Andre Dubus: A Literary Life recounts the life of the famed American writer while also providing deep and acute analysis of his stories and novellas often from a biographical perspective. Author Patrick Samway, S. J., a specialist in the literature of the American South who received his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was not only a friend of the late Andre Dubus but also a spiritual counselor. Uniquely situated to explore Dubus’s life, Samway presents an accurate and profound portrayal of a writer who explored the depths of the human heart often in conflict with itself.
Dubus (1936–1999) was born and raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he grew up devoutly Catholic—a faith that often left an impact on his work. After serving in the Marines for eight years, he received his MFA at the Writers’ Workshop in Iowa and later had a successful career for seventeen years as professor of literature at Bradford College in Haverhill, Massachusetts. His oeuvre includes one novel and numerous short story and essay collections, including Broken Vessels, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Several of his stories have been adapted into films.
Dubus’s personal life was often marred by tragedy that deeply influenced his work: three divorces greatly impacted his life, the lives of his former wives, and those of his six children; a severe car accident that resulted in the loss of one of his legs; and reoccurring bouts of loneliness and depression. Though it would have been easy to allow his nether self to become dominant, Dubus was aware of life’s convergent blessings in such a way that he rose—sometimes anxiously and hesitatingly—above the negativity that almost enveloped him, freeing him to create an extensive and influential body of work still beloved by readers today.
Table of Contents:
Notes on the Text
Introduction
Chapter One: Early Years and First Marriage
Chapter Two: Marine Career
Chapter Three: Iowa Writers’ Workshop
Chapter Four: Bradford College
Chapter Five: Second Marriage
Chapter Six: Third Marriage
Chapter Seven: Anni Mirabiles
Chapter Eight: Car Accident and Its Aftermath
Chapter Nine: New Beginnings
Notes
Selected Works by Andre Dubus
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Patrick Samway, S. J., is author or editor of a number of books focusing on literary criticism and letters, including Walker Percy: A Life; Signposts in a Strange Land; Faulkner and Idealism: Perspectives from Paris; A Thief of Peirce: The Letters of Kenneth Laine Ketner and Walker Percy; John Berryman and Robert Giroux: A Publishing Friendship; and Flannery O’Connor and Robert Giroux: A Publishing Partnership.
Review :
"There is no one more appropriate to writing a literary biography of Dubus than Patrick Samway, who brings more to his work than critical appraisal and discrete interviews. He knew Andre Dubus and walked with him over decades, as a scholar, but more importantly as a close friend, and spiritual counselor." - Jane Kelley Rodeheffer, Fletcher Jones Chair of Great Books, Emerita, Pepperdine University
"Andre Dubus made a significant and lasting contribution to the American short story and novella. Patrick Samway captures the essence of his subject in this thorough and well-researched biography, exploring themes of love, marriage, family, and religion." - John Smolens, author of Day of Days and Possession(s)
