Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Charles John Klosterman June 5, 1972 Breckenridge, Minnesota, United States |
| Occupation | Author, columnist |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | Music Pop culture Sports |
| Spouse | Melissa Maerz (2009–present) |
Charles John "Chuck" Klosterman (born June 5, 1972) is an American author and essayist who has written books and essays focused on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for Esquire and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for The New York Times Magazine. Klosterman is the author of eight books including two novels and the essay collection Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto.
Early life
Klosterman was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, the youngest of seven children of Florence and William Klosterman.[1] He is of German and Polish descent.[2] He grew up on a farm in nearby Wyndmere, North Dakota,[3] and was raised Roman Catholic. He graduated from Wyndmere High School in 1990 and from the University of North Dakota in 1994.[citation needed]
Career
After college, Klosterman was a journalist in Fargo, North Dakota, and later an arts critic for the Akron Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, before moving to New York City in 2002.[4]
Klosterman was a senior writer for Spin and wrote a column titled "My Back Pages" (formerly "Rant and Roll Over" and "### Words from Chuck Klosterman").[5] He has written for GQ, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.[6]
Klosterman participated in an e-mail exchange on ESPN's Page 2 with writer Bill Simmons in August 2004.[7] In September 2005, Simmons interviewed him in his "Curious Guy" segment.[8] Though initially recognized for his rock writing, Klosterman has written extensively about sports and began contributing articles to Page 2 on November 8, 2005.[9] The ESPN site featured his week-long blog from Super Bowl XL in early 2006,[10] and a weekend-long blog covering his experience at the 2007 Final Four.[11]
In 2008, Klosterman spent the summer as the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the University of Leipzig's Institute for American Studies in Leipzig, Germany.[12]
In 2009, Klosterman married journalist Melissa Maerz.[13]
In 2011, Klosterman joined Grantland.com, a now defunct sports and pop culture web site, which was conceived and led by former ESPN employee and founder of TheRinger.com, Bill Simmons. Klosterman was a consulting editor.[14]
He also appeared in the first three episodes of the Adult Swim web feature Carl's Stone Cold Lock of the Century of the Week, discussing the year's football games as an animated version of himself and trying (unsuccessfully) to plug his book as Carl cuts him off each time. He vanished after the third episode, with Carl giving the explanation of "He had to go do a book tour and also he didn't like how I kept calling him 'pencilneck'".
In 2012, Klosterman appeared in the documentary film Shut Up and Play the Hits, as the interviewer for an extended interview with the film's subject, LCD Soundsystem leader James Murphy that is featured throughout the film.
In 2015, Klosterman appeared on episodes 6 and 7 of the 1st season of IFC show, Documentary Now! as a music critic for the fictional band "The Blue Jean Committee."
His ninth book, titled But What If We're Wrong: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past, was published June 7, 2016. It visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear in the future to those who will perceive it as the distant past.[15]
Books
Klosterman is the author of nine books and a set of cards.
Non-fiction
- Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural Nörth Daköta (2001), a humorous memoir/history on the phenomenon of glam metal
- Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story (2005), a road narrative focused on the relationship between rock music, mortality, and romantic love
- I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) (2013)[16]
- But What If We're Wrong: Thinking about the Present as if it were the Past (2016)[17]
- HYPERtheticals: 50 Questions for Insane Conversations (2010), a set of 50 cards featuring hypothetical questions[18]
Essay collections
- Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto (2003), a best-selling collection of pop culture essays
- Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas (2006), a collection of articles, previously published columns, and a semi-autobiographical novella
- Eating the Dinosaur (2009), a collection of previously unpublished essays
Novels
- Downtown Owl: A Novel (2008), a novel describing life in the fictional town of Owl, North Dakota
- The Visible Man (2011), a novel about a man who utilizes invisibility to observe others[19]
References
- ^ "Maerz-Klosterman | INFORUM | Fargo, ND". Inforum. August 9, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
- ^ "Tony DuShane | Chuck Klosterman – An Awesomely Long Interview". The Nervous Breakdown. November 12, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
- ^ Klosterman, Chuck (April 27, 2003). "Everyone Knows This Is Somewhere". New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
- ^ Chuck Klosterman, "Rubber City Meets the Crossroad," The Village Voice, 15 October 2002.
- ^ Cityfile, "Chuck Klosterman," Gawker, 3 February 2008. Archived 2015-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Cityfile, "Chuck Klosterman," Gawker, 3 February 2008. Archived 2015-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Klosterman, Chuck and Simmons, Bill (August 17, 2004). "Face-Off: A late wake-up call". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved November 3, 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Simmons, Bill (September 27, 2005). "Curious Guy: Chuck Klosterman". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved November 3, 2009.
- ^ Klosterman, Chuck (November 8, 2005). "Just keep my sports the same". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved November 3, 2009.
- ^ Klosterman, Chuck (January 30, 2006). "Dying a Super Death". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved November 3, 2009.
- ^ Klosterman, Chuck (March 30, 2007). "Taking aim at the Final Four". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved November 3, 2009.
- ^ American Studies Leipzig, "New Picador Professor Chuck Klosterman," 28 May, 2008.
- ^ Dresser, Ashley (September 30, 2009). "Klosterman and Maerz: two hipsters say "I do" | mndaily.com – Serving the University of Minnesota Community Since 1900". mndaily.com. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
- ^ "All-Star Roster of Writers and Editors to Join New ESPN Web Site". Retrieved April 29, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Jones, Nate Chuck Klosterman Is Writing a Book About the Possibility of Us Being Wrong About, Well, Everything Vulture. January 20, 2016
- ^ "I Wear the Black Hat | Book by Chuck Klosterman – Simon & Schuster". Books.simonandschuster.com. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
- ^ Frase, Brigitte Review: 'But What if We're Wrong?' by Chuck Klosterman Minneapolis Star Tribune. June 24, 2016
- ^ "HYPERtheticals by Chuck Klosterman". Random House. June 15, 2010. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
- ^ "The Visible Man".
External links
- 1972 births
- Living people
- American essayists
- American humorists
- American music critics
- American music journalists
- American people of German descent
- American people of Polish descent
- American sportswriters
- Postmodern writers
- University of North Dakota alumni
- People from Breckenridge, Minnesota
- People from Richland County, North Dakota
- Writers from New York City
- Writers from Minnesota
- Writers from North Dakota
- Writers from Ohio
- Former Roman Catholics