Dennis McFarland

Dennis McFarland is an American novelist that is known for his unique blends of literary elements. McFarland has authored several acclaimed novels including The Music Room and School for the Blind.

Life

McFarland attended Brooklyn College where he earned his B.A. in 1975. He also attended Goddard College and Stanford University. McFarland taught at both these institutions later in his life. At Stanford, McFarland worked as teacher of creative writing from 1981 to 1986. McFarland married Michelle Simons and fathered two children. He currently resides in Watertown, Maine and San Francisco, California.

Career

McFarland's first novel, The Music Room, was published in 1990 and was met with a great deal of critical praise.^{[citation needed]} The New York Times praised the novel as being genuine and emotional.^{[citation needed]} The Music Room quickly became a New York Times bestseller.^{[citation needed]} McFarland told the Washington Post that his early success was due to "a lot of good luck".^{[citation needed]}

McFarland's second novel, School for the Blind, was also met with praise.^{[citation needed]} This novel chronicles several elderly characters as they look into their troubled pasts. Some critics were surprised at the stark contrast between McFarland's first and second novels.^{[citation needed]} As Sven Birkerts, a literary critic for the New York Times, said that School for the Blind was "...in tone and intensity and final effect, as unlike its predecessor as it is possible to be."^{[citation needed]}

McFarland's third and fourth novels, A Face at the Window and Singing Boy, were also met with praise from critics^{[citation needed]} and dealt with McFarland's familiar themes of alcoholism and death.

Selected bibliography

• The Music Room (1990)
• School for the Blind (1994)
• A Face at the Window (1997)
• Singing Boy (2001)
• Prince Edward (2004)
• Letter from Point Clear (2007)

External links

• Books by Dennis McFarland at Open Library
• Dennis McFarland at boldtype at the Random House website.
• Review of "School for the Blind" at The New York Times
• Biography of Dennis McFarland at the Biography Resource Center
• The Official Dennis McFarland Web Site

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