Tracy Kidder

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Tracy Kidder

Tracy Kidder at the College of Wooster, 2009.
Born (1945-11-12) November 12, 1945
New York City
Alma mater Harvard University
University of Iowa
Genres Non-fiction
Literary movement Literary journalism
Notable work(s) The Soul of a New Machine,
Mountains Beyond Mountains
Notable award(s) Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
1982 The Soul of a New Machine
Children Daniel Minnich

John Tracy Kidder (born November 12, 1945) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer of the 1981 nonfiction narrative The Soul of a New Machine, about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation. He also received much praise for his biography of Paul Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains.[citation needed]

Kidder is considered a literary journalist because of the strong story line and personal voice in his writing.[1]:5 He has cited as his writing influences John McPhee, A. J. Liebling, and George Orwell.[2]:127–128 In a 1984 interview he said, "McPhee has been my model. He's the most elegant of all the journalists writing today, I think."[1]:7

Kidder wrote in a 1994 essay, "In fiction, believability may have nothing to do with reality or even plausibility. It has everything to do with those things in nonfiction. I think that the nonfiction writer's fundamental job is to make what is true believable."[3]

Early life and education

Kidder was born November 12, 1945, in New York City.[4]:263 He graduated from Phillips Academy in 1963.[5] He attended Harvard University, originally majoring in political science but switching to English after taking a course in creative writing from Robert Fitzgerald.[6] He received an BA degree from Harvard in 1967.[4]:263

He served in the United States Army as a first lieutenant, Military Intelligence, Vietnam, from 1967 to 1969.[4]:263 After returning from Vietnam he wrote for some time and then enrolled in the Iowa Writers' Workshop.[2]:128 He received an MFA degree from the University of Iowa in 1974.[4]:263

Career

Kidder wrote his first book, The Road to Yuba City: a Journey into the Juan Corona Murders, while at the University of Iowa. The Atlantic Monthly commissioned the work, and he continued writing as a freelancer for the magazine during the 1970s.[2]:128 The Road to Yuba City was a critical failure,[2]:128, 137 and Kidder said in a 1995 interview that "I can't say anything intelligent about that book, except that I learned never to write about a murder case. The whole experience was disgusting, so disgusting, in fact, that in 1981 I went to Doubleday and bought back the rights to the book. I don't want The Road to Yuba City to see the light of day again."[2]:129

Kidder said that, unlike many other writers, he was not much influenced by his Vietnam experience: "Of course, whenever you're in an experience like Vietnam, it is bound to influence your work; it's inevitable, but I really don't think it greatly shaped me as a writer."[2]:128 His works for Atlantic Monthly include several essays and short stories about the Vietnam War, including "The Death of Major Great" (1974), "Soldiers of Misfortune" (1978), and "In Quarantine" (1980). Writing in 1997, David Bennett rated these three pieces "among the finest reporting to come out of Vietnam."[2]:128

His second book, The Soul of a New Machine, was much more successful than his first, and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction in 1982. He has continued to write nonfiction books and articles, and these have been well received by the critics.[2]:127 Kidder's latest book, Strength in What Remains, is a vivid and moving portrait of a man who survived the genocide in Burundi.

In fall 2010 Kidder was the first A.M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence at the Harvard Kennedy School's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. At the center he worked with Richard Todd on a book about writing, titled Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction, and also looked for a narrative subject.

Selected awards

Books by Tracy Kidder

Kidder at the Miami Book Fair International, 2003
  • Kidder, Tracy (1974). The Road to Yuba City: A Journey into the Juan Corona Murders. Garden City: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-02865-3. 
  • Kidder, Tracy (1985). House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-00191-3. 
  • Kidder, Tracy (1990) [1989]. Among Schoolchildren. New York: New York : Avon Books. ISBN 0-380-71089-7. 
  • Kidder, Tracy (1993). Old Friends. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-71088-3. 
  • Kidder, Tracy (1999). House. New York: Mariner Books. ISBN 0618001913. 
  • Kidder, Tracy (2000) [1981]. The Soul of a New Machine. Boston: Back Bay Books. ISBN 0-316-49197-7. 
  • Kidder, Tracy (2000) [1999]. Home Town. New York: Washington Square Press. ISBN 0-671-78521-4. 
  • Kidder, Tracy (2003). Mountains Beyond Mountains. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50616-0. 
  • Kidder, Tracy (2005). My Detachment: A Memoir. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50615-2. 
  • Kidder, Tracy (2009). Strength in What Remains. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6621-6. 
  • Kidder, Tracy; Todd, Richard (2013). Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1400069750. 

Notes

  1. ↑ This was the award for hardcover "General Nonfiction".
    From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Awards history there were several nonfiction subcategories including General Nonfiction, with dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sims, Norman (1984). "The Literary Journalists". In Sims, Norman. The Literary Journalists. Ballantine Books. pp. 3–25. ISBN 978-0-345-31081-1. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Bennett, David (1997). "Tracy Kidder". Dictionary of Literary Biography 185. Gale Research. pp. 127–137. ISBN 0-7876-1119-0. 
  3. ↑ Kidder, Tracy (February 1994). "Facts and the nonfiction writer". The Writer 107 (2): 14–16. ISSN 0043-9517. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Daniel Jones, John D. Jorgenson, editors. (1998). "Kidder, Trina 1945–". Contemporary Authors: New Revision Series 61. Gale Research. pp. 263–267. ISBN 0-7876-2004-1. 
  5. ↑ "Phillips Academy – Notable Alumni – Literature, Publishing & Journalism". Phillips Academy. 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2009. 
  6. ↑ Kidder, Tracy (Fall 1996). "Courting the approval of the dead". TriQuarterly (97): 43–59. ISSN 0041-3097. 
  7. ↑ "The Pulitzer Prizes: General Nonfiction". Columbia University. June 5, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2009. 
  8. ↑ "National Book Awards – 1982". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  9. ↑ "10th Annual RFK Book Award". Robert F. Kennedy Memorial. Retrieved June 8, 2009. 
  10. ↑ "Past Winners 1986–2002". English-Speaking Union of the United States. January 11, 2007. Retrieved June 8, 2009. 
  11. ↑ "Lettre Ulysses Award: Winners 2004". Lettre International. Retrieved June 9, 2009. 

External links

  • Complete list
  • (1962–1975)
  • (1976–2000)
  • (2001–2025)
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