Biography of Author
Timothy Findley
Timothy Findley is a native of Toronto, Ontario. He was born in 1930 and grew up in the Rosedale district of Toronto. Growing up, Timothy Findley knew that he wanted to be an artist of some form. He studied dance and later acting, which had more success. While acting, he met one of his current life long friends; actress Ruth Gordon. Gordon convinced Findley that writing was his real talent and that he should pursue it further with more concentration. So findley gave up acting after his first short story was published in The Tamarack Review to concentrate on his writings. Findley had problems receiving recognition from his first two books, The Last of the Crazy People (1967) and The Butterfly Plague (1969). It was The Wars that gave Findley the recognition that he deserved; he received the Governor General’s Literary Award for this novel. In his early years of his writing career, Findley also wrote scripts for television, radio, and film. The most success of his film career came from the television series The Whiteoaks of Jalna, and The National Dream; for which he received an ACTRA award for co-writing with his partner, William Whitehead. After The Wars, Findley came out with six other popular novels, two collections of short stories and Inside Memory: Pages from a Writer’s Workbook (1990), a collection of articles, journal entries, and reminiscences. Findley has been very active in the writing community; he has helped to found the Writer’s Union of Canada and has served as its chairperson. He has also been President of the Canadian chapter of P.E.N. International, and is also active in Artists Against racism. In addition to this Findley has won many awards including the Canadian Authors Association Award, The Order of Ontario, The Ontario Trillium Award, and he has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.
You can’t change the past. It’s only when a person moves on that they discover they can achieve happiness. How true is this statement in regards to The Story of Tom Brennan?
Macartney-Filgate, Terence. Timothy Findley: Anatomy of a Writer. National Film Board of Canada, Toronto: 1992.
David McCullough is an: American raised in Pittsburg, PA., one of four children, having five of his own, and several grandchildren. He is nicknamed the “Citizen chronicler” by the Library of Congress and has written over ten books of which received a collection of over ten acclaimed awards and prizes. He also narrated over ten films, hosted a number of television programs, and miniseries. McCullough has been in over forty New York Times articles and won the New York Public Library Lion Award. “People often ask me if I am working on a new book…., I feel like I work in a book” (Personal quote made by David McCullough).
John Cheever’s childhood was riddled with troubles and adversities. He was born in Quincy, Massachusetts on May 27. His father owned a shoe factory, but lost everything in the Great Depression. Cheever’s mother sustained the family through her gift shop. Cheever attended grammar school for seventh and eighth grade and then transferred to Thayer Academy for high school. He was a mediocre student, and was eventually expelled for poor grades. However, Cheever later hinted that this was more likely do to an unnamed rule violation. The experience led Cheever to write his first short story, “Expelled”. Cheever sent “Expelled” into a progressive magazine, where it was noticed by editor Malcolm Cowley. Cheever and Cowley would become close friends and Cowley helped launch Cheever’s writing career. By age eighteen, Cheever had his first short story published in a successful magazine (Bosha).
Wright had a large family that all lived close to one another in Jackson, Mississippi, but Wright felt isolated from them because he didn’t have complete faith in the beliefs and values his relatives had. At a young age, Wright’s father left his family, leaving his own family to support themselves with little money. Wright constantly blamed his father for his constant hunger, and “whenever I felt hunger I thought of him with a deep biological bitterness.” (Wright 16). Living on practically nothing, Wright’s mom, Ella began to push her son into becoming the man of the household. Despite Wright’s constant fear of getting hurt, he slowly started to develop bravery. Without being brave, Wright would have never found the courage to write about his own life. The only source of support his family received was from his maternal grandmother, who ...
Thaddeus Stevens was a congressman from Pennsylvania who was a member of the House of Representatives during of the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction. He was the leader of a radical wing of the Republican Party called the Radical Republicans. Stevens was one of the most powerful members of the House of Representatives who focused much of his political life on civil rights. He believed in equality for all men whether they were rich or poor, no matter what color their skin. Stevens was instrumental in drafting the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which was meant to protect the civil right of all Americans regardless of their race or gender. He was nicknamed the “Great Commoner” because he championed the plight of the everyday man. Stevens also advocated very harsh policies toward the southern states during the time of Reconstruction. Even though many of his ideas were controversial, he was regarded as a very important national figure during and immediately following the Civil War.
Robinson, Daniel. "Getting It Right: The Short Fiction of Tim O'Brien." Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 40.3 (1999): 257. Expanded Academic ASAP.
Atlantic journalist Nicholas Carr confesses that he feels something has been “tinkering with his brain.” The internet, he fears, may be messing with our minds. We have lost the ability to focus on a simple task, and memory retention is steadily declining. He is worried about the effect the internet has on the human brain, and where it may take us in the future. In response to this article, Jamais Cascio, also a journalist for the Atlantic, provides his stance on the issue. He argues that this different way of thinking is an adaptation derived from our environment. Ultimately, he thinks that this staccato way of thinking is simply a natural evolution, one that will help to advance the human race.
As someone whom identifies as a minority in a number of ways, Aoki has been victimized and deals with that in her writing. From dealing with publishing companies to the actual writing she does, Aoki has to be strong and determined at every phase of her process through the end until a novel’s publishing. Every writer face these challenges, but perhaps not to the degree in which Aoki does. Despite this, Aoki overcomes her struggles with publishing and writing what she wants, but keeps her core value of writing meaningful work
Alice Munro was born and raised in Sowesto, a small Canadian town, which directly influenced her success in writing. In small towns such as Sowesto, a woman’s place in society was to stay home and cook, clean, and raise children. If a woman did have a job, it typically was simple such as school teaching, writing for a newspaper, or piano playing. Another challenge facing Munro--and others who wished to pursue writing--was the lack of authenticity of Canadian writing. Wishing to be successful writer on a worldly platform was something to be laughed at not only because publishers in Canada were few and far between but in general, works from Great Britain and USA were what people throughout the world recognized and loved. However, many other factors of being raised in Canada played a role in Munro’s success. Religion in a small Canadian town typically had a Protestant culture that believed forgiveness was hard to receive and punishments were harsh and often and that shame and humiliation were close by. Her ancestry also largely influenced her outlook on the world.
“Everett was strange, “Sleight concedes. “kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.” (67) John Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, briefly makes a comparison between two young boys Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess and fills the reader with different perspectives about them and their experiences. While the author wrote about McCandless he is reminded of Ruess and his book Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty written by W.L. Rusho and it sparked an interesting comparison between the two. The use of storytelling and letters about McCandless and the use of Artwork, letters,
“Root” by Terrance Hayes is a narrative poem that flows in a central theme,” What it means to black.” As the Hayes mentions in an interview, this poem is the result of sweat and tears because it is based on an actual experience. Here in this poem he elucidates the racism that he explores from his perspective as a child. The title “Root” has a symbolic meaning. Hayes uses the word ‘Root’ in a sense of how is race were bounded, like a root in soil submerged in darkness. Whereas he compares the other race to a plant above the soil always in the brightness and filled with wonder. The poem flows with the comparison of poets struggle with this yard (nature) to present his lower status (darkness), and shifts from the darkness to the light where the child imagines that he will have a better life after these hardships. Hayes uses the poem to illustrate how a child understands his race’s status in society, and how he undergoes the hardships to change the current race situation to be accepted by the society.
Ann Rinaldi has written many books for young teenagers, she is an Award winning author who writes stories of American history and makes them become real to the readers. She has written many other books such as A Break with Charity, A Ride into Morning, and Cast two Shadows, etc. She was born in New York City on August 27, 1934. In 1979, at the age of 45, she finished her first book.
Griffin strikes all of these aspects in her essay. What is most compelling about the essay, however, is the way Griffin incorporated personal, family, and world history into a chilling story of narrative and autobiography, without ever losing the factual evidence the story provided. The chapter reads like an entire novel, which helps the audience to understand the concepts with a clear and complete view of her history, not needing to read any other part of the book. Two other authors, Richard Rodriguez, and Ralph Ellison, who write about their experiences in life can possibly be better understood as historical texts when viewed through the eyes of Griffin. Rodriguez explores his own educational history in his essay “The Achievement of Desire” and Ralph Ellison depicts his own journeys and personal growth in his essay, “An Extravagance of Laughter”. Both essays, which when seen through Susan Griffin’s perspective, can be reopened and examined from a different historical view, perhaps allowing them to be understood with a more lucid view of history and what it is really about.
Robinson, Daniel. "Getting It Right: The Short Fiction of Tim O'Brien." Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 40.3 (1999): 257. Expanded Academic ASAP.