Jedediah Berry

Jedediah Berry (born 1977) is an American writer. He is the author of a novel, The Manual of Detection (2009).

Background and education

Berry was born in Randolph, Vermont, and spent his childhood in Catskill, New York. He attended Bard College, and earned a graduate degree from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has worked as an editor at Small Beer Press.^[1]

Work

Berry’s first novel, The Manual of Detection, was published by The Penguin Press in 2009. It won the 2009 Hammett Prize^[2] and the 2010 Crawford Award.^[3] Set in an unnamed city, the novel follows file clerk Charles Unwin as he attempts to solve a mystery involving a missing detective and a criminal mastermind operating through people’s dreams. Critics have noted that The Manual of Detection combines elements from several genres of fiction, including mystery and fantasy.^[4] Writing for The Guardian, Michael Moorcock situated the book within the tradition of steampunk fiction.^[5] The New Yorker called it “the kind of mannered fantasy that might result if Wes Anderson were to adapt Kafka.”^[6] A reviewer for The Observer compared it to The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien, and described it as “imaginative, fantastical, sometimes inexplicable, labyrinthine and ingenious.”^[7] An abridged version of the novel, read by Toby Jones, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in January 2013^[8]

Berry’s short stories have appeared in Conjunctions, Chicago Review, Ninth Letter, and other magazines. He has taught at the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and he currently teaches at Bard College.^[9]

Notes

External links

• Jedediah Berry's Website
• Interview at Bookslut