Trevanian

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Rodney William Whitaker (born June 12, 1931 in Granville , New York , † December 14, 2005 in West Country , United Kingdom ) was an American writer who was best known under his pseudonym Trevanian . Since his books sometimes span very different genres, it was initially assumed that Trevanian was a group of writers.

Life

Rodney William Whitaker was born on June 12, 1931 in Granville, New York.

He studied at the University of Washington , where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. At the time he was writing a play called "Eve of the Bursting". After earning a PhD in communications and film from Northwestern University , he taught at Dana College in Blair , Nebraska for a period . He later won a scholarship, which enabled him to study further in England.

He married Diane Brandon, with whom he had four children: two sons, Lance and Christian, and two daughters, Alexandra and Tomasin. They lived together for seven years in the Basque Country , a region that Trevanian often made the setting for his novels.

Rodney Whitaker died on December 14, 2005 of complications from a lung disease in the English West Country .

plant

Whitaker wrote under many pseudonyms , including Nicholas Seare, Beñat LeCagot, Edoard Moran, but he was best known as Trevanian. He said his wife chose the name after reading a book by historian GM Trevelyan. His first two novels, "The Eiger Sanction" (1972) and "The Loo Sanction" (1973), were both thrillers that parodied the espionage genre. "The Eiger Sanction" was made into a film in 1975 with Clint Eastwood in the lead role.

A year later he released "The Main". This was followed by "Shibumi" (1979) and "The Summer of Katya" (1983), a psychological thriller. It wasn't until fifteen years later that "Incident at Twenty-Mile" (1998) appeared. In 2005 he published his last novel, "The Crazyladies of Pearl Street" (2005). However, Whitaker's agent Michael V. Carlisle mentions that a publication is planned for works on which Whitaker worked between 1983 and 1998. They are to be published under the name Trevanian.

Under his real name he published "The Language of Film" (1970). As Nicholas Seare he wrote "1339 ... or So: Being an Apology for a Peddler" (1975) as well as the medieval story "Rude Tales and Glorious: The Account of Various Feats of Brawn and Bawd Performed by King Arthur and His Knights of the Table Round "(1983).

His ten books, translated into fourteen languages, sold more than seven million copies and became international bestsellers.

literature

Published under the pseudonym 'Trevanian'.

  • 1972 - The Eiger Sanction (On behalf of the dragon)
  • 1973 - The Loo Sanction (The Expert)
  • 1976 - The Main (A Heartbeat to Eternity)
  • 1979 - Shibumi (Shibumi or the silent death)
  • 1983 - The Summer of Katya (Katya)
  • 1998 - Incident at Twenty-Mile
  • 2005 - The Crazyladies of Pearl Street

Published under the pen name 'Nicholas Seare'.

  • 1975 - 1339 or So ... Being An Apology for A Pedlar
  • 1983 - Rude Tales And Glorious

Short stories

  • 1978 - "Switching", Trevanian. Playboy Magazine.
  • 1979 - "Minutes of a Village Meeting", Beñat Le Cagot. Harper's Monthly.
  • 1984 - "That Fox-of-a-Beñat", Beñat Le Cagot, translated by Trevanian. Yale Literary Magazine
  • 1984 - "The Secrets of Miss Plimsoll, Private Secretary", Trevanian. Redbook.
  • 2000 - "The Apple Tree", Trevanian. The Antioch Review
  • 2003 - "Waking to the Spirit Clock", Trevanian. The Antioch Review

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Trevanian.com http://www.trevanian.com/ . January 2009.
  2. ↑ German IMDB http://www.imdb.de/title/tt0072926 .
  3. ^ New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/arts/17trevanian.html . January 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Trevanian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Whitaker, Rodney William (real name); Seare, Nicholas (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Granville , New York
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 2005
Place of death West Country , United Kingdom