David Derek Stacton
American writer (1923-1968)
David Derek Stacton (born Arthur Lionel Kingsley Evans, May 27, 1923 – January 19, 1968) was an American novelist, historian and poet.
Biography
Stacton was born in San Francisco. In author profiles, however, he claimed to have been born April 25, 1925, in Minden, Nevada (several of his books are set in Nevada). Stacton attended Stanford University from 1941 to 1943. He served in the Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector, and wrote a letter as "David Stacton" decrying the compliant American masses to Dwight Macdonald's Politics in 1945. He legally changed his name to David Derek Stacton on September 3, 1946. He changed his name to disassociate himself from his father, and because he believed the surname was unique to him in the United States (as a child he had been known to friends as "Lyonel"). He attended San Francisco State College from 1947 to 1948, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in January 1951. He lived in Europe from 1951 to 1954, 1960–1962, and 1964–1965. Most of his books as David Stacton were originally published in England.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “David Derek Stacton” is american writer (1923-1968). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through David, Derek and Stacton, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american writer (1923-1968)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5232932. VIAF identifies the subject as 7911769. The Library of Congress control number is no93012010. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1923, 1968, 1925 and 1941.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “David Derek Stacton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.