Charles Frazier

Charles Frazier (born November 4, 1950) is an American historical novelist. He won the 1997 National Book Award for Fiction for Cold Mountain.^[1]

Biography

Early life

Frazier was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1973. He earned an M.A. from Appalachian State University in the mid-1970s, and received his Ph.D. in English from the University of South Carolina in 1986.

Career

Cold Mountain was his first novel, published in 1997 by Atlantic Monthly Press. It traces the journey of Inman, a wounded deserter from the Confederate army near the end of the American Civil War. The work is rich in the culture and sensibilities of the North Carolina mountains and is based on local history and stories handed down by Frazier's father about Frazier's great-great-uncle William Pinkney Inman.^[2] Inman, who was from the area around Cold Mountain in western North Carolina, served in the Confederate Army from which he deserted after being wounded twice and is reputedly buried in a local cemetery.^[3] The real Inman served as a private in Company F of the 25th North Carolina Infantry, and his regiment did participate in the fighting in the Siege of Petersburg, including the Battle of the Crater.^[4]

Cold Mountain won the 1997 U.S. National Book Award^[1] and was adapted as a 2003 film of the same name by Anthony Minghella.

Frazier's second novel, Thirteen Moons, published in 2006, traces the story of one man across a century of change in America. Also set in western North Carolina, the novel traces one white man's involvement with the Cherokee Indians just before, during and after their removal to Oklahoma. It is a story of struggle and triumph against the emerging U.S. government's plan to remove native Cherokee people to Oklahoma. Based on the success of Cold Mountain, Frazier was offered an $8 million advance for Thirteen Moons.^[5]

Frazier's latest book, Nightwoods, takes place in the 20th century, although the setting is still the Appalachian Mountains.^{[6] [7]}

Personal life

He currently raises horses on a farm near Raleigh, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife, Catherine, who teaches accounting, and their daughter Annie.

Works

• Cold Mountain (1997)
• Thirteen Moons (2007)
• Nightwoods (2011)

References

External links

• An Interview with Charles Frazier, about Cold Mountain at BookBrowse
• Charles Frazier at Goodreads
• William Pinkney Inman at Find a Grave
• Charles Frazier at Library of Congress Authorities — with catalog records