| Gary Paulsen | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 17, 1939 Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1966–present |
| Genres | Young adult fiction |
| Spouse(s) | Ruth Wright Paulsen |
| Children | James Paulsen |
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www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/index.html |
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Gary James Paulsen (born May 17, 1939)[1] is an American writer who writes many young adult coming of age stories about the wilderness. He is the author of more than 200 books (many of which are out of print), 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for young adults and teens.
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Gary Paulsen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 17, 1939, where his extended family resided, to Oscar and Eunice H. (née Moen),[1] Paulsen has two siblings: a full sister, Paulette, and a half brother Bill who was born to his father from a previous marriage. His father was a career Army officer, on Patton's staff, who spend all of World War II overseas. Gary did not meet his father until he was seven years old. He spent time throughout his childhood with his grandmother, aunts and various other relatives.[2] When he was seven he and his mother joined his father in the Philippines where he lived for two years. He then returned to Minnesota. At the age of 14, Gary ran away and joined a carnival.[3] Paulsen has written some fragmented autobiographical works. One such work is Eastern Sun, Winter Moon: An Autobiographical Odyssey. The book, which is written in first person, begins when Paulsen was seven, living in Chicago with his mother. Paulsen described several traumatic occurrences that transpired during the three years that are chronicled by the book. For example, one day while his mother was napping, Gary snuck outside to play. There a vagrant snatched him and apparently attempted to molest him, but his mother suddenly appeared on the scene and beat the man to death. Paulsen reported in Eastern Sun his mother's many adulterous affairs suggesting that the man he called "father" was not really his. He also discussed his mother alcoholism. He told how she would bring him to a bar and had him sing for his supper, even though she had an income from her work in a munitions factory, and he felt there was no need for this. When World War II ended, Gary's father sent for him and his mother to come join him in the Philippines, where he was stationed. A great part of the book is dedicated to the voyage by navel vessel to the Philippines. During the trip, Gary witnessed a plane crash. He, his mother, and the soldiers who were also being transported on this ship, looked on as many of the airplane’s passengers were killed or maimed by the sharks who would follow the ship consuming waste. His mother, the only woman aboard, helped the corpsman care for the surviving victims. After arriving Hawaii, according to Paulsen, his mother began an affair with the ship's corpsman.[2]
Aboard the ship full of sailors and soldiers, who all wanted to get close to his mother, Gary learned to shoot craps and swear. He had another near miss with sexual molestation, and the soldiers beat the sailor, who may or may not have planned to harm him, to a pulp. Gary and his mother arrived in Manila and he met his father. He quickly realized that he would not have a close relationship with the man he felt he did not resemble, who never referred to him as anything but "the boy" and who, like Gary's mother, was an alcoholic. Gary's family had two servants while they lived on the Army base in Manila, a man named Rom, and a woman named Maria. Gary shared a room with Maria and before long, the woman, who had endured multiple rapes at the hands of the formally occupying Japanese, began to molest Gary. He claimed in the book that this happened nearly every night until he left Manila. While living in Manila, Gary's parents continued to drink heavily. And his mother continued to have affairs. Gary walked in on his mother frequently to find her in sexual encounters with men other than the man he called "father". Also, while Gary was in the Philippines he had a close brush with death when he nearly went over a dam while wading.[2]
The accounts in Eastern Sun ended when Gary and his mother left Manila in 1948. Bits and pieces of Gary's adolescences can be pieced together in Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books. In that book Paulsen discussed the ways in which he survived between the ages of twelve and fourteen back in Minnesota. He barely mentioned his parents except to say that they were too busy being drunk to stock the refrigerator. He worked several jobs during this time including setting pins at the bowling alley, delivering newspapers and working as a farm hand. He bought his own school supplies and a rifle, which he used to hunt for sustenance. Eventually, he gave up the rifle and manufactured his own bow and arrows which he used to hunt deer.[4]
Much of what is known about Gary Paulsen's life is revealed in prologues and epilogues of his books. In The Quilt, one of a series of three books based on summers spent with his grandmother, Paulsen told about the tremendous influence his grandmother had on him. It is difficult to say if this book is an autobiography or fictionalized autobiography as Paulsen is supposed to have been six years old in this story and yet he made references to events found in the Eastern Sun book which is supposed to have occurred later. He also refers to himself, in this book, in the third person and only as "the boy".[5]
Paulsen has been married twice and has three adult children, Lance, Lynn and James Paulsen. Early in his adult life he had issues with alcoholism. He also lived in poverty through most of his early adult life. He had several jobs including that of magazine editor. He also did a tour in the Army. He struggled as a writer for decades. One of his earliest published books was titled "Some Birds Don't Fly", a comic rendition of his time working at the government missile range, White Sands, New Mexico. In 1966, a book was published under the title The Special War. Paulsen worked at construction while writing to support himself. It was not until the publication of his first award winning book, Dogsong, in 1985 that Paulsen began to experience success.
Even though Paulsen is now a successful author, he says he chooses to live in relative poverty. He reportedly lives with his wife, Ruth, who illustrates children's literature, in La Luz, New Mexico. He also spends some time living on a house boat on the Pacific Ocean. He completed one Iditarod, in 1983, and attempted the 1,150-mile (1,850 km) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on three other occasions including the most recent one, March, 2006. According to Paulsen's keynote speech on October 13, 2007, at the Sinclair Lewis writing conference in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, he intended to compete in the Iditarod again; he is listed in the "Mushers Withdrawn" section of the 2009 race. He is an outdoorsman (a hunter and trapper. He also maintains a 40-acre (160,000 m2) spread north of Willow, Alaska, where he breeds and trains sled dogs for the Iditarod.
Much of Paulsen's work features the outdoors and highlights the importance of nature. He often uses "coming of age" themes in his novels, where a character masters the art of survival in isolation as a rite of passage to manhood and maturity. He is critical of technology and has been called a Luddite.[6]
Some of Paulsen's most well-known books are the Hatchet series also known as the Brian books. He has published many other popular novels including Dogsong, Harris and Me, and The Winter Room, which won the Newbery Honor. Woodsong and Winterdance are among the most popular books about the Iditarod.
Paulsen competed in the 1983 and 1985 Iditarod races. In 1990, because of angina, he gave up dog sledding, which he has described as the most difficult decision he has ever made. After more than a decade spent sailing all over the Pacific, Paulsen got back into dog sledding in 2003. In 2005, he was scheduled to compete in the 2005 Iditarod after a 20-year absence, but he withdrew shortly before the start of the race. He participated in the 2006 Iditarod, but scratched after two days.
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