T. C. Boyle

Thomas Coraghessan Boyle, also known as T. C. Boyle and T. Coraghessan Boyle (born December 2, 1948), is an American novelist and short story writer. Since the mid-1970s, he has published fourteen novels and more than 100 short stories. He won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988,^[3] for his third novel, World's End, which recounts 300 years in upstate New York.

He is a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.^[1]

Life

Boyle grew up in Peekskill, New York.^[4] His name was originally Thomas John Boyle; he changed his middle name to Coraghessan when he was 17.^[5] He received a B.A. in English and History from the State University of New York at Potsdam (1968), an M.F.A. (1974) from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, and a Ph.D. (1977) from the University of Iowa.^[1][2]

Many of Boyle's novels and short stories explore the baby boom generation, its appetites, joys, and addictions. His themes, such as the often-misguided efforts of the male hero and the slick appeal of the anti-hero, appear alongside brutal satire, humor, and magical realism. His fiction also explores the ruthlessness and the unpredictability of nature and the toll human society unwittingly takes on the environment.^[6] His novels include World's End (1987, winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction); The Road to Wellville (1993);^[7] and The Tortilla Curtain (1995, winner of France's Prix Médicis étranger).^[8]

Boyle has published eight collections of short stories, including Descent of Man (1979), Greasy Lake (1985), If the River was Whiskey (1989), and Without a Hero (1994). His short stories regularly appear in the major American magazines, including The New Yorker,^[9] Harper's,^[10] Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly and Playboy, as well as on the radio show, Selected Shorts.

Personal life

T.C. Boyle is married with three children and lives near Santa Barbara, California.^[2]

Boyle has said Gabriel García Márquez is his favorite novelist. He is also a fan of Flannery O’Connor and Robert Coover.^[11]

Bibliography

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Novels

• Water Music (1982)
• Budding Prospects (1984)
• World's End (1987)
• East Is East (1990)
• The Road to Wellville (1993)
• The Tortilla Curtain (1995)
• Riven Rock (1998)
• A Friend of the Earth (2000)
• Drop City (2003)
• The Inner Circle (2004)
• Talk Talk (2006)
• The Women (2009)
• When the Killing's Done (2011)
• San Miguel (2012)
• The Harder They Come (2015)

Short story collections

• Descent of Man (1979)
• Greasy Lake & Other Stories (1985)
• If the River Was Whiskey (1989)
• Without a Hero (1994)
• T.C. Boyle Stories (1998), compiles four earlier volumes of short fiction plus seven previously uncollected stories
• After The Plague (2001)
• Tooth and Claw (2005)
• The Human Fly (2005), previously published stories collected as young adult literature
• Wild Child & Other Stories (2010)
• T.C. Boyle Stories II (2013), compiles three volumes of short fiction (After the Plague, Tooth and Claw, Wild Child) with a new collection of 14 stories entitled "Death in Kitchawank"

Edited anthology

• DoubleTakes (2004, co-edited with K. Kvashay-Boyle)

Articles

• Boyle, T. C. (January 2010). "My pain is worse than your pain". Harper's 320 (1916): 57–64. 

Chronology in Boyle's works

Awards and honors

• Rea Award for the Short Story, 2014.
• Induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2009.
• Best American Stories selection, 2008 ("Admiral," from Harper's).
• Best American Stories selection, 2007 ("Balto," from The Paris Review).
• National Magazine Award, 2007 ("Wild Child," from McSweeney's).
• Ross Macdonald Award for body of work by a California writer, 2007.
• Audie Prize, 2007, for best audio performance by a writer (The Tortilla Curtain).
• Commonwealth Club of California Silver Medal for Literature, 76th annual awards, 2007 (Talk Talk).
• Evil Companions Literary Award, Denver Public Library, 2007.
• Founder’s Award, Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference, 2006.
• Best American Stories selection, 2004. "Tooth and Claw," from The New Yorker.
• Editors' Choice, New York Times Book Review, one of 9 best books of the year, 2003.
• O. Henry Award, 2003. "Swept Away," from The New Yorker.
• National Book Award Finalist, Drop City, 2003.
• Southern California Booksellers' Association Award for best fiction title of the year, 2002, for After the Plague.
• O.Henry Award, 2001. "The Love of My Life," from The New Yorker.
• The Bernard Malamud Prize in Short Fiction from the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, 1999, for T.C. Boyle Stories, the Collected Stories.
• O.Henry Award, 1999. "The Underground Gardens," from The New Yorker.
• Prix Médicis Étranger, Paris, for the best foreign novel of the year, 1997 (The Tortilla Curtain).
• Best American Stories selection, 1997. "Killing Babies," from The New Yorker.
• Howard D. Vursell Memorial Award from the National Academy of Arts and Letters, for prose excellence, 1993.
• Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree, State University of New York, 1991.
• Editors' Choice, New York Times Book Review, one of the 13 best books of the year, 1989 (If the River Was Whiskey).
• PEN Center West Literary Prize, best short story collection of the year, 1989 (If the River Was Whiskey).
• Prix Passion publishers' prize, France, for best novel of the year, 1989 (Water Music).
• O. Henry Award, 1989. "The Ape Lady in Retirement," from The Paris Review.
• Commonwealth Club of California Gold Medal for Literature, best novel of the year, 57th annual awards, 1988 (World's End).
• O. Henry Award, 1988. "Sinking House," from The Atlantic Monthly.
• PEN/Faulkner Award, best novel of the year, 1988, for World's End.
• Guggenheim Fellowship, 1988.
• Editors' Choice, New York Times Book Review, one of the 16 best books of the year, 1987 (World's End).
• Commonwealth of California, Silver Medal for Literature, 55th Annual Awards, 1986 (Greasy Lake).
• The Paris Review's John Train Humor Prize, 1984 ("The Hector Quesadilla Story").
• National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, 1983.
• The Paris Review's Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, 1981 ("Mungo Among the Moors," excerpt from Water Music).
• The St. Lawrence Award for Fiction, best story collection of the year, 1980 (Descent of Man).
• National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, 1977.
• Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines Fiction Award for the Short Story, 1977.

See also

• Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson

References

External links

• Official website
• Elizabeth E. Adams (Summer 2000). "T. Coraghessan Boyle, The Art of Fiction No. 161". Paris Review. 
• "Author of Drop City talks with Robert Birnbaum", identity theory, March 19, 2003
• The T. Coraghessan Boyle Research Center (in English, French, German, and Dutch)
• T. Coraghessan Boyle at the Internet Movie Database
• "The OD & Hepatitis RR or Bust", a short story by Boyle, at Fictionaut
• "Featured Author: T. Coraghessan Boyle", The New York Times
• The Bat Segundo Show (radio interviews): 2005 (50 minutes), 2006 (30 minutes), 2009 (30 minutes), 2011 (45 minutes),