T. C. Boyle
Thomas Coraghessan Boyle, also known as T. C. Boyle and T. Coraghessan Boyle (born December 2, 1948), is an American novelist and short story writer. Since the mid-1970s, he has published sixteen novels and more than 100 short stories. He won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988,[3] for his third novel, World's End, which recounts 300 years in upstate New York.
T. C. Boyle | |
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T. C. Boyle at the Leipzig Book Fair 2009 | |
Born | Thomas John Boyle December 2, 1948 Peekskill, New York United States |
Pen name | T.C. Boyle |
Occupation | Author |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | State University of New York at Potsdam (B.A., English and History, 1968) University of Iowa Writers' Workshop (M.F.A., 1974) University of Iowa (Ph.D., 1977) [1][2] |
Period | 1975– |
Genre | Novels, comic novels |
Website | |
tcboyle |
He was previously a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.[1]
Early life
Boyle grew up in Peekskill, New York.[4] His name was originally Thomas John Boyle; he changed his middle name to Coraghessan when he was 17 after an ancestor of his mother.[5] He received a B.A. in English and History from the State University of New York at Potsdam (1968), an M.F.A. (1974) from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, and a Ph.D. (1977) from the University of Iowa.[1][2]
Literary characteristics
In Understanding T. C. Boyle, Paul William Gleason writes, "Boyle's stories and novels take the best elements of Carver's minimalism, Barth's postmodern extravaganzas, Garcia Marquez's magical realism, O'Connor's dark comedy and moral seriousness, and Dickens' entertaining and strange plots and brings them to bear on American life in an accessible, subversive, and inventive way".[6]
Many of Boyle's novels and short stories explore the baby boom generation, its appetites, joys, and addictions. His themes, such as the often-misguided efforts of the male hero and the slick appeal of the anti-hero, appear alongside brutal satire, humor, and magical realism. His fiction also explores the ruthlessness and the unpredictability of nature and the toll human society unwittingly takes on the environment.[7] His novels include World's End (1987, winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction); The Road to Wellville (1993);[8] and The Tortilla Curtain (1995, winner of France's Prix Médicis étranger).[9]
Boyle has published eight collections of short stories, including Descent of Man (1979), Greasy Lake (1985), If the River was Whiskey (1989), and Without a Hero (1994). His short stories regularly appear in the major American magazines, including The New Yorker,[10] Harper's,[11] Esquire,[12] The Atlantic Monthly[13] and Playboy, [14] as well as on the radio show, Selected Shorts.[15]
Personal life
T. C. Boyle is married to Karen Kvashay. They have three children and live in Montecito near Santa Barbara, California.[2] Their home was imperiled in the 2017 Thomas Fire which consumed 440 square miles and over 1,000 structures in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, killing a firefighter in the latter. The fires denuded drought-stricken hillsides of vegetation and torrential rains in January 2018 subsequently dislodged immense boulders and precipitated mudslides which destroyed over one hundred homes and killed almost two dozen of his neighbors. Over 10,000 people were evacuated from Montecito as a result of the sequence of natural disasters. Boyle extensively documented both calamities on his website, and additionally in an article for The New Yorker magazine.[16]
Boyle has said Gabriel García Márquez is his favorite novelist. He is also a fan of Flannery O'Connor and Robert Coover.[17]
Bibliography
Novels
- Water Music (1981) [18]
- Budding Prospects : A Pastoral (1984)
- World's End (1987)
- East is East (1990)
- The Road to Wellville (1993)
- The Tortilla Curtain (1995)
- Riven Rock (1998)
- A Friend of the Earth (2000)
- Drop City (2003)
- The Inner Circle (2004)
- Talk Talk (2006)
- The Women (2009)
- When the Killing's Done (2011)
- San Miguel (2012)
- The Harder They Come (2015)
- The Terranauts (2016)
- Outside Looking In (2019)
Short fiction
Collections
- Descent of Man (1979)
- Greasy Lake & Other Stories (1985)
- If the River Was Whiskey (1989)
- Without a Hero (1994)
- T.C. Boyle Stories (1998), compiles four earlier volumes of short fiction plus seven previously uncollected stories
- After The Plague (2001)
- Tooth and Claw (2005)
- The Human Fly (2005), previously published stories collected as young adult literature
- Wild Child & Other Stories (2010)
- T.C. Boyle Stories II (2013), compiles three volumes of short fiction (After the Plague, Tooth and Claw, Wild Child) with a new collection of 14 stories entitled "Death in Kitchawank"
- The Relive Box & Other Stories (2017)
List of stories
Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
The night of the satellite | 2013 | Boyle, T. Coraghessan (April 15, 2013). "The night of the satellite". The New Yorker. 89 (9): 62–69. | ||
Sic transit | 2013 | Boyle, T. Coraghessan (October 15, 2013). "Sic transit". Harper's. 89 (10): 85–94. | ||
The Relive Box | 2014 | Boyle, T. Coraghessan (March 17, 2014). "The Relive Box". The New Yorker. 90 (4): 58–65. | ||
Are we not men? | 2016 | Boyle, T. Coraghessan (November 7, 2016). "Are we not men?". The New Yorker. 92 (36): 56–63. | ||
After the mudslides, an absence in Montecito | 2018 | Boyle, T. Coraghessan (January 22, 2018). "After the mudslides, an absence in Montecito". The New Yorker. 94 (4). | ||
Asleep at the wheel | 2019 | Boyle, T. Coraghessan (February 11, 2019). "Asleep at the wheel". The New Yorker. 94 (48): 54–61. |
Edited anthology
- DoubleTakes (2004, co-edited with K. Kvashay-Boyle)
Essays and reporting
- Boyle, T. C. (January 2010). "My pain is worse than your pain". Harper's. 320 (1916): 57–64.
Chronology in Boyle's works
Time | Setting | Historical personage in the novel | |
---|---|---|---|
World's End (1987) | Late 17th century, 1949 and 1968 | Northern Westchester County near Peekskill, New York | |
Water Music (1982) | 1795 | London, Scotland, and Africa (source of the Niger) | Mungo Park |
The Road to Wellville (1993) | 1907 | Battle Creek, Michigan | John Harvey Kellogg |
Riven Rock (1998) | 1905–1925 | Montecito, Santa Barbara County, California | Stanley McCormick, Katharine McCormick |
The Women (2009) | Early 20th century up to 1930s | Wisconsin | Frank Lloyd Wright |
The Inner Circle (2004) | 1940s–50s | Bloomington, Indiana | Alfred Kinsey |
Drop City (2003) | 1970 | California, Alaska | |
Budding Prospects (1984) | 1980s | California | |
East Is East (1990) | 1980s | Georgia (American South) | Hu Tu Mei [19] |
The Tortilla Curtain (1995) | 1990s | Southern California | |
Talk Talk (2006) | 2000s | California and New York state | |
When the Killing's Done (2011) | 2000s, 1970s, 1940s | California (Channel Islands) | |
A Friend of the Earth (2000) | late 1980s; 2025–2026 | California, Oregon | |
The Harder They Come (2015) | 2011 | Mendocino County, California, including Fort Bragg and Willits |
Awards and honors
- Rea Award for the Short Story, 2014.
- Induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2009.
- Best American Stories selection, 2008 ("Admiral," from Harper's).
- Best American Stories selection, 2007 ("Balto," from The Paris Review).
- National Magazine Award, 2007 ("Wild Child," from McSweeney's).
- Ross Macdonald Award for body of work by a California writer, 2007.
- Audie Prize, 2007, for best audio performance by a writer (The Tortilla Curtain).
- Commonwealth Club of California Silver Medal for Literature, 76th annual awards, 2007 (Talk Talk).
- Evil Companions Literary Award, Denver Public Library, 2007.
- Founder's Award, Santa Barbara Writers' Conference, 2006.
- Best American Stories selection, 2004. "Tooth and Claw," from The New Yorker.
- Editors' Choice, New York Times Book Review, one of 9 best books of the year, 2003.
- O. Henry Award, 2003. "Swept Away," from The New Yorker.
- National Book Award Finalist, Drop City, 2003.
- Southern California Booksellers' Association Award for best fiction title of the year, 2002, for After the Plague.
- O.Henry Award, 2001. "The Love of My Life," from The New Yorker.
- The Bernard Malamud Prize in Short Fiction from the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, 1999, for T.C. Boyle Stories, the Collected Stories.
- O.Henry Award, 1999. "The Underground Gardens," from The New Yorker.
- Prix Médicis Étranger, Paris, for the best foreign novel of the year, 1997 (The Tortilla Curtain).
- Best American Stories selection, 1997. "Killing Babies," from The New Yorker.
- Howard D. Vursell Memorial Award from the National Academy of Arts and Letters, for prose excellence, 1993.
- Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree, State University of New York, 1991.
- Editors' Choice, New York Times Book Review, one of the 13 best books of the year, 1989 (If the River Was Whiskey).
- PEN Center West Literary Prize, best short story collection of the year, 1989 (If the River Was Whiskey).
- Prix Passion publishers' prize, France, for best novel of the year, 1989 (Water Music).
- O. Henry Award, 1989. "The Ape Lady in Retirement," from The Paris Review.
- Commonwealth Club of California Gold Medal for Literature, best novel of the year, 57th annual awards, 1988 (World's End).
- O. Henry Award, 1988. "Sinking House," from The Atlantic Monthly.
- PEN/Faulkner Award, best novel of the year, 1988, for World's End.
- Guggenheim Fellowship, 1988.
- Editors' Choice, New York Times Book Review, one of the 16 best books of the year, 1987 (World's End).
- Commonwealth of California, Silver Medal for Literature, 55th Annual Awards, 1986 (Greasy Lake).
- The Paris Review's John Train Humor Prize, 1984 ("The Hector Quesadilla Story").
- National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, 1983.
- The Paris Review's Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, 1981 ("Mungo Among the Moors," excerpt from Water Music).
- The St. Lawrence Award for Fiction, best story collection of the year, 1980 (Descent of Man).
- National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, 1977.
- Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines Fiction Award for the Short Story, 1977.
References
- "Faculty Profile > USC College of Letters, Arts, & Sciences". College.usc.edu. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
- "T. C. Boyle". NNDB.
- "PEN / Faulkner Foundation Award For Fiction Archive". Penfaulkner.org. Archived from the original on 2010-05-28. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
- "T Coraghessan Boyle". Albany.edu. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
- Utley, Sandye. "BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION". Tcboyle.net. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
- Gleason, Paul William. Understanding T.C. Boyle (Understanding Contemporary Literature. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina, 2009, p. 10.
- "storySouth Non-Fiction". Storysouth.com. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
- O'Neill, Molly (1993-06-02). "AT BREAKFAST WITH – T. Coraghessan Boyle – Biting the Hand That Once Fed Battle Creek". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
- "Penguin Reading Guides | The Tortilla Curtain | T. C. Boyle". Us.penguingroup.com. Archived from the original on 2010-08-30. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
- "authorName:"T. Coraghessan Boyle" : Archive". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
- "Boyle, T. Coraghessan (Harper's Magazine)". Harpers.org. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
- BOYLE, T. C. "WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? | Esquire | MARCH '19". Esquire - The Complete Archive. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- Boyle, T. C. (13 April 2010). "The Silence". The Atlantic.
- Boyle, T.C. "Not Me". Playboy. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- "TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES WITH A.M. HOMES AND T.C. BOYLE". Symphony Space. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- After the mudslides, an absence in Montecito, The New Yorker, T.C. Boyle, January 22, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
- "T. C. Boyle: By the Book". T.C. Boyle: By the Book. New York Times: Sunday Book Review. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
- The Library of Congress catalog record has a 1981 copyright date, but Boyle's website points out that the novel was released in 1982.
- Haunting Legend Of Green Swamp, Orlando Sentinel, Kevin Spear, October 31, 1991. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
External links
- Official website
- Elizabeth E. Adams (Summer 2000). "T. Coraghessan Boyle, The Art of Fiction No. 161". Paris Review.
- "Author of Drop City talks with Robert Birnbaum", identity theory, March 19, 2003
- The T. Coraghessan Boyle Research Center (in English, French, German, and Dutch)
- T. Coraghessan Boyle on IMDb
- "The OD & Hepatitis RR or Bust", a short story by Boyle, at Fictionaut
- "Featured Author: T. Coraghessan Boyle", The New York Times
- The Bat Segundo Show (radio interviews): 2005 (50 minutes), 2006 (30 minutes), 2009 (30 minutes), 2011 (45 minutes),