John Reed (novelist)

Last updated
John Reed
John Reed 2 by David Shankbone.jpg
Reed in 2007
Born (1969-02-07) February 7, 1969 (age 55)
Alma mater Hampshire College (BA)
Columbia University (MFA)
OccupationNovelist
Website www.easyreeder.com

John Reed (born February 7, 1969) is an American novelist. He is the author of four novels: A Still Small Voice (2000), Snowball's Chance (2002) with a preface by Alexander Cockburn, The Whole (2005), and All the World's a Grave: A New Play by William Shakespeare (2008). His fifth book, Tales of Woe (2010), is a collection of twenty-five stories, chronicling true stories of abject misery.

Contents

Biography

Born in 1969 in New York City, Reed is the son of artists David Reed and Judy Rifka. [1] He attended Hampshire College, and received a Masters in Fine Art in Creative Writing from Columbia University. [2] He teaches at The New School.

Reed was an early contributor to, and subsequently an editor with, Open City , a New York literary journal published by Robert Bingham, who later founded the book series.

Works

He is affiliated with the New York Press and The Brooklyn Rail . "Americans are extremely sophisticated in terms of narrative forms," said Reed in an interview. "We see it in commercials, we see it on TV, we see it in movies. But the narrative forms we're talking about are three acts, five acts, depending on how you want to look at it. They're all based on a Christian model of sin, suffering, redemption; which is not a large model." [3]

A Still Small Voice

A Still Small Voice (Delacorte 2000, Delta 2001), Reed's first novel, is a historical novel based on the life of a girl growing up in Kentucky from 1850 to 1870.

Snowball's Chance

Snowball's Chance (Roof Books 2002/2003), Reed's second novel was a controversial send-up of George Orwell's Animal Farm , and ended in a cataclysmic attack on the "Twin Mills" (reminiscent of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center). It became a bestseller in the field of books by independent literary publishers. [4]

The Whole, or, Duh Whole

John Reed discusses politics after 9/11 and Reed's take on Orwell's neoconservativism.
Reed between BOMB magazine's senior editor Monica de la Torre and editor-in-chief Betsy Sussler. MonicadelaTorre John Reed Betsy Sussler 2010 Shankbone.jpg
Reed between BOMB magazine's senior editor Monica de la Torre and editor-in-chief Betsy Sussler.

The Whole, Reed's third novel, parodied MTV and was released in 2005 by MTV Books (Simon & Schuster). The novel described a gigantic hole that appears in the middle of the country, which engulfs four states.

Related Research Articles

<i>Animal Farm</i> 1945 novella by George Orwell

Animal Farm is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, the rebellion is betrayed, and under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon, the farm ends up in a state far worse than before.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Orwell</span> English author and journalist (1903–1950)

Eric Arthur Blair was a British novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell, a name inspired by his favourite place, the River Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Updike</span> American writer (1932–2009)

John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, Updike published more than twenty novels, more than a dozen short-story collections, as well as poetry, art and literary criticism and children's books during his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Vonnegut</span> American author (1922–2007)

Kurt Vonnegut was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works over fifty-plus years; further works have been published since his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political fiction</span> Literary genre

Political fiction employs narrative to comment on political events, systems and theories. Works of political fiction, such as political novels, often "directly criticize an existing society or present an alternative, even fantastic, reality". The political novel overlaps with the social novel, proletarian novel, and social science fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Roth</span> American novelist (1933–2018)

Philip Milton Roth was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophically and formally blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, for its "sensual, ingenious style" and for its provocative explorations of American identity. He first gained attention with the 1959 short story collection Goodbye, Columbus, which won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Ten years later, he published the bestseller Portnoy's Complaint. Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's literary alter ego, narrates several of his books. A fictionalized Philip Roth narrates some of his others, such as the alternate history The Plot Against America.

<i>Godric</i> (novel) 1980 novel by Frederick Buechner

Godric is the tenth novel by the American author and theologian, Frederick Buechner. Set in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the novel tells the semi-fictionalised life story of the medieval Roman Catholic saint, Godric of Finchale. It was first published in 1980 by Atheneum, New York, and was a finalist for the 1981 Pulitzer Prize.

<i>A Prayer for Owen Meany</i> 1989 novel by John Irving

A Prayer for Owen Meany is the seventh novel by American writer John Irving. Published in 1989, it tells the story of John Wheelwright and his best friend Owen Meany growing up together in a small New Hampshire town during the 1950s and 1960s. According to John's narration, Owen is a remarkable boy in many ways; he believes himself to be God's instrument and sets out to fulfill the fate he has prophesied for himself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelby Foote</span> American writer, historian and journalist (1916–2005)

Shelby Dade Foote Jr. was an American writer, historian and journalist. Although he primarily viewed himself as a novelist, he is now best known for his authorship of The Civil War: A Narrative, a three-volume history of the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Thirlwell</span> British novelist

Adam Thirlwell is a British novelist. His work has been translated into thirty languages. He has twice been named as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. In 2015 he received the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is an advisory editor of The Paris Review.

A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties. An author may also be referred to as a bestseller if their work often appears in a list. Well-known bestseller lists in the U.S. are published by Publishers Weekly, USA Today, The New York Times, and IndieBound. The New York Times tracks book sales from national and independent bookstores, as well as sales from major internet retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Holleran</span> American novelist, essayist, and short story writer

Andrew Holleran is the pseudonym of Eric Garber, an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer, born on the island of Aruba. Most of his adult life has been spent in New York City, Washington, D.C., and a small town in Florida. He was a member of The Violet Quill with Christopher Cox, a gay writer's group that met in 1980 and 1981 and also included Robert Ferro, Edmund White and Felice Picano. Following the critical and financial success of his first novel Dancer from the Dance in 1978, he became a prominent author of post-Stonewall gay literature. Historically protective of his privacy, the author continues to use the pseudonym Andrew Holleran as a writer and public speaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Polito</span> American writer and arts administrator

Robert Polito is a poet, biographer, essayist, critic, educator, curator, and arts administrator. He received the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography in 1995 for Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson. The founding director of the New School Graduate Writing Program in New York City, he was President of the Poetry Foundation from 2013–2015, before returning to the New School as a professor of writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tao Lin</span> American novelist

Tao Lin is an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published four novels, a novella, two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, as well as an extensive assortment of online content. His third novel, Taipei, was published by Vintage on June 4, 2013. His nonfiction book Trip: Psychedelics, Alienation, and Change was published by Vintage on May 1, 2018. His fourth novel, Leave Society, was published by Vintage on August 3, 2021.

<i>Snowballs Chance</i> Book by John Reed

Snowball's Chance is a parody and unofficial sequel to George Orwell's Animal Farm written by John Reed, in which Snowball the pig returns to the Manor Farm after many years' absence, to install capitalism — which proves to have its own pitfalls.

<i>Esther Waters</i> 1894 novel by George Moore

Esther Waters is a novel by George Moore first published in 1894.

Authoritarian literature is a term used by John Gardner to designate the body of literature written by persons living under an authoritarian governmental regime. Literary works produced in these regimes share common characteristics that make the designation useful. Authoritarian regimes revere their leaders, who historically were typically referred to as kings, along with advisors to the king. These leaders were considered innately better than ordinary people. The authoritarian leader, and his approved circle, if not directly writing about a subject themselves, were the only ones who could designate, approve, and sanction writers as acceptable authorities. Government authorities also financially supported writers under a patronage system. The writers in such a system therefore must necessarily be careful to ensure the composition of their work met the approval of authorities. Failure to comply risked official warnings, loss of governmental sanction, and sometimes even imprisonment or loss of life.

Whitney Otto is an American novelist best known for her debut novel How to Make an American Quilt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Torres</span> American novelist (born 1980)

Justin Torres is an American novelist and an associate professor of English at University of California, Los Angeles. He won the First Novelist Award for his semi-autobiographical debut novel We the Animals (2011), which was also a Publishing Triangle Award finalist and an NAACP Image Award nominee. The novel has been adapted into a film of the same title and was awarded the Next Innovator Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Torres' second novel, Blackouts, won the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction.

<i>The Goldfinch</i> (novel) 2013 novel by Donna Tartt

The Goldfinch is a novel by the American author Donna Tartt. It won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, among other honors. Published in 2013, it was Tartt's first novel since The Little Friend in 2002.

References

  1. Return to Animal Farm Archived 2007-05-13 at the Wayback Machine , New York Press, October 8, 2002.
  2. A Still Small Voice Archived 2012-04-03 at the Wayback Machine , Random House, accessed October 22, 2009.
  3. Interview with John Reed, David Shankbone, Wikinews , October 18, 2007.
  4. "SPD All-Time Bestseller List". Archived from the original on 2008-09-07. Retrieved 2008-08-07.