Show Prolific writer struggles with survival family and friends He felt encased in a block of ice with no possibility of human warmth” Despite the range of his ideas By BOB WILLIAMS Los Angelos Times Calif — HERMOSA BEACH In a modest house on a quiet side street over a hill from the Pacific Ocean lives Leonard Wibberley — prodigious author fiery Irish expatriate and his encyclopedic knowledge of almost every subject life-affirmi- ng himself as an “intellectually deep thinker” He no longer believes that his work will have any lasting influence on his fellow human beings People who do not know his name will recognize the title of States and thus misses its chance to benefit from America’s postwar generosity toward defeated enemies People who have not read the book have likely seen the Peter tele- Moon” Los Angeles Times Photo Or the Terry-Thomon the “Mouse sequel Leonard Wibberley a man who has written about 100 books is shown above in his modest house in Hermosa Beach Calif At the age of 67 and in failing health after a heart attack he is learning to cope with survival as Thousands of characters clamoring in Wibberley’s mind to be created have not let him rest until he has told their story Once the characters were so insistent that he sat down and wrote a novel about them in three days For decades he averaged three or four books a year Critics delighted by Wibberley’s “enormous beard” and “snorting disdain for the status quo” dubbed him the “roaring philosopher” and compared his irreverent poking at human folly to the work of Swift Orwell and Anatole France Fellow novelist Robert Nathan praised him as the “wittiest most penetrating satirist writing in English today” Wibberley is still a legend among some older members of the Los Angeles Times editorial staff They remember a roister- ing hard-drinkin- g reporter from the old school whose fierce Irish temper often turned diagainst editors who tried to rect his massive output or against any man who dared speak ill of the Oiild Sod With the success of his first “Mouse” book in 1954 Wibber- ley stomped out of The Times leaving behind a newspaper career that stretched back to major publications in New York Washington DC and London Then about eight years ago a heart attack interrupted Wib-berey- ’s plunge across the literary landscape A multiple-bypass operation saved his life but left him to nurse the psychic wounds from that nearly fatal episode It has taken him the better part of two years to complete his latest volume an adventure story for juveniles Books for the young he says “express the child in me the laughing skipping adventurous boy I was” But the characters and scenes no longer spring easily into life from his typewriter pell-me- ll “They are not there any more” he mused “A large part of the world has disappeared The juices dry up the fears ” come in the night He smiles and his wry grandfatherly grin is overcast sorrow He by a glittering-eye- d a heavy in speaks carefully British accent (though born in Dublin he was mostly raised and schooled in England) He seems even in his casual remarks to be reading from a poem or play “My life was complete when I had my heart attack” he said another’s personality” Like all great conversationalists he will summon up such thinkers as Erasmus Socrates and Thomas Aquinas and then spin off into topics such as the puzzling absence of a nucleus in neutrinos (electrically neutral subatomic particles) the tonal qualities of a Cremona violin and the pleasure of savoring a rare vintage wine He is troubled by the moral dilemma of abortion and appalled by the idea of discarding unborn children in tanks of formaldehyde When he thinks of it in “They brought my body back to life but a different person inhabited it This bloody stranger hated writing hated music couldn’t stand to be with his “Man’s religion is life and his purpose is to continue life” he said “Man himself may be a dead end but life — the life flowing through the universe — LOSE 9 I 20 30 LBS IN IN MONTH LI'L AUDREY'S DIET CENTER & AEROBICS SWIMMING POOL Weight Training Hydro Therapy Pool Arthritis New & Expectant Mom's Programs & Back Exercises — Guaranteed Results! no: LI'L AUDREY'S HEALTH SPA-US- 399-494- 9 A 441 20th St Ogden -- —I— z PUT THOSE OLD DIAMONDS SETTING! “I had walked and crawled down all the bloody corridors I had painted the portrait of my life filled in all the space and the foolishness of men and nathen the doctors pulled me back tions that diminishes life or from death They added five threatens to extinguish it entireinches of empty canvas on the ly he rises up like a Viking full corner and I was expected to fill of wrath and indignation Shop Monday and Tuesday 10-- Wednesday All stores closed Thursday Thanksgiving Day $13390 in Anchorage Alaska to a low of $9880 in Atlanta NOVEMBER GOAL! book-line- d where his typewriter waits It is a routine he has followed for most of the 30 years he has lived in his Hermosa Beach home Whatever he was whatever he is to become “I am a writer a storyteller” Wibberley’s favorite meeting place with “friends of the mind” is Reuben’s in nearby King Harbor There at a table overlooking the bay he practices the art of conversation It is he says the noblest of human pastimes the means by which we diminish our aloneness and “warm ourselves in the glow of US Department of Labor statistics showing the expenses of a retired couple (with husband aged 65 or older) in 25 major cities range from a! high of ty- pical retired couple in an urban area needs about $10600 a year to support an adequate budget says a newsletter from the American Council of Life Insurance The trade association quotes and “climbs those bloody stairs” to his study his most celebrated novel “The Mouse That Roared” a satiric comedy in which the mythical Duchy of Grand Fenwick inadvertently conquers the United vision reruns WASHINGTON (UPI) — A self-doub- ts croachment of age and illness on talent the deafening silence that comes when fame has faded Wibberley has written more than 100 books a creative outpouring that would exhaust a battalion of ordinary authors ht need $10600 each year Through all his and unaccustomed struggles to produce yet another book or the syndicated newspaper column that has been his main source of livelihood in recent years Wibberley has maintained the strict regimen of a writer the holy isolation of those who live largely in their imaginations He works into the night then rises late drinks a pot of coffee the mechanical existence that outlasts dreams the en- 1982 9E Sunday Nov 21 er Typical retired couples “I may amuse them” he says “but I’m not going to change them” — late-nig- that can be raised in a conversation or book Wibberley no longer sees philosopher Now 67 and in failing health after a heart attack he fears neither death nor the world’s opinion He is waiting for fresh trumpets to sound and “learning to walk through walls” By such means he hopes to escape an end worse than death Sellers movie on Standard-Examin- nwrerr y inirBaift nrarmirMi must never end” Save 10-- 6 on 20 14 kt gold earrings These boots are made for walking by Correlir 6299 Reg $80 it's nice to find a pair of good looking quality boots that are made with the comfort of your feet in mind And even nicer to find them at 20 savings They're soft leather in your choice of black or dark taupe 572-- 9 10M from ZCMI Fashion Shoes (305) Save on styles all taken from our regular stock hundreds of dazzling pairs including some with stones Something special to brighten Christmas morning from Fine Jewelry (Styles similar to those shown) (205) Shop Monday and Tuesday 10-- 9 Wednesday 10-- 6 closed Thanksgiving Day You'll find 24 Hour Toll-Fr- 0 ee Direct Dial Shopping EVS 501 Loke 321-666- 6 Western I a evi i IE U S Utah (outside SIC) I ' I or write ZCMI Salt Lake City Utah 84137 V ' A ' i Jf 4 1 |