Stephen Dixon (born Stephen Bruce Ditchik; June 6, 1936 – November 6, 2019) was an American author of

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s and

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

Life and career

Dixon was born on June 6, 1936, in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He was the fifth of seven children of Florence Leder, a beauty queen, chorus girl on Broadway, and interior decorator, and Abraham M. Ditchik. He graduated from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

in 1958 and was a faculty member of

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. Before becoming a full-time writer, Dixon worked a plethora of odd jobs ranging from bus driver to bartender. In his early 20s he worked as a journalist and in radio, interviewing such political figures as

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

and

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

. Dixon was nominated for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

twice, in 1991 for ''

Frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

'' and in 1995 for ''

Interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National H ...

''. ''Frog'', at 860 pages, was his longest and most ambitious novel, and garnered reviews comparing the work favorably to

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

's ''Ulysses''. He also was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

, the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

Prize for Fiction, the O. Henry Award, and the

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

. He cited

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, poet and polemicist who is considered one of the most important German-language authors of the postwar era. He explored themes of death, iso ...

, and

as some of his favorite authors. Dixon died from complications of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

at a hospice center in

Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorpo ...

, on November 6, 2019; he was 83.

Works

Novels

*''Work'' (Street Fiction Press, 1977) *''Too Late'' (

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins, based in New York City. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper and his brother John, the company operated as J. & J. Harper until 1833, when ...

, 1978) *''Fall & Rise'' (

North Point Press North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

, 1985) *''Garbage'' (Cane Hill Press, 1988) *''Frog'' (British American Publishing, 1991) *''Interstate'' ( Henry Holt, 1995) *''Gould'' (Henry Holt, 1997) *''30: Pieces of a Novel'' (Henry Holt, 1999) *''Tisch'' (

Red Hen Press Red Hen Press is an American non-profit press located in Pasadena, California, and specializing in the publication of poetry, literary fiction, and nonfiction. The press is a member of the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, and was a fin ...

, 2000) (his first completed novel, written 1961–1969) *''I.'' (

McSweeney's McSweeney's Publishing is an American nonprofit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. The executive director is Amanda Uhle. McSweeney's first publication was the literary journal'' Timothy McSw ...

, 2002) *''Old Friends'' (

Melville House Publishing Melville House Publishing is an American independent publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The company was founded in 2001 and is run by the husband-and-wife team of Dennis Loy Johnson and Valerie Merians in Hoboken, New Jersey. ...

, 2004) *''Phone Rings'' (

, 2005) *''End of I.'' (McSweeney's, 2006) *''Meyer'' (

, 2007) *''Story of a Story and Other Stories: A Novel'' ( Fugue State Press), 2012 *''His Wife Leaves Him'' (

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

), 2013 *''Letters to Kevin'' (

), 2016 *''Beatrice'' ( Publishing Genius), 2016

Story collections

*''No Relief'' (Street Fiction Press, 1976) *''Quite Contrary: The Mary and Newt Story'' (Harper & Row, 1979) *''14 Stories'' (Johns Hopkins, 1980) *''Movies: Seventeen Stories'' (North Point Press, 1983) *''Time to Go'' (Will and Magna Stories) (Johns Hopkins, 1984) *''The Play and Other Stories'' (

Coffee House Press Coffee House Press is a nonprofit independent press based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The press’s goal is to "produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience ...

, 1988) *''Love and Will: Twenty Stories'' ( Paris Review Editions / British American Publishing, 1989) *''All Gone: 18 Short Stories'' (Johns Hopkins, 1990) *''Friends: More Will and Magna Stories'' (Asylum Arts, 1990) *''Long Made Short'' (Johns Hopkins, 1994) *''The Stories of Stephen Dixon'' (Henry Holt, 1994) *''Man on Stage: Play Stories'' (Hi Jinx Press, 1996) *''Sleep'' (

, 1999) *''The Switch'' (Rain Taxi, 1999) (a single story; Rain Taxi Brainstorm Series, Number 3) *''What Is All This?: The Uncollected Stories of Stephen Dixon'' (

, 2010) *''Late Stories'' ( Trnsfr Books, 2016) *Dear Abigail was published on 2/5/19. Writing Written was published on 2/26/19.''Dear Abigail and Other Stories'' ( Trnsfr Books, 2019) *''Writing, Written'' (

, 2019)

References

External links

10/14/19 Review of his most recent (2019) booksComprehensive career interview with Fifth Wednesday Journal.2002 profile of Dixon in ''The Johns Hopkins News-Letter''"The Plug", Dixon on Thomas Bernhard, at Rain Taxi
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20020805125535/http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2002/06/14paris.html Excerpt from the novel ''I.'', at ''McSweeney's Internet Tendency'' with links to other excerpts, and to comments on Dixon's work by

Jonathan Lethem Jonathan Allen Lethem (; born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His Debut novel, first novel, ''Gun, with Occasional Music'', a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, ...

and J. Robert Lennon.
February 2007 article about Dixon in ''Baltimore City Paper''Dixon interviewed
by

Tao Lin Tao Lin (; born July 2, 1983) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published four novels, a novella, two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, as well as an extensive assortment o ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Stephen 1936 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers American male novelists American male short story writers Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Maryland MacDowell Colony fellows Johns Hopkins University faculty Novelists from Maryland Novelists from New York (state) PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners Writers from New York City Writers from Baltimore