William T. Vollmann

Infobox Writer
name = William T. Vollmann


caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1959|7|28
birthplace = Los Angeles, California, United States
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = novelist, journalist, short story writer, essayist
period =
1987 - present
subject = War, violence, science
genre = Literary fiction, historical fiction
movement =
nationality = American
influences =
influenced =
website =

William Tanner Vollmann (born July 28, 1959 in Los Angeles, California) is an American novelist, journalist, short story writer and essayist. He lives in Sacramento, California, with his wife and daughter.

Biography

Vollmann studied at Deep Springs College and earned a B.A., "summa cum laude", in comparative literature at Cornell University.

In his youth, Vollmann's younger sister drowned while under his supervision, a tragedy for which he felt responsible. This experience, according to him, influences much of his work. [http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw041104william_t_vollmann/]

After graduation, Vollmann worked odd jobs, including as a secretary at an insurance company, and saved up enough money to go to Afghanistan in 1982. His experiences traveling with the mujahideen formed the basis of his first non-fiction book "An Afghanistan Picture Show, or, How I Saved the World" which was published in 1987. Upon his return to the USA he briefly attended the University of California, Berkeley as a graduate student but dropped out after one year. He then worked as a computer programmer, despite having virtually no experience with computers. According to a "New York Times Magazine" profile by novelist Madison Smartt Bell, he spent the better part of a year there writing his first novel, "You Bright and Risen Angels", after hours on office computers, subsisting on candy bars from vending machines and hiding from the janitorial staff. [cite news |first=Madison Smartt |last=Bell |authorlink=Madison Smartt Bell |coauthors= |title=WILLIAM T. VOLLMANN |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE0DD1739F935A35751C0A962958260 |work=The New York Times Magazine |publisher= |date=1994-02-06 |accessdate=2008-01-03 ]

He has written for "Harper's", "Playboy", "Spin Magazine", "Esquire", "The New Yorker", "Gear", "Granta", and sometimes contributes to "The New York Times Book Review" among other publications. Vollmann has called himself a "former hack journalist" and his travel writing and reportage often inform his fiction, giving it a hybridized and journalistic feel.

In early 2004 (after many delays) McSweeney's published "Rising Up and Rising Down", a 3,300-page, heavily illustrated, seven-volume treatise on violence which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. A single-volume condensed version was published at the end of the year by Ecco Press, an abridgment he justified by saying, "I did it for the money." [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18560] "Rising Up and Rising Down" represents over 20 years of work and attempts to establish a moral calculus to consider the causes, effects, and ethics of violence. Much of it consists of Vollmann's own reporting from places wracked by violence, among them Cambodia, Somalia, and Iraq.

Vollmann's other works often deal with the settlement of North America (as in , a cycle of seven novels), or stories of people (often prostitutes) on the margins of war, poverty, and hope. His 2005 novel "Europe Central" follows the trajectories of a wide range of characters (including Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich) caught up in the fighting between Germany and the Soviet Union, and won the 2005 National Book Award for Fiction.

Vollmann's papers were acquired by the Rare Books & Manuscripts Library of Ohio State University [http://www.lib.ohio-state.edu/sites/rarebooks/finding/vollmann.html] .

Critical opinions

Vollmann is often cited as a major force in contemporary fiction. Many critics praise the boldness and originality of his work, as well as the erudition and beauty of his prose. Some reviewers have commended him for his ambition, while others find aspects of his work pretentious, egotistical or unfocused. In addition, some view Vollmann's obsession with prostitution as extending into fetishism.

Michael Hemmingson published the critical book, "William T. Vollmann: A Critical Study and Seven Interviews" (Jackson, NC:McFarland and Co., 2009) and co-edited, with Larry McCaffery, "Expelled from Eden: A WTV Reader" (NY: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2004).

Hemmingson is working on a comprehensive bibliography of Vollmann's published and archive writings and art, to be published in 2010 by The Scarecrow Press. Hemmingson has called himself "the world's leading Vollmann scholar." [see http://blacklawrence.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/black-lawrence-to-sign-michael-hemmingson-as-its-newest-author/]

Partial bibliography

*"You Bright and Risen Angels" (1987)
*"The Rainbow Stories" (1989)
*"The Ice-Shirt" (1990) (Volume One of Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes)
*"Whores for Gloria" (1991)
*"13 Stories and 13 Epitaphs" (1991)
*"An Afghanistan Picture Show" (1992)
*"Fathers and Crows" (1992) (Volume Two of Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes)
*"Butterfly Stories" (1993)
*"The Rifles" (1994) (Volume Six of Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes)
*"The Atlas" (1996)
*"The Royal Family" (2000)
*"" (2001) (Volume Three of Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes)
*"Rising Up and Rising Down : Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means" (2004)
*"Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader" (Larry McCaffery and Michael Hemmingson, eds.) (2004)
*"Europe Central" (2005)
*"" (2006) (Part of the nonfiction series "Great Discoveries")
*"Poor People" (2007)
*"Riding Toward Everywhere" (2008)
*"Imperial" (forthcoming, 2009)
*"The Cloud-Shirt"(Volume Four of Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes) (Forthcoming, 2010)

References

External links

* [http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw041104william_t_vollmann/ KCRW Bookworm Interview, November 4, 2004]
* [http://www.edrants.com/wtv/ The Vollmann Club]
* [http://www.almabooks.co.uk/EuropeCentral/AboutVollmann/AboutVollmann.html Alma Books author]
* [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18560 Profile of Vollmann in the New York Review of Books, December 2005]
* [http://www.mcsweeneys.net/authorpages/vollmann/vollmann.html McSweeney's Author Page]
* [http://66.111.110.102/newyork/DetailsAr.do?file=features/253/253.ft.vollman.html TimeOut New York interview]
*Review of Poor People [http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/books_detail.html?id1=762] by Alexander Provan, published in the May 2007 issue of Stop Smiling magazine.
* [http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw080327william_t_vollman/ KCRW Bookworm Interview, March 27, 2008, discussing "Riding Toward Everywhere"]

Persondata
NAME = Vollmann, William T.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Novelist, short story writer, essayist
DATE OF BIRTH = July 28 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH = Los Angeles, California, United States
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =