Jonathan Raban (born 14 June 1942,

Hempton Hempton is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is south west of Fakenham, north west of Norwich and north east of London. The village straddles the A1065 between Fakenham and Swaffham. The nearest rai ...

, Norfolk, England) is a British

travel writer The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern per ...

, critic, and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

. He has received several awards, such as the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, ele ...

's Heinemann Award, the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the PEN West Creative Nonfiction Award, the

Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, also known as the Pacific Northwest Book Award (PNBA), is an annual award presented by the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association to recognize "excellence in writing" from the American Pacif ...

, and a 1997 Washington State Governor's Writer's Award. Since 1990 he has lived with his daughter in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

. In 2003, his novel Waxwings was long listed for the Man Booker Prize. Though he is primarily regarded as a travel writer, Raban's accounts often blend the story of a journey with rich discussion of the history of the water through which he travels and the land around it. Even as he maintains a dispassionate and often unforgiving stance towards the people he meets on his travels, he does not shirk from sharing his own perceived foibles and failings with the reader. Frequently, Raban's autobiographical accounts of journeys taken mirror transformations in his own life or the world at large: '' Old Glory'' takes place during the buildup to

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

’s victory in the 1980 presidential election, ''Coasting'' as the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial ...

begins, and ''Passage to Juneau'' as the failure of the author’s marriage becomes apparent. Similarly melancholic and personal themes of turmoil and loss can be detected in his novels.

Bibliography

Books

*''

The Technique of Modern Fiction ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1968) *'' Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn'' (1968) *'' The Society of the Poem'' (1971) *'' Soft City'' (1974), *''

Arabia Through the Looking Glass ''Arabia Through the Looking Glass'' is Jonathan Raban Jonathan Raban (born 14 June 1942, Hempton, Norfolk, England) is a British travel writer, critic, and novelist. He has received several awards, such as the National Book Critics Circle ...

'' (1979), *'' Old Glory: An American Voyage'' (1981), *'' Foreign Land'' (1985), *''

Coasting Coasting may refer to: * Coasting (vehicle), performing a natural deceleration of a motor when the power is removed * Carrying out a part of a spaceflight without orbital maneuver * Sledding * Performing ovarian hyperstimulation without inducing ...

'' (1986), *'' For Love & Money: A Writing Life, 1968-1987'' (1989), *'' God, Man and Mrs Thatcher: A Critque of Mrs Thatcher's Address to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland'' (1989), *'' Hunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of America'' (1990), *''

The Oxford Book of the Sea ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (1992), *'' Bad Land: An American Romance'' (1996), *'' Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings'' (travel writing; 1999), *''

Waxwings The waxwings are three species of passerine birds classified in the genus ''Bombycilla''. They are pinkish-brown and pale grey with distinctive smooth plumage in which many body feathers are not individually visible, a black and white eyestri ...

'' (2003), *'' My Holy War: Dispatches From the Home Front'' (2006), *''

Surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

'' (2006), *'' Driving Home: An American Journey'' (2011),

Essays and reporting

Book reviews

Awards

Heinemann Award The W. H. Heinemann Award is an award established by William Heinemann who bequeathed funds to the Royal Society of Literature to establish a literary prize, given from 1945 to 2003.Directory of Grants in the Humanities The Heinemann Award is give ...

, 1982 * Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, 1981 and 1991 *

Inspiration and writing style

* ''

Our Mutual Friend ''Our Mutual Friend'', written in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quo ...

'' by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

* ''

Summer Lightning ''Summer Lightning'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 1 July 1929 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, under the title ''Fish Preferred'', and in the United Kingdom on 19 July 1929 by Herbert Jenkins, London ...

'' by P. G. Wodehouse * '' Put Out More Flags'' by

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

* ''

The Whitsun Weddings ''The Whitsun Weddings'' is a collection of 32 poems by Philip Larkin. It was first published by Faber in the United Kingdom on 28 February 1964. It was a commercial success, by the standards of poetry publication, with the first 4,000 copie ...

'' and '' High Windows'' by

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, ''The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, ''Jill'' (1946) and ''A Girl in Winter'' (1947 ...

* ''Collected Poems'' by

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the '' Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects ...

Notes

External links

* * * * * * Internet Movie Database, IMDb, Raban as a newsreader
Jonathan RabanRaban author page and archive
from ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

Articles

“In the wild West the improbable is always possible” Pacific North West 26 September, 2004
* 'Battleground of the Eye' Atlantic Monthly 1 March 2001 pp 40–52
'Granny in the Doorway'
London Review of Books 17 August 2017 pp 41–43 * ‘I felt pretty happy that I was still alive’, The Guardian 30 December 2016 Interviews
The Arts Fuse (6 Mar 2007) – Interview with Jonathan Raban about the Critical Condition and his novel, ''Surveillance''

University of Washington, Upon Reflection – Video interview with Jonathan Raban about his book on immigrants in Montana, ''Badlands''

Hitler's Coming; Time for Cocktails and Gossip
interview with Jonathan Raban on National Public Radio series 'You must read this' re

’s '' Put Out More Flags''. 1 July 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Raban, Jonathan 1942 births Living people 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English novelists Academics of the University of East Anglia Alumni of the University of Hull British travel writers English male novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature London Review of Books people People educated at King's School, Worcester People from North Norfolk (district) Writers from Seattle