Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

In 1963 Reynolds Price won the William Faulkner Foundation Award for his first novel, A Long and Happy Life , a book that has now sold over a million copies. From that spectacular beginning, he went on to compose three volumes of short stories, 13 novels, six plays, four volumes of poetry, three collections of essays, three memoirs, and enough religious writing to feature him on the cover of Time (Dec. 6, 1999). In addition to such versatility, Price has published countless book reviews and interviews that disclose a vast array of literary interests and relationships. Born February 1, 1933 in Macon, North Carolina, Edward Reynolds Price graduated summa cum laude from Duke University in 1955, spent three years at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and in 1958 became a writer-in-residence and teacher at Duke. A crucial turning point in his life was the discovery, in May 1984, of a malignant tumor on his spine. An operation and radiation treatments slowed the progress of the malignancy, but left him paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair and in a state of “colossal, incessant pain.” The magnificent productivity of his later decades has vindicated his heroic choice to write and endure the pain. A lifelong bachelor, Price has nonetheless taken the dynamics of family life as a central feature of his work, most notably in the two trilogies that comprise his major achievement. The ... log in or subscribe to read full text