William Maxwell (writer)
William Keepers Maxwell, Jr. (born August 16, 1908 in Lincoln , Illinois , † July 31, 2000 in New York City ) was an American journalist and writer .
biography
After school in Chicago , he studied journalism at the University of Illinois and the Harvard University and was subsequently journalist in the magazine The New Yorker , whose editorial belonged he almost forty years.
His literary career began in 1934 with his debut novel Bright Center of Heaven and had in 1945 with the publication of his novel time close (The Folded Leaf) the first great success. In it he describes the relationship between the unequal friends Spud Latham and Lymie Peters, which is put to the test by their feelings for the professor's daughter Sally and the resulting jealousy of Spud.
In the following years he published several more novels, including They came like swallows (They Came Like Swallows, 1937), See you tomorrow (So Long, See You Tomorrow, 1980) and By the time it gets darker (Time Will Darken It , 1948), which was published in German by Paul Zsolnay Verlag in translations by Jutta Prasse, Benjamin Schwarz and Matthias Müller. In addition to his novels, he also published numerous short stories and essays .
For So Then Until Tomorrow (So Long, See You Tomorrow), alongside John Updike, he received the 1982 National Book Award in the Prose (Fiction) category. Maxwell also served as President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters from 1969 to 1972 . In 1970 he was awarded the William Dean Howells Medal by the American Academy of Arts and Letters .
"His voice is one of the brightest and most astute in American literature"
Works (selection)
- See you tomorrow. Roman ("So long, see you tomorrow"). Fischer-Taschenbuchverlag, Frankfurt / M. 2001, ISBN 3-596-11487-X .
- It will get darker over time. Roman ("Time will darken it"). Fischer-Taschenbuchverlag, Frankfurt / M. 1999, ISBN 3-596-11486-1 .
- They came like swallows. Roman ("They came like swallows"). Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-552-04996-7 .
- Bright center of heaven. a novel. Harper, London 1934.
- Early novels and stories. Library of America , New York 2008, ISBN 978-1-59853-016-2 .
- Time of proximity. Roman ("The folded leaf"). Verlag SZ, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-86615-541-1 .
Secondary literature
- Charles Baxter, Charles Collier, and Edward Hirsch (Eds.): A William Maxwell Portrait: Memories and Appreciations . Norton, New York and London 2004, ISBN 0393057712 .
- Barbara Burkhardt: William Maxwell: A Literary Life . Illinois University Press, Urbana IL 2005, ISBN 0252030184 .
- Barbara Burkhardt (Ed.): Conversations with William Maxwell . University Press of Mississippi, Jackson MS 2012, ISBN 9781617032547 .
- Gretchen Comba: William Maxwell: A Checklist of the Primary Sources . In: Resources for American Literary Study 32, 2007, pp. 267-96.
Web links
- Literature by and about William Maxwell in the catalog of the German National Library
- Short biography and reviews of works by William Maxwell at perlentaucher.de
- William Maxwell in nndb (English)
source
- Author portrait. In: William Maxwell: Time Close. (SZ library). 2008.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Maxwell, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Maxwell, William Keepers Jr. (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American journalist and writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 16, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lincoln , Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 31, 2000 |
| Place of death | New York City |