Thu 21 Jun 2007
The Compleat VIVIAN MEEK.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Crime Fiction IV[13] Comments
Vivian (Bernard) Meek came to my attention when one of his books, The Curse of Red Shiva, appeared in the Hillman-Curl line of mysteries, covers of which I’ve been gradually uploading to the Murder at 3 Cents a Day website.
Mr. Meek was born in 1894 and, as recently discovered by Victor Berch, died in California in 1955. Some short biographical notes online describe him as being an author, engineer and a war correspondent. In the course of these occupations he was also a dedicated world traveler, spending much time in India and the surrounding territory. In addition to his suspense and horror fiction, for which he is probably best known today, he wrote The People of the Leaves (Philip Allan, UK, 1931; Henry Holt, 1931), an anthropological study of an obscure tribe called the Juang located in Orissa, a sizable state along the east coast of the Indian subcontinent.
UPDATE: While waiting for me to complete my commentary on the books themselves, Victor came up with the following additional information on the author:
Here is some info I picked up from various documents I found, the most informative being the information Meik supplied on his flight to the US for permanent residency here. According to the California Death Index, Meik was born June 21, 1894 and died December 22, 1955. Another database gives his birth date as July 21, 1894, however.
Supposedly born in Calcutta, India, on the flight information, Meik claims he was born at sea on a British vessel. From another document, his father was a Lorenzo Meik and his mother was Alice Gertrude Thomas Meik. Another document lists his wife’s name as Bernadette Marie Desparadze. Going back to the flight document, the following further information is supplied:
His flight left Frankfort, Germany June 21, 1947 and arrived in NY on June 22, 1947. His passport was issued June 14, 1947, a week before his 53rd birthday.
Height: 6 feet
Complexion: Swarthy
Last permanent residence: 41 Denman Drive, London
Occupation: Journalist
Intention: Permanent residency in US. He was going to stay with an uncle, Francis T. Meik of Salt Lake City, Utah
Age: 52
There was no indication that his wife ever joined him. One outstanding feature that he had when he arrived in the US was that he was missing his left eye.
I’m back. I have not located a usable cover scan for this first book, a collection of horror fiction, but the contents are listed in Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, who indicates that some of the stories are also crime-related. Note the slight correction in the title: the apostrophe is correctly after the “s”.
Devils’ Drums (Philip Allan, UK, 1933; Midnight House, US, in preparation, Douglas A. Anderson, editor)
* • Devils’ Drums • ss
* • The Doll of Death • nv
* • Domira’s Drum • ss
* • The Honeymoon in Hate • ss
* • L’Amitie Reste • ss
* • The Man Who Sold His Shadow • ss
* • Ra • ss
* • White Man’s Law • ss
* • White Zombie • ss
The volume edited by Doug Anderson will contain three additional stories:
* • I Leave It to You
* • The Two Old Women
A second book, also published by Philip Allan in that publisher’s “Creeps series,” is a novel rather than a short story collection; it is nonetheless considered to be a sequel to the preceding one:
Veils of Fear (Philip Allan, 1934)
The book is not presently included in CFIV, but Bill Pronzini says that in addition to featuring a reporter named Neil Martyn, “There are some homicides and suspense elements but they seem to be pretty much connected to the occult horror theme. Settings range from Port Said to the Far East.”
On this basis, Al Hubin has indicated that the book will appear in an upcoming Addenda installment to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, but with a dash to indicate that it is only marginally criminous.
Doug Anderson has more to say about the two books: “While Neil Martyn is the main point of view character, the [returning] series characters in Veils of Fear are Geoffrey Aylett and Padre Jan Vaneken. Both appear, along with others (Peter Verrey; one Vereker, no first name given; and Doctor Strang) in Devils’ Drums (and two – Vereker and Strang – are mentioned in the short story ‘The Two Old Women’.”
The final work of fiction from the pen of Vivian Meik is also the only one which to this date has been published in the US, also a novel:
The Curse of the Red Shiva. (Philip Allan, 1936; Hillman-Curl, 1938.)
Jacket blurb: Taken from the Hillman-Curl edition.
“You will gasp for mercy for your children as I have cried for mine, and only the striking blade will be the answer. Behold! By Red Shiva I curse you!” A knife gleamed in her hand as it flashed downward and buried itself in her heart.
More than a century and a half since those words were uttered by a beautiful Indian slave to Peter Trenton, adventurer …
But now, after five generations, Sir Peter Trenton was found under Westminster Bridge, brutally murdered, a gold mohur tied around his neck.
Sir Derek Balliol had guessed the significance of the series of murders – but he was killed before he could speak! Only Verrey was left … and against him were pitted the cunning powers behind the newly-awakened race consciousness of the East.
Review excepts: [Isaac Anderson, New York Times] “This is just the book for those who like tall tales of Oriental intrigue and of menaces to the supremacy of the white race.”
[Saturday Review of Literature]. “Blood and thunder yarn of slinking Eurasians, renegade whites, stranglings, etc., with reasonably good detective trimmings.”
[Bill Pronzini, earlier on the Mystery*File blog]. “A Sax Rohmerish adventure mystery with a screwball plot.”
Short fiction: [This list, which includes reprint appearances, is probably not complete. Doug Anderson promises that his edition of Devils’ Drums will include a more extensive bibliography as well as additional details of the author’s life, including where and when he lost one eye.]
* • Chimoro. To be included in the expanded Devils’ Drums. From Doug Anderson: “This is an extract from a chapter of one of his autobiographical volumes, Zambezi Interlude (1932). It reads exactly like one of his stories.”
* • The Doll of Death. From Devils’ Drums. Reprinted in The Sixth Pan Book of Horror Stories, Herbert van Thal, editor; Pan, pb, 1965. Televised on Night Gallery, NBC, Sunday, May 20, 1973.
* • A Honeymoon in Hate. From Devils’ Drums. Reprinted in A Wave of Fear, Hugh Lamb, editor; W. H. Allen, 1973; Taplinger, US, hc, 1974.
— Mikalongwa, Angoniland. English refugees Blair Taylor and Martin Kemp are bitter rivals for the love of the beautiful Estelle. When she decides to marry Taylor, Kemp turns to black magic and drives him to madness and suicide. Estelle avenges her beloved by marrying his murderer, having first infected herself with the blood of a leper. On their wedding night she performs a macabre striptease …
* • I Leave It to You. From ?? Included in Another Corner Seat Omnibus, Anonymous, editor; Grafton Publications, March 1945. To be included in the expanded Devils’ Drums.
* • The Two Old Women. From Monsters, A Collection of Uneasy Tales, Charles Birkin, editor. Philip Allan, 1934. Reprinted in The Fourth Pan Book of Horror Stories, Herbert van Thal, editor; Pan, pb, 1963. To be included in the expanded Devils’ Drums.
September 8th, 2008 at 5:42 am
We are trying to reissue Meik’s The People of the Leaves and would love to have as much information on him as possible. His euphoria over the Juangs is contagious. What made him fall in love with these shy people (to the extent that he spent a few months with them) is intriguing.
Any information on Meik will be greatly appreciated.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:21 am
Vivian (Bernard) Meik (1894-1955), British author of suspense and horror, engineer, traveller and war correspondent, seems to have led an interesting life the details of which remain shrouded in mystery.
Supposedly born in Calcutta, India (on the basis of information Meik supplied on his flight to the US for permanent residency; he boarded a flight from Frankfort, Germany on June 21, 1947 and arrived in NY on June 22, 1947 – his passport was issued June 14, 1947, a week before his 53rd birthday), Meik claimed he was born at sea on a British vessel. Meik’s flight document revealed his height to be 6 feet and his complexion swarthy.
One outstanding feature that he had when he landed in the USA was that he was missing his left eye. There was no indication that his wife ever joined him.
As a journalist, he claimed falsely to have been employed by British Intelligence and was convicted under the Official Secrets Act in 1943 for improperly obtaining documents from a Foreign Office employee and was sentenced to two years imprisonment.
Apparently a dedicated world traveller, Meik travelled in Africa, India and the Far East. He was wounded in both wars, being a noted war correspondent in the Second. He was also a railway engineer in India and Africa, and witnessed many inexplicable events that inspired his fiction.
His novels include Veils of Fear (1934), The Curse of the Red Shiva (1936) and short stories collections, Devils’ Drums (1933), a collection of related stories set in Africa, and Monsters (1934). The Curse of the Red Shiva is an Oriental fantasy about a curse that strikes every five generations.
His account of his stint in Nyasaland (formerly Malawi) in colonial times – when one wore a collar and tie to sit ‘by a Zambezi backwater’– was published in Zambezi Interlude (1932) which included fascinating anecdotes of people, places, pythons and is now considered a very rare Central African title of great railways interest. His other works include Nemesis over Hitler (1941).
The People of the Leaves (1931) is an absorbing account of the obscure Juang or Patuas (meaning people of the leaves or leaf-wearers) tribe located in Orissa. How he fell in love with this extremely shy, withdrawn people makes for fascinating reading. An attempt was made as early as 1871, as noted by LSS O’Malley (Modern India and the West,1941), to introduce the outward garb of civilization by getting the women to discard the girdle of leaves which was their only dress and wear cotton cloth in its stead. Those who came within the sphere of British influence were clothed by order of the government, and their chief was persuaded to do the same good work for others. W W Hunter (The Indian Empire, 1893) refers to the incident: “An English officer called a meeting of the tribe, made a speech, and solemnly handed out pieces of cloth to the women, to the number of nearly 2000, after which the leaves which had clad them were gathered in a heap and burnt.” But the new dress code did not apparently go down well with the tribe. Writes O’Malley: “Little has since been heard of the tribe, but a first-hand account given in 1931 by Mr Vivian Meik in The People of the Leaves shows that, in the State of Rairakhol at least, they are at the nadir of primitivism. He lived for some time among them and found that they still wore leaves and nothing else, lived from day to day on the fruit which they gathered from the forest in which they lived and on the roots which they grubbed up either with their hands or with pieces of flint, like the men of the Stone Age, could not count above five, and in their sexual relations observed no table of kindred or affinity but were more like animals. As foe western influences they had not even a conception of the existence of Europeans except in a legendary sort of way.” But to compare Meik’s work with Verrier Elwin’s and dismiss it as a book written by a casual visitor or holiday-maker, as did S C Roy, is uncharitable. “. . .the more or less imaginary and overdrawn account of an unnamed tribe, with perhaps just a few grains or distorted fact hidden under a cartload of fiction,” was how Roy characterised Meik’s account. Roy seems to be a victim of his presumptions, as his verdict was not based on any field work either. Meik never claimed that he was out to make an anthropological study of the Juangs. It was intended – continues to remain – as an account of his personal encounter with and fascination for the leaf-wearers.
December 30th, 2010 at 11:40 am
A rather trivial addendum which gives some information about Meik’s son Colvin :
Vivian Meik of 2 Thames Ho., Queen Street Place, London EC4 – occupation given as “Railways†– sailed from Southampton for Beira, Mozambique on 22 November 1926 on the ship Adolph Woermann with his wife Bernadette (b. 1898) and their son Colvin (b. 1918). Their final destination was given as Nyassaland.
NB. Meik, Colvin B. P. D. I. M. was married in North East Surrey registration district in the first quarter of 1940 to Doreen Hopps. And a Colvin B Meik of 5 Langford Close, London NW8 sailed on his own from Liverpool to New York on 6 November 1950 on the ship American Chief, his occupation given as “Farmer.â€
January 6th, 2011 at 10:53 pm
Thanks for the input, John — very much appreciated!
March 26th, 2011 at 10:08 am
im related to viv meik
March 26th, 2011 at 11:15 am
In what way, if I may ask? Can you tell us anything more about him?
— Steve
June 2nd, 2011 at 5:46 am
This is for Tyler who says he’s related to Viv Meik. Can you, Tyler, give more information on his life? Did he leave behind any papers, diaries which might throw light on his encounter with the Juangs of Orissa?
December 20th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
Good news! An email from Doug Anderson arrived yesterday:
Hi Steve:
Just thought I’d let you know that my Vivian Meik book, completed 8 years ago, is now out (from a different publisher than the one who sat on it for seven+ years!). Details at:
http://wormwoodiana.blogspot.com/2011/11/vivian-meiks-devils-drums.html
All best,
Doug
February 5th, 2012 at 8:25 am
Hi
I’m a great grand daughter of vivian meik, I’m staying with my dad (colvin’s youngest son) and have been talking to him about his family. Maybe he could fill in a few blanks?
Would be great to hear from you
Natasha
February 5th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Hi Natasha
I’ve sent your comment on to Doug Anderson, among one or two others I think would be interested in getting in touch. Thanks for stopping by!
Steve
February 5th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Doug just told me about the new blog he just started this month. Its focus is Lesser Known Writers of Weird Fiction, one of whom is Vivian Meik. Here’s the link:
http://desturmobed.blogspot.com/2012/01/vivian-meik.html
May 5th, 2014 at 12:51 pm
I have found these entries about Vivian Meik most interesting. My Grandfather was George Gelder (1879-1923) and he worked for the Calcutta Port Commissioners as a Boat Gunner at Kidderpore Docks, Calcutta with V. B Meik (believed to be Vivian Bernard Meik) and B. V. Mann (Source: 1915 edition of Thacker’s Indian Directory). A Boat Gunner or Supervisor was responsible for checking the ingress and egress of all craft entering or leaving the Docks.
I have also located Vivian Meik’s Baptism and marriage records in the British Library India Office Records.
I would be interested to know whether Vivian Meik has left any documents/memorabilia/recollections of his time working with George Gelder and/or at Kidderpore Docks or whether this features in any of his writing. Given the date of Vivian Meik’s marriage I wonder if there are any photographs or guest lists of the occasion and whether his workmate George Gelder attended.
Look forward to hearing from you.
John Gelder
May 5th, 2014 at 6:18 pm
I’m also a (rather distant] kinsperson of VBM, a fifth colusin twice removed, and fascinated by his genealogy – so far I’ve traced and linked nearly 200 related MEIKs dating from 1684 to the present. I’ve no intention of publishing the info I’ve gathered, but would be happy to share some of it with trusted kinsfolk.