Breece D'J Pancake

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Breece D'J Pancake (June 29, 1952-April 8, 1979) was an author of short fiction whose promising career was cut short by an apparent suicide. His works were originally published in The Atlantic and have since been collected in The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake. His literary style, uncomplicated and compact yet vivid and powerful, has been compared to Ernest Hemingway's. Most of his stories are set in rural West Virginia and revolve around characters and naturalistic settings adapted from his own past.

Pancake was born in South Charleston, West Virginia in 1952 and reared in Milton. Pancake briefly attended West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon before transferring to Marshall University in Huntington, where he completed a bachelor's degree in English education. As a graduate student he studied at the University of Virginia's creative writing program. He also worked as an English teacher at two Virginia military academies.

While at the University of Virginia, Pancake deliberately styled himself as an uncultured hillbilly, distancing himself from the mostly erudite students at the prestigious school. He was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, fishing and camping. He also deeply appreciated the music of folk singer Phil Ochs. Pancake died from a shotgun wound in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was buried in Milton.

Among the writers who claim Pancake as a strong influence are Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, and Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog. After Pancake's death, author Kurt Vonnegut wrote, "I give you my word of honor that he is merely the best writer, the most sincere writer I’ve ever read. What I suspect is that it hurt too much, was no fun at all to be that good."

[edit] Trivia

The unusual middle name "D'J" originated from a misprint of Pancake's middle initials (D.J., for Dexter John). Pancake decided not to correct it.
There were rumors circulating that Breece D'J Pancake had a secret affair with Susan B. Buttersworth (Olympian).