories collected in ''[[The Rediscovery of Man]]'' (1993), including two versions of the short story "War No. 81-Q"

Linebarger's cultural links with China are partially expressed by the pseudonym Felix C. Forrest, which he used in addition to Cordwainer Smith. His godfather [[Sun Yat-Sen]] suggested that Linebarger adopt the Chinese name ''Lin Bai-lo'' ({{lang-zh|t=林白樂|s=林白乐|p=Lín Báilè}}), which may be roughly translated as "Forest of Incandescent Bliss"; ''felix'' is Latin for "happy". In later years, Linebarger proudly wore a tie with the Chinese characters for this name embroidered on it.

An expert in psychological warfare, Linebarger was fascinated by the newly developing fields of [[psychology]] and [[psychiatry]]. He used many concepts from these fields in his fiction, which often contains religious overtones or motifs, particularly with characters who have no control over their actions. James B. Jordan argued for the importance of [[Anglicanism]] in Smith's work dating back to 1949.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jordan |first=James B. |date=Winter 1992 |title=Christianity in the Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith |journal=Contra Mundum |issue=2}}</ref> But Linebarger's daughter Rosana Hart has indicated that he did not become Anglican until 1950 and was not strongly interested in religion until later.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Daughter's Memories|url=http://www.cordwainer-smith.com/remember.htm|access-date=2023-02-03|website=cordwainer-smith.com}}</ref> In his introduction to the collection ''The'' ''Rediscovery of Man'', James. A. Mann notes that Linebarger became more devout starting around 1960 and expressed this change in his writing. Linebarger's works are sometimes included in analyses of Christianity in fiction, along with the works of authors such as [[C. S. Lewis]] and [[J.R.R. Tolkien]].

Most of Smith's stories are set in the distant future, between 4,000 and 14,000 years after the twentieth century.<ref>{{cite book| title=The Best of Cordwainer Smith| url=https://archive.org/details/bestofcordwainer0000smit| url-access=registration| last=Smith| first=Cordwainer| editor1-last=Pierce| editor1-first=J.J.| publisher=Nelson Doubleday, Inc.| date=1975}}</ref> In this future, after the Ancient Wars devastate Earth, humans—ruled by the [[Instrumentality of Mankind]]—rebuild and expand to the stars in the Second Age of Space (around 6000 AD). Over the next few thousand years, humanity spreads to thousands of worlds, and human life becomes safe but sterile, as robots and the animal-derived Underpeople take over many human jobs, and humans themselves are genetically programmed as embryos to perform specified duties. Toward the end of this period, the Instrumentality attempts to revive old cultures and languages in a process known as the Rediscovery of Man, where humans emerge from their mundane utopia and Underpeople are liberated from slavery.

For years, Linebarger kept a pocket notebook that he filled with ideas about the Instrumentality and additional stories for the series. But while in a small boat on a lake or bay during the mid-1960s, he leaned over the side, and the notebook fell out of his breast pocket into the water, where it was permanently lost. Another story claims that he accidentally left the notebook in a restaurant in [[Rhodes]] in 1965. With the notebook gone, he felt empty of ideas, so he decided to start a new series that was an allegory of Middle Eastern politics.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2010/12/cordwainer-smith-the-ballad-of-lost-linebarger-part-2/ |title=Cordwainer Smith: The Ballad of Lost Linebarger, Part 2 |access-date=June 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617114317/http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2010/12/cordwainer-smith-the-ballad-of-lost-linebarger-part-2/ |archive-date=June 17, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://worldtracker.org/media/library/English%20Literature/S/Smith,%20Cordwainer/Smith,%20Cordwainer%20-%20The%20Rediscovery%20of%20Man.html |title=Cordwainer Smith - The Rediscovery of Man |access-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006220227/http://worldtracker.org/media/library/English%20Literature/S/Smith,%20Cordwainer/Smith,%20Cordwainer%20-%20The%20Rediscovery%20of%20Man.html |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Smith's stories describe a long [[future history]] of Earth. One setting is a [[postapocalyptic]] landscape with [[walled cities]], defended by agents of the Instrumentality; another setting is a sterile utopia, in which freedom can be found only far below the surface of the planet, in long-forgotten and buried [[human impact on the environment|anthropogenic]] strata. These features may place Smith's works within the [[Dying Earth subgenre|Dying Earth]] subgenre of science fiction, but his stories are ultimately more optimistic and distinctive.

Smith's most celebrated short story is the first one that he published, "[[Scanners Live in Vain]]"; this led many of its earliest readers to assume that Cordwainer Smith was a new pen name for an established giant of the genre. It was selected as one of the best science fiction short stories of the pre-[[Nebula Award]] period by the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]], appearing in ''[[The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964]]''.  "[[The Ballad of Lost C'Mell]]" was similarly honored, appearing in ''[[The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two]]''.

After "Scanners Live in Vain", Smith's next story did not appear for several years; but from 1955 until his death in 1966, his stories appeared regularly, most often in ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]''.{{r|pohl196612}} His universe featured creations such as the following:
* ''The planet Norstrilia'' (Old North Australia), a semi-arid planet where an immortality drug called ''{{Not a typo|stroon}}'' is harvested from gigantic, virus-infected sheep, each weighing more than 100 tons. Norstrilians are nominally the galaxy's richest people, and they defend their immensely valuable {{Not a typo|stroon}} with sophisticated weapons (in the story "[[Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons]]"). However, extremely high taxes ensure that all Norstrilians live frugal rural lives, like the farmers of old Australia, to keep the residents tough.
* ''The punishment world Shayol'' (cf. [[Sheol]]), where criminals are punished by the regrowth and harvesting of their organs for transplanting.
* ''Planoforming [[spacecraft]]'', which are crewed by humans telepathically linked with cats to defend against attacks by malevolent entities in space, which are perceived by humans as dragons and by cats as gigantic rats (in the story "[[The Game of Rat and Dragon]]").
* ''The'' ''Underpeople'', animals modified into human form and intelligence, fill service roles and are treated as property. Several stories feature clandestine efforts to liberate the Underpeople and grant them [[civil rights]]. They are seen throughout regions controlled by the Instrumentality. An Underperson's name starts with a one-letter prefix that is based on their animal species. Thus C'Mell (in "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell") is derived from cats; D'Joan (in "[[The Dead Lady of Clown Town]]"), a character recalling [[Joan of Arc]], is descended from dogs; and B'dikkat (in "[[A Planet Named Shayol]]") has bovine ancestry.
* ''Habermans and their supervisors,'' ''Scanners'', who are essential for space travel—but at the cost of having their sensory [[nerve]]s cut to block the "pain of space", and who perceive the world only through vision and various life-support implants. A technological breakthrough removes the need for this treatment, but resistance among the Scanners to their perceived loss of status ensues, forming the basis of the story "Scanners Live in Vain".
* ''[[Neologism]]s from works early in the timeline'' are not explained to any great extent, but they serve to create an atmosphere of strangeness. These words are usually derived from languages other than English. For instance, the term ''manshonyagger'' derives from two German words''—''{{Lang|de|menschen}} (meaning "men" or "mankind") and {{Lang|de|jäger}} (meaning a hunter)—and refers to war machines that roam the wild lands between walled cities and prey on men, except for those that can be identified as Germans. Another example is ''Meeya Meefla'', the only city to have preserved its name from the pre-atomic era; this is evidently Miami, Florida, from the abbreviated form "Miami Fla"  (as shown on road signs).
* ''Character names'' in the stories are often derived from non-English languages. Smith seemed particularly fond of using numbers for this purpose. 
** For instance, the name of the Lord ''Sto Odin'' in the story "Under Old Earth" is derived from the Russian words for 'One hundred and one', {{Lang|ru|сто один}}; the name also recalls the Norse god [[Odin]]. 
** Several of the names mean 'five-six' in different languages, as follows: the robot Fisi (fi[ve]-si[x]); the dead Lady Panc Ashash (in Sanskrit {{Lang|sa-Latn|pañcha}} [{{Lang|sa|पञ्च}}] is 'five' and {{Lang|sa-Latn|ṣaṣ}} [{{Lang|sa|षष्}}] is 'six'); Limaono ([[wikt:lima#Hawaiian|lima]]-[[wikt:ono#Hawaiian|ono]] in Hawaiian and/or Fijian); Englok (ng<sup>5</sup>-luk<sup>6</sup> <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[wikt:五#Cantonese|五]]-[[wikt:六#Cantonese|六]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> in Cantonese); Goroke ({{Lang|ja-Latn|go-roku}} <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[wikt:五#Japanese|五]]-[[wikt:六#Japanese|六]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> Japanese); Femtiosex ('[[wikt:femtio|fifty]]-[[wikt:sex#Swedish|six]]' in Swedish) in "The Dead Lady of Clown Town"; the main character in "[[Think Blue, Count Two]]", Veesey-koosey, which is an English transcription of the Finnish words "[[wikt:viisi|viisi]]" (five) and "[[wikt:kuusi|kuusi]]" (six).
** Four of the characters in the story "Think Blue, Count Two" are called "Thirteen" in different languages: Tiga-belas (both in [[:id:13 (angka)|Indonesian]] and [[:ms:13 (nombor)|Malay]]); Trece ([[wikt:trece|Spanish]]); Talatashar (based on an Arabic dialect form {{Lang|ar|ثلاث عشر}}, {{Lang|ar-Latn|thalāth ʿashar}}); and Sh'san (based on Mandarin 十三, ''shísān'', where the 'i' is never pronounced). 
** Other names, notably that of Lord Jestocost (from the Russian {{Lang|ru|Жестокость}}, which means 'cruelty'), are neither English nor numeric.
* ''Remnants of twentieth-century culture in the real world'' are shown as valued antiquities or sometimes unrecognized relics, giving an unusual feeling of nostalgia for the actual present in the fictional world.

==Works==
===Fiction===
====Short stories====
Titles marked with an asterisk * are independent stories not related to the Instrumentality universe.
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
*"War No. 81-Q" (original version, June 1928)&nbsp;* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74098 Available online] 
*"[[Scanners Live in Vain]]" (June 1950)
*"[[The Game of Rat and Dragon]]" (October 1955)
*"Mark Elf" (May 1957) 
*"The Burning of the Brain" (October 1958)
*"Western Science Is So Wonderful" (December 1958)&nbsp;*
*"No, No, Not Rogov!" (February 1959) 
*"Nancy" (March 1959)&nbsp;*
*"[[When the People Fell]]" (April 1959) 
*"Golden the Ship Was&mdash;Oh! Oh! Oh!" (April 1959)
*"Angerhelm" (June 1959)&nbsp;*
*"The Fife Of Bodhidharma" (June 1959)&nbsp;*
*"The Lady Who Sailed The Soul" (April 1960) 
*"[[Alpha Ralpha Boulevard]]" (June 1961)
*"[[Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons]]" (June 1961)
*"[[A Planet Named Shayol]]" (October 1961)
*"From Gustible's Planet"(July 1962)
*"[[The Ballad of Lost C'Mell]]" (October 1962)
*"[[Think Blue, Count Two]]" (February 1963)
{{col-2}}
*The stories making up the collection ''[[Quest of the Three Worlds]]'':
**"On the Gem Planet" (October 1963)
**"On the Storm Planet" (February 1965)
**"On the Sand Planet" (December 1965)
**"Three to a Given Star" (October 1965)
*"[[Drunkboat (short story)|Drunkboat]]" (October 1963)
*"The Good Friends" (October 1963)&nbsp;*
*"The Boy Who Bought Old Earth" (The first half of "Norstrilia", April 1964, adapted into "The Planet Buyer") 
*"The Store Of Heart's Desire" (The second half of "Norstrilia", May 1964, adapted into "The Underpeople") 
*"[[The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal]]" (May 1964)
*"[[The Dead Lady of Clown Town]]" (August 1964)
*"Under Old Earth" (February 1966) 
*"Down to a Sunless Sea" (October 1975) (with Genevieve Linebarger)
*"The Queen of the Afternoon" (April 1978) 
*"The Colonel Came Back from the Nothing-at-All" (May 1979)
*"Himself in Anachron" (1993) (completed by Genevieve Linebarger)
*"War No. 81-Q" (rewritten version, 1993) 
{{col-end}}

====Novels====
* ''Ria'' (1947; writing as "Felix C. Forrest")
* ''Carola'' (1948; writing as "Felix C. Forrest")
* ''[[Atomsk (novel)|Atomsk: A Novel of Suspense]]'' (1949; writing as "Carmichael Smith")
* ''The Planet Buyer'' (1964; first half of ''Norstrilia'', with some rearrangement)
* ''The Underpeople'' (1968; second half of ''Norstrilia'', with some rearrangement)
* ''[[Norstrilia]]'' (1975; first complete publication in intended form; corrected edition published in 1994)

====Collections====
* ''You Will Never Be The Same'' (1963, collection of short science fiction stories)
* ''[[Space Lords (short story collection)|Space Lords]]'' (1965; short science fiction stories)
* ''[[Quest of the Three Worlds]]'' (1966; four related science fiction novellas)
* ''Under Old Earth and Other Explorations'' (1970; short science fiction stories)
* ''Stardreamer'' (1971; short science fiction stories)
* ''[[The Best of Cordwainer Smith]]'' (1975; 12 short science fiction stories, reprinted in 1999 for the [[SF Masterworks]] series as ''The Rediscovery of Man'')
* ''The Instrumentality of Mankind'' (1979; 14 short science fiction stories)
* ''[[The Rediscovery of Man]]'' (1993; definitive and complete compilation of 33 short science fiction writings)
* ''We the Underpeople'' (2006; collection of 5 Instrumentality of Mankind short stories and the novel ''Norstrilia'')
* ''When the People Fell'' (2007; collection of 28 short stories)

====Unpublished novels====
*1939 (rewritten in 1947) ''General Death''
*1946 ''Journey in Search of a Destination''
*1947-1948 ''The Dead Can Bite'' (a.k.a. ''Sarmantia'')

===Non-fiction===
[[File:Psychological Warfare Linebarger.jpg|frame|right]]
*''The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-Sen: An Exposition of the San Min Chu I'' (1937)
* ''Government in Republican China'' (1938)
* ''The China of Chiang K'ai-shek: A Political Study'' (1941)
* ''Psychological Warfare'' (1948; revised second edition, 1954 - [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48612 available online])
*''Foreign milieux (HBM 200/1)'' (1951)
* ''Immediate improvement of theater-level psychological warfare in the Far East'' (1951)
*''Far Eastern Government and Politics: China and Japan'' (1954; with Djang Chu and Ardath W. Burks)
*"Draft statement of a ten-year China and Indochina policy, 1956–1966" (1956)
* ''Essays on military psychological operations'' (1966)

==See also==
*[[Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award]]
*[[Golden Age of Science Fiction]]
*[[Homer Lea]]

==References==
<!-- This article uses [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]]. Please use this format when adding references to material in the article. External links added directly to this section will be swiftly deleted without notice. -->
{{Reflist |25em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}} 
;Texts
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/cordwainer-smith}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=34034 | name=Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony|name=Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Cordwainer Smith |sopt=t}}
* {{Librivox author |id=556}}
* [http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf9s200760/ Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger Papers] at the [http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives Hoover Institution Archives]

;Other references
* {{ISFDB name}}
* {{IMDb name|3669810}}
* [http://lccn.loc.gov/n90610659 Felix C. Forrest] (3 records) and [http://lccn.loc.gov/n90610665 Carmichael Smith] (no records) at LC Authorities
* {{LCAuth|n81083063|Cordwainer Smith|7|}}
* {{LCAuth|n50050891|Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger|18|}}

;Other links
* {{Official website|http://www.cordwainer-smith.com}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020213040116/http://www.arlingtoncemetery.com/linebarg.htm Linebarger]. Arlington National Cemetery.
* Ted Gioia. [https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/03/remembering-cordwainer-smith-full-time-sci-fi-author-part-time-earthling/274344/ "Remembering Cordwainer Smith"]. ''The Atlantic Monthly''.
* Bud Webster. [http://www.philsp.com/articles/pastmasters_06.html Past Masters: Forest of Incandescent Bliss]. ''Galactic Central''.

{{Authority control}} <!-- Cordwainer Smith, 1913-1966 records -->

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Cordwainer}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
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