Thomas Coraghessan Boyle, also known as T. C. Boyle and T. Coraghessan Boyle (born December 2, 1948), is an American novelist and
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one 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 oldest t ...
writer. Since the mid-1970s, he has published sixteen novels and more than 100 short stories. He won the
PEN/Faulkner award in 1988, for his third novel, ''
World's End
World's End or Worlds End may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Literature Novels
* ''World's End'' (Boyle novel), a 1987 novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle
* ''World's End'' (Chadbourn novel), a 2000 novel by Mark Chadbourn
* ''World's End'' (Sincl ...
'', which recounts 300 years in
upstate New York.
He was previously a
Distinguished Professor of English at the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8. ...
.
Early life
Boyle grew up in
Peekskill, New York. His name was originally Thomas John Boyle; he changed his middle name to Coraghessan when he was 17 after an ancestor of his mother. 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
The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...
, and a
Ph.D. (1977) from the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 coll ...
.
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."
Many of Boyle's novels and short stories explore the
baby boom generation
Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boo ...
, 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. His novels include ''World's End'' (1987, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction); ''The Road to Wellville'' (1993); and ''The Tortilla Curtain'' (1995, winner of France's
Prix Médicis étranger).
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 frequently appear in the major American magazines, including ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...
'', ''Harper's'', ''Esquire'', ''The Atlantic Monthly'' and ''Playboy'', as well as on the radio show ''
Selected Shorts''.
Personal life
Boyle is married to Karen Kvashay. They have three children and live in
Montecito near
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coa ...
.
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.
[After the mudslides, an absence in Montecito]
''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...
'', T. C. Boyle, January 22, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
Boyle has said
Gabriel García Márquez is his favorite novelist. He is also a fan of
Flannery O'Connor and
Robert Coover.
Bibliography
Novels
*''
Water Music'' (1981)
*''
Budding Prospects: A Pastoral'' (1984)
*''
World's End
World's End or Worlds End may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Literature Novels
* ''World's End'' (Boyle novel), a 1987 novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle
* ''World's End'' (Chadbourn novel), a 2000 novel by Mark Chadbourn
* ''World's End'' (Sincl ...
'' (1987)
*''
East is East'' (1990)
*''
The Road to Wellville'' (1993)
*''
The Tortilla Curtain
''The Tortilla Curtain'' is a 1995 novel by American author T.C. Boyle. It is about middle-class values, illegal immigration, xenophobia, poverty, and environmental destruction. In 1997, it was awarded the French Prix Médicis Étranger prize fo ...
'' (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)
*''Talk to Me'' (2021)
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 "A Death in Kitchawank"
*''The Relive Box & Other Stories'' (2017)
*''I Walk Between the Raindrops'' (2022)
List of stories
The following list is a selection of the many short stories Boyle has written:
Edited anthology
*''DoubleTakes'' (2004, co-edited with K. Kvashay-Boyle)
Essays and reporting
*
Chronology in Boyle's works
Adaptations
Boyle's novel ''
The Road to Wellville'' was adapted into a film in 1994, also titled ''
The Road to Wellville'', by writer-director
Alan Parker
Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English filmmaker. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After about ten years of filming adverts ...
. It starred
Anthony Hopkins,
Matthew Broderick,
Bridget Fonda,
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack (; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays '' Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and political activist. He is a son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his o ...
,
Dana Carvey, and
Colm Meaney
Colm J. Meaney (; ga, Colm Ó Maonaigh; born 30 May 1953) is an Irish actor known for playing Miles O'Brien in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994) and ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999). He has guest-starred on many TV ...
. The film was not well received either critically or financially, and was considered a box-office flop
and appeared on several critics' worst-of-the-year lists.
Awards and honors
*
Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement
''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, US, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ' ...
, 2019.
*
Rea Award for the Short Story
The Rea Award for the Short Story is an annual award given to a living American or Canadian author chosen for unusually significant contributions to short story fiction.
The Award
The Rea Award is named after Michael M. Rea, who was engaged in ...
, 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
Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who ...
, 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
External links
Official website*
''identity theory'', March 19, 2003
The T. Coraghessan Boyle Research Center(in English, French, German, and Dutch)
*
"The OD & Hepatitis RR or Bust" a short story by Boyle, at Fictionaut
''The New York Times''
*
The Bat Segundo Show (radio interviews)
2005 (50 minutes)2006 (30 minutes)2009 (30 minutes)2011 (45 minutes)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, T. Coraghessan
1948 births
Living people
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American novelists
American historical novelists
American male novelists
American male short story writers
Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners
People from Peekskill, New York
Prix Médicis étranger winners
State University of New York at Potsdam alumni
The New Yorker people
University of Iowa alumni
University of Southern California faculty
20th-century American short story writers
21st-century American short story writers
PEN/Malamud Award winners
21st-century American male writers
Novelists from Iowa