The Columbia History of the American Novel

Ursula Le Guin (1929-)

Le Guin was born in California, daughter of anthropologist Alfred Kroeber and writer Theodora Kroeber (author of Ishi of Two Worlds); In the 1960s Le Guin began her professional writing career, publishing her first stories primarily in science fiction magazines. Le Guin's fiction predominantly engages feminist issues and themes, and often combines images from fantasy and science fiction in highly original ways. Her works include A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Lathe of Heaven (1971), The Language of the Night (1979), and The Compass Rose (1982).

George Lippard (1822-54)

Lippard was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Philadelphia. He prepared for and rejected careers in both the Methodist ministry and the law; he was more successful as a journalist, but had to give up that profession owing to poor health. His fiction falls into the disparate categories of historical romance and urban expose; the best known of his books is The Monks of Monk Hall (1844), later entitled The Quaker City, a sensational novel exposing vice in Philadelphia. His reputation was that of a radical and an eccentric; he was a friend of Edgar Allan Poe and may possibly have had some influence on Poe's writing. -789-

Clarice Lispector (1925-77)

Born in the Ukraine to Russian parents, Lispector was only two months old when her family arrived in Brazil. She began composing stories at the age of six; she worked as an editor at the Agencia Nacional while attending the National Faculty of Law in Rio de Janeiro, from which she graduated in 1943 at the age of eighteen. That year she finished her first novel, Perto do coracão selvagem (1944; Near to the Wild Heart, 1990), and married. Her husband was a career diplomat, whose work took them abroad for a number of years, but in 1959 the couple separated and Lispector, with her two children, returned to Rio to settle permanently. Her literary reputation was established in 1961 with the publication of her second novel, A macã no escuro (The Apple in the Dark, 1986).

Jack London (1876–1916)

John Griffith (Jack) London was born in San Francisco, grew up on the Oakland waterfront, and quit school at the age of fourteen. After a youthful career as an oyster-poacher, he joined a sealing expedition, roamed throughout the United States and Canada, studied briefly at the University of California, and in 1897 joined the rush for Klondike gold. He did not strike it rich in the gold fields, but his collection of Yukon stories, Son of the Wolf, appeared in 1900, establishing his reputation as a skillful and energetic storyteller. His novels reflect his interest in both the individual's struggle against civilized society (The Call of the Wild [1903]; The Sea Wolf [1904]) and the struggle of the lower classes against oppression (The Iron Heel [1908]; The Valley of the Moon [1913]). These concerns are also echoed in his autobiographical novel, Martin Eden (1909).

Alison Lurie (1926-)

Born in Chicago, Lurie was educated in the East, where she continues to live. After graduating from Radcliffe in 1947, Lurie was employed as a ghostwriter and also wrote a variety of critical pieces. A parent, Lurie combines an interest in children's literature with a keen awareness of language and critical issues. Her works include The Nowhere-790- City (1965), Imaginary Friends (1967), The Language of Clothes (1981), and Foreign Affairs (1984).

Norman Mailer (1923-)

Mailer was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. At sixteen Mailer graduated from Boys High School and entered Harvard University. He majored in aeronautical engineering, but was increasingly drawn to literary discourse. Mailer graduated in 1943 and was drafted into the United States Army in 1944. He served for eighteen months in the Philippines and in Japan. Controversy and charges of blatant sexism have surrounded Mailer. His penchant for the outrageous statement, his frequent fistfights, as well as the nonfatal stabbing of his second wife, Adele Morales (he has been married six times), have all contributed to his provocateur status. In 1967 Mailer was arrested for civil disobedience during a march on the Pentagon, and in 1969 he ran (unsuccessfully) for mayor of New York City. The themes that mark Mailer's life can also be clearly discerned in his fiction. His numerous works include The Naked and the Dead (1948), Barbary Shore (1951), The Deer Park (1955), The White Negro (1958), Why Are We in Vietnam? (1967), The Armies of the Night (1968), The Prisoner of Sex (1971), Marilyn (1973), The Executioner's Song (1979), Ancient Evenings (1983), and Tough Guys Don't Dance (1984).

Antonine Maillet (1929-)

Maillet was born and grew up in the Acadian or Cajun community of Bouctouche, New Brunswick. Both her parents were teachers, and Maillet worked her way through university, alternately teaching and studying. She received an M.A. from the College Saint-Joseph de Memramcook in 1959, after which she studied at the University of Montreal, and in 1970 received a doctorate from Laval University, where she studied folklore. While her best- known work to date is the novel Pelagie-la-Charrette (1979; translated in 1982 as Pelagie: The Return to a Homeland), she has authored more than a dozen plays in addition to her fiction and scholarly works. -791-

Bernard Malamud (1914-86)

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Malamud graduated from Erasmus High School and the City College of New York, and eventually received a Master's degree at Columbia University. During the 1940s Malamud taught evening classes at Erasmus High and Harlem Evening High School, while working at the craft of writing. Malamud's artful and comic fiction often draws upon his urban experience, particularly in its evocation of the speech and mannerisms of workingclass, recently immigrated Jews. His works include The Natural (1952), The Assistant (1957), A New Life (1961), and The Stories of Bernard Malamud (1983).

Frederick Manfred (1912-)

Originally christened Feike Feikema, Manfred was born in Rock Township, Doon, Iowa. A former roustabout, factory hand, and gas station attendant, Manfred transforms his experiences into lyrical evocations of Midwestern life. Manfred avoids the literary arenas of New York City and Los Angeles, and continues to live in the Midwest. Among his books are Lord Grizzly (1954), Wanderlust (1962), and Green Earth (1977).

Paule Marshall (1929-)

Born and largely reared in Brooklyn, New York, Marshall is the child of black immigrants from Barbados, West Indies. Marshall herself traveled to Barbados at the age of nine, and this trip proved to be highly influential in the shaping of her identity and aesthetics. Shortly after this expedition, Marshall's father left home to follow Father Divine in Harlem. Alone with her mother and other West Indian women, Marshall was constantly exposed to dialect and to African legend. Marshall graduated from Brooklyn College and later worked as a journalist. Intent on creating a pan-African sensibility, Marshall based her politics and literature on a revival of black cultural history, Her works include Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959), Soul Clap Hands and Sing (1961), The Chosen Place, the Timeless People (1979), Praisesong for the Widow (1983), and Merle (1985). -792-

John Joseph Mathews (1894–1978)

Listed on the Osage tribal roll, Mathews was reared in Oklahoma. After serving as a flight instructor during World War I, Mathews returned to Pawhusks, Oklahoma, where he watched the exploitation and corruption of Native Americans and the fading away of traditional tribal life. Mathews's works reflect the Native American experience and include Wah' Kon-tah: The Osage and the White Man's Road (1929) and Sundown (1934).

Mary McCarthy (1912-89)