Jonathan Coe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

'

Born: 19th August 1961
Birmingham, UK
Occupation: novelist
Nationality: British
Writing period: 1987-present
Genres: satire

Jonathan Coe, born 19th August 1961 in Birmingham, is a British novelist and writer. His work usually has an underlying preoccupation with political issues, although this is often expressed seriously in the form of satire. For example, What a Carve Up! reworked the plot of an old 1960s spoof horror film of the same name, in the light of the 'carve up' of the UK's resources which some felt was carried out by Margaret Thatcher's right wing Conservative governments of the 1980s. He studied at King Edward's School, Birmingham and Trinity College, Cambridge, before teaching at the University of Warwick.

Both What a Carve Up! and The Rotters' Club have been adapted as drama serials for BBC Radio 4; The Rotters' Club (which was set in a very lightly fictionalised version of his 1970s alma mater KES) was also adapted for television and broadcast on BBC Two. The Dwarves of Death was filmed as Five Seconds to Spare.

Contents

[edit] Novels

[edit] Non-fiction

  • Humphrey Bogart: Take It and Like It Bloomsbury, 1991, a biography of Humphrey Bogart
  • James Stewart: Leading Man Bloomsbury, 1994, a James Stewart biography
  • Like a Fiery Elephant: The Story of B. S. Johnson Picador, 2004 (winner of the 2005 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction)

[edit] Musical Collaborations

Music is a constant thread in Coe's oeuvre, which should come as no surprise as he actually tried to find a record label as a performer before he became a published novelist. He had to wait until 2001 to make his first appearance on a record with '9th & 13th' (Tricatel, 2001), a collection of readings of his own writings set to music by jazz pianist/double bass player Danny Manners and indiepop 'cult' artist Louis Philippe. Coe has also collaborated with flautist Theo Travis, and - as a lifelong fan of Canterbury progressive-rock - has recently said: "I'd love to find a pianist to collaborate with - maybe Alex Maguire, who is now playing with the reformed line-up of Hatfield and the North".

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Coe, Jonathan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION English novelist
DATE OF BIRTH 19 August 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Birmingham, UK
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../j/o/n/Jonathan_Coe_012a.html"
In other languages