How I Discovered Sci-Fi

I think I began to read science-fiction books at the age of ten – my elder sister was a Sci-Fi fan and did read the French magazine “Fiction” in which were edited mainly translations of American SF short stories, and excerpts of some larger novels from time to time. Thus I remember being captivated by Brian Aldiss’ novel Hothouse that I did read spread on the carpet in our living-room.

And I began to read the stories in English before the age of fourteen through special circumstances. Let me explain the story: as a French boy, I happened to be a boarder in a private religious school, which was managed by a congregation named the Brothers of Christian Schools. In the evening after the lessons and also after dinner, we had long hours of study in a large study room, watched by an overseer who walked between the rows of desks, ensuring that we did “real work”. That is, we were to be learning something or writing, but reading ordinary books was forbidden; we were there to study our lessons and not to do idle things such as reading novels.

It happens that I was rather quick as a boy – I am speaking about that time, because now I wonder… – and generally I had completed my work before the end of the allotted study time; therefore I had nothing to do during these long evenings sessions. And I was eager to read anything rather than waiting for the time to pass, so I devised a stratagem: I began to borrow English books from the school’s library. The first time the overseer saw me reading a book, he told me severely:    
-“You, there! Give me this book you are reading! Don’t you know it is forbidden?”       
-“But, sir…”  
-“No but. Give me that!”      
I handed him the book. It was one of these abridged books that use a limited number of words: by this time, having begun my English courses less than two years before, I was not able to read a true book yet. I am not completely sure of my memory, but it may have been an abridged version of David Copperfield or some other tale from Dickens. When he saw the title, the overseer opened the book to be sure, and then handed it back to me.            
-“OK, you can go on” and he resumed his tour.

I understood he couldn’t read properly English; and thus, from that day on, I had the freedom to read as many books I wanted, provided they would be not written in French! Spurred by my desire to read, I made quick progress in English, and at the end of the year I could bring in true English books. That is how I began to read original American and English Sci-Fi novels, and not their French translation. After a year or two, I realized the translations were often made in haste and not very well done – except for the major pieces of work – thus I decided to always read the books in their original language, provided of course I could understand it!