Norman Rush (born October 24, 1933) is an American writer most of whose introspective novels and short stories are set in Botswana in the 1980s.[1] He won the U.S. National Book Award[2] and the 1992 Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize for his novel Mating.
Norman Rush | |
|---|---|
 Norman Rush in 2015 | |
| Born | October 24, 1933 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Education | Swarthmore College (BA) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable work | Whites (1986) Mating (1991) |
Life and career
editRush was born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland, the son of Roger and Leslie (Chesse) Rush. He graduated from Swarthmore College in 1956.[3] During the Korean War, he was sentenced to two years incarceration for his status as a conscientious objector to the war, but was released on parole after nine months. After working for fifteen years as a book dealer, he changed careers to become a teacher and found he had more time to write. He submitted a short story about his teaching experiences to The New Yorker, which was published in 1978.
Rush and his wife Elsa were co-directors of the Peace Corps in Botswana from 1978 to 1983, which provided material for his short story collection Whites (1986). Whites was a finalist for the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[4] His Botswana experience also served as the setting for his novels Mating (1991) and Mortals (2003).
Rush lives with his wife, Elsa, in Rockland County, New York, in a farmhouse which they have shared since 1961, located on High Tor Mountain.[5][6]
Rush's third novel, Subtle Bodies, was published in September 2013.[7][8]
Published works
edit- Whites, short stories Alfred A. Knopf, 1986, ISBN 978-0-394-54471-7 — finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction[4]
- Mating, Knopf, 1991, ISBN 978-0-394-54472-4 — winner of the National Book Award for Fiction[2]
- Mortals, a novel Knopf, 2003, ISBN 978-0-679-40622-8.
- Subtle Bodies, a novel, Knopf, 2013, ISBN 978-1-4000-4250-0.
References
edit- ^ "Norman Rush". Nndb.com. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ^ a b
"National Book Awards – 1991". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
(With essays by Lee Taylor Gaffigan and Jim Shepard from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) - ^ [1] Archived July 20, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "Whites, by Norman Rush (Alfred A. Knopf)". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ Pashman, Joshua (Fall 2010). "Norman Rush, The Art of Fiction No. 205". The Paris Review. No. 194. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ Mason, Wyatt (August 29, 2013). "Norman Rush's Brilliantly Broken Promise". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ Kakutani, Michiko (September 16, 2013). "Gazing Into Their Past Through Their Bellybuttons". The New York Times. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ Toal, Drew (September 13, 2013). "Death And The Aging Hipster: A Tale Of Intolerable Men". NPR. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
External links
edit- Joshua Pashman (Fall 2010). "Norman Rush, The Art of Fiction No. 205". Paris Review. Fall 2010 (194).
- Keillor, Garrison. Writer's Almanac. October 24, 2006.
- The Bat Segundo Show (70 minute radio interview). September 3, 2013.