Paul West (writer)
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This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (December 2010) |
| Paul West | |
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Paul West in Florida, 2010
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| Born | 23 February 1930 Eckington, Derbyshire, England |
| Died | 18 October 2015 Ithaca, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Author |
| Genre | Novels, poetry, memoirs, essays |
| Spouse | Diane Ackerman |
Paul West (23 February 1930 – 18 October 2015) was a novelist, poet, and essayist.[1] He was born in Eckington, Derbyshire in England to Alfred and Mildred (Noden) West. Before his death, he resided in Ithaca, New York, with his wife Diane Ackerman, a writer, poet, and naturalist. West is the author of more than 50 books.[2] "He has published poetry, criticism, essays, memoirs (including an extended, sometimes hilarious meditation on learning to swim in middle age) and...novels of an unsettling nonuniformity."[3]
Contents
Early life[edit]
West grew up in a family that loved books and considered the written word to be sacred. This love of books pushed him to gain a diverse education through his studies at Oxford and Columbia Universities.
Awards[edit]
West's literary craft has earned him the American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award (1985), the Lannan Prize for Fiction (1993), the Grand Prix Halperine-Kaminsky Award (1993), and three Pushcart Prizes (1987, 1991, 2003). West is also a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a New York Public Library Literary Lion (1987), and a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et Lettres, 1996, France).[4]
Analysis[edit]
West has an eclectic style. Common themes in his works include psychic abuse, failed relationships, and societal inadequacy. However, there is also a strong sense of self-discovery and survival. His works are an outpouring on his view of the human condition. In an interview with David W. Madden, West remarked that he always listens to some kind of classical music while writing and composes all of his works using a typewriter. The revision process is fundamental for him and one he laboriously proceeds through with each literary piece.
West and his novel The Very Rich Hours of Count von Stauffenberg figure prominently in a chapter in Nobel Laureate J. M. Coetzee's book Elizabeth Costello. Coetzee's title character is so disturbed by the horrors West describes in his book that she questions, in a lecture given at a conference in Amsterdam on evil, whether a writer can immerse themselves in such darkness without suffering some sort of personal harm. West, unbeknown to Costello until only hours before her very pointed lecture, is also attending the conference.[5]
Personal life[edit]
In 2003, West had a stroke, which his wife, Diane Ackerman, has written about in her book One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage and the Language of Healing.[6] He died on 18 October 2015 at the age of 85 in Ithaca, New York, from pneumonia.[1]
Works[edit]
Long fiction[edit]
- A Quality of Mercy, 1961
- Tenement of Clay, 1965
- Alley Jaggers, 1966
- I'm Expecting to Live Quite Soon, 1970
- Caliban's Filibuster, 1971
- Bela Lugosi's White Christmas, 1972
- Colonel Mint, 1972
- Gala, 1976
- The Very Rich Hours of Count von Stauffenberg, 1980
- Rat Man of Paris, 1986
- The Place in Flowers, Where Pollen Rests, 1988
- Lord Byron's Doctor, 1989
- The Women of Whitechapel and Jack the Ripper, 1991
- Love's Mansion, 1992
- The Tent of Orange Mist, 1995
- Sporting with Amaryllis, 1996
- Life With Swan, 1997
- Terrestrials, 1997
- OK: The Corral, the Earps and Doc Holliday, 2000
- The Dry Danube: A Hitler Forgery, 2000
- A Fifth of November, 2001
- Cheops: A Cupboard for the Sun, 2002
- The Immensity of the Here and Now: A Novel of 9.11, 2003
Short fiction[edit]
- The Universe and Other Fictions, 1988
Poetry[edit]
- Poems, 1952
- The Spellbound Horses, 1960
- The Snow Leopard, 1964
- Alphabet Poetry
- Tea with Osiris, 2006
Non-fiction[edit]
Books[edit]
- The Growth of the Novel, 1959
- Byron and the Spoiler's Art, 1960 – 2nd ed. 1992
- I, Said the Sparrow, 1963
- The Modern Novel, 1963
- Robert Penn Warren, 1964
- The Wine of Absurdity: Essays in Literature and Consolation, 1966
- Words for a Deaf Daughter, 1969
- Out of My Depths: A Swimmer in the Universe, 1983
- Sheer Fiction, 1987
- Portable People, 1990
- Sheer Fiction, vol. 2, 1991
- Sheer Fiction, vol. 3, 1994
- James Ensor, 1991
- My Mother's Music, 1996
- A Stroke of Genius: Illness and Self-Discovery, 1995
- The Secret Lives of Words, 2000
- Master Class, Scenes From A Fiction Workshop, 2001
- Oxford Days, 2002
- Sheer Fiction, vol. 4, 2004
- My Father's War, 2005
- The Shadow Factory, 2008
Articles[edit]
- West, Paul (January 2009). "Memoir : Cadets : On not flying in the Royal Air Force". Harper's Magazine 318 (1904): 58–62.
- West, Paul (Summer 2012). "A Feast of Fat Things". The American Scholar 81 (3): 68–80.
Edited text[edit]
- Byron: Twentieth Century Views, 1963
References[edit]
- ^ a b Grimes, William (21 October 2015). "Paul West, Writer Who Shoveled Absurdity Into His Books, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
- ^ West, Paul (1 June 2007). "Mem, mem, mem". The American Scholar. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
- ^ Segal, Lore (16 February 1986). "The Flasher of the Apocalypse". The New York Times Book Review. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
- ^ McPherson and Company, Publishers. "Paul West, Selected Bibliography, including Vita" [1] accessed 16 December 2010.
- ^ Lodge, David (20 November 2003). "Disturbing the Peace". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
- ^ Ackerman, Diane (11 May 2011). "After a Stroke, Relearning Home". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
- Madden, David W. (1993). Understanding Paul West. University of South Carolina. ISBN 0-87249-886-7. OCLC 27815373.
- Cycolopedia of World Authors, 3rd Ed. Vol. 5, Sim-Z. "Paul West". pp 2137–2138.
External links[edit]
| Wikiquote has quotations related to: Paul West (writer) |
- "Word Patriots—Paul West Early Years" November 2011 radio program/podcast discussing West's early work; hosted by Mark Seinfelt.
- "An Interview With Paul West", David W. Madden. A 1989 interview
- Brief biography from Answers.com
- 'Mem, Mem, Mem' After a stroke, West struggles to say how the mental world of aphasia looks and feels. According to his wife Diane Ackerman: "this is an excerpt from The Shadow Factory, the aphasic memoir West dictated with such struggle and resolve, 'forcing language back on itself.' "
- "The Paul West Experience – Liberating the Microcosms" An homage from former student Edward Desautels, delivered at the 4th Biennial &Now Festival of Innovative Writing & the Literary Arts, 2009, Buffalo, NY as part of the panel "Purple Mind: A Paul West Panel."
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