Helen DeWitt

Helen DeWitt
Helen DeWitt
Born	1957 (age 67–68) Takoma Park, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation	Writer
Period	2000–present
Genre	Novel
Notable works	The Last Samurai Lightning Rods Some Trick
Website
helendewitt.com

Voice of Helen DeWitt, 2015

Helen DeWitt (born 1957) is an American novelist. She is the author of the novels The Last Samurai (2000) and Lightning Rods (2011) and the short story collection Some Trick (2018) and, in collaboration with the Australian-Canadian journalist Ilya Gridneff, has written Your Name Here. ^[1] She lives in Berlin. ^[2]

Life

DeWitt was born in 1957, in Takoma Park, Maryland. She grew up primarily in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador in Latin America, ^[3] as her parents worked in the United States diplomatic service. After a year at Northfield Mount Hermon School and two short periods at Smith College, DeWitt studied classics at the University of Oxford, first at Lady Margaret Hall, and then at Brasenose College for her D.Phil., where her thesis examined the concept of propriety in ancient literary criticism. ^[4] Afterwards she became a junior research fellow at Somerville College. ^[5]

Work

DeWitt is best known for her debut novel, The Last Samurai . She held a variety of jobs while struggling to finish a book, including dictionary text tagger, copytaker, Dunkin' Donuts employee, legal secretary, and working at a laundry service. During this time she reportedly attempted to finish many novels, before finally completing The Last Samurai, her 50th manuscript, in 1998. ^{[3] [6]} It was published in 2000 by Talk Miramax Books.

In 1999, DeWitt had completed another novel, Lightning Rods , and later signed a contract for it with Miramax Books in 2003, but it remained unpublished and in limbo. After Miramax Books was folded into Hyperion Books in late 2007, she asked for the rights to be returned. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]} It was eventually published in 2011 by New Directions.

In 2005 she collaborated with Ingrid Kerma, the London-based painter, writing "limit5" for the exhibition "Blushing Brides".

In 2012 an excerpt from an in-progress novel set in Flin Flon, Manitoba, was published online by Open Book: Ontario at the end of an article about the novel and DeWitt's difficulties in finding a publisher. ^[11]

Her short story "Climbers", which explores artistic ideals and commercial realities of the writing life, was published in Harper's Magazine November 2014. ^[12]

In 2018, a collection of thirteen of her short stories, Some Trick , was published by New Directions. It was shortlisted for the 2019 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize. ^[13]

DeWitt published a novella, The English Understand Wool , in 2022. The novella was published as part of a new series from New Directions Publishing, "Storybook ND", which aims to deliver "the pleasure one felt as a child reading a marvelous book from cover to cover in an afternoon". ^{[14] [15]}

Bibliography

Novels and novellas

• —— (2000). The Last Samurai . New York, London: Talk Miramax Books/Chatto & Windus. ISBN   9780786866687.
• —— (2011). Lightning Rods . New York: New Directions. ISBN   9781908276117.
• —— (2022). The English Understand Wool . New York: New Directions. ISBN   9780811230070.
• ——; Gridneff, Ilya (2025). Your Name Here. Champaign: Dalkey Archive Press.

Short story collection

• —— (2018). Some Trick: Thirteen Stories. New York: New Directions. ISBN   9780811227827.

References

1. Turner, Jenny (September 11, 2008). "Move Your Head and the Picture Changes". London Review of Books. Vol. 30, no. 17. ISSN   0260-9592 . Retrieved February 23, 2021.
2. "Helen DeWitt". www.artforum.com. November 2015. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
3. Macgowan, James (October 15, 2000). "After 50 attempts, Helen DeWitt's brainy prose gets brawny cash advances". The Ottawa Citizen . CanWest Interactive.
4. DeWitt, Helen (1987). Quo virtus? The Concept of Propriety in Ancient Literary Criticism (D.Phil.). University of Oxford. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
5. Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial (2006). Reports of the President and the Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
6. The Paris Review (June 7, 2016). "Helen DeWitt: My First Time". The Paris Review. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
7. "Novels From the Edge: For Helen DeWitt, the Publishing World Is a High-Stakes Game". Observer. December 21, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
8. "an interview with helen dewitt | if:book". December 27, 2008. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
9. Lorentzen, Christian (July 13, 2016). "When Will Helen DeWitt Be Recognized As One of the Great American Novelists?". Vulture. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
10. "The Screwer and the Screwed | Lauren Oyler". The Baffler. April 30, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
11. Colangelo, Jeremy (June 12, 2012). "Helen DeWitt on Writing, Flin Flon and the Canadian Personality". Open Book Ontario. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014.
12. harper's magazine vol.329 No. 1974
13. "Announcing the 2019 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists". PEN America. January 15, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
14. Arrowsmith, Charles (September 30, 2022). "Review: The author of a literary classic, Helen DeWitt tries a novella on for size". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
15. Maloney, Iain (July 21, 2022). "Independent publisher gives short stories their due with 'Storybook ND' series". The Japan Times. Retrieved October 29, 2022.

External links

• Official website
• Helen DeWitt’s First Time | The Paris Review (YouTube)