Walter Abish
Walter Abish | |
---|---|
Born | Manhattan, New York, U.S. | December 24, 1931
Occupation | Author |
Notable awards | PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction MacArthur Fellowship |
Walter Abish (December 24, 1931 – May 28, 2022) was an Austrian-born American author of experimental novels and short stories. He was conferred the
Early life
Abish was born in
Career
Abish published his first novel, Alphabetical Africa, in 1974.[1][3] The book, whose first and last chapters employ only words starting with the letter "A", was characterized by Richard Howard in The New York Times Book Review as "something more than a stunt, though a stunt it is."[1][4]
This was followed by his first collection of stories, Minds Meet, a year later, with one story envisaging Marcel Proust in Albuquerque.[5] His second collection, In the Future Perfect, was released in 1977 and utilized words juxtaposed in unusual patterns to form alphanumeric games.[3] Writing in The Tennessean, Alfred Sims noted that, as in Abish's previous work, "Here again the old war horses of plot and narrative line are sacrificed in favor of reflections on the nature and use of language."[6]
Abish was conferred a literature fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1979.[7] He published a second novel, How German Is It, the following year. Recognized as his most celebrated work, it garnered him the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1981.[1][3] Of Abish's prose, the PEN/Faulkner judges (William H. Gass, Tim O'Brien, Elizabeth Hardwick) said: "It helps keep the American novel alive in its time. The prose of this novel is as cold as snow in a storm and as driven."[8]
He also received a
His last novel, Eclipse Fever (1993), received mixed reviews, with James Atlas describing its protagonist in The Times Book Review as "even for a literary critic, something of a bore".[1] But Will Self, reviewing the book in The Independent, wrote: "Abish, unlike a populist film maker, doesn't simply produce snapshots to be passed among the mass. He tears treasured portraits from our culture's family album and thrusts them into his cunning slide carousel. Clicking from one page to the next, we reflect not on the death of literary fiction but on its vitality."[12]
Abish worked and taught at
Personal life
Abish married Cecile Gelb, a photographer and sculptor, in 1953. They remained married until his death. They did not have children.[1]
Abish died on May 28, 2022, at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in Manhattan at 90 years old.[1]
Bibliography
- Duel Site – poetry, 1970[1][14]
- ISBN 978-0-8112-0533-7
- ISBN 978-0-8112-0557-3
- ISBN 978-0-8112-0659-4
- ISBN 978-0-8112-0776-8
- ISBN 978-0-930901-66-0
- ISBN 978-0-679-41867-2
- ISBN 978-0-679-41868-9
Awards
- 1972 – Fellow of New Jersey State Council on the Arts[15]
- 1974 – Rose Isabel Williams Foundation grant[15]
- 1977 – Ingram Merrill Foundation grant[16]
- 1979 – Fellow of National Endowment for the Arts[17]
- 1981 – Guggenheim fellowship[18]
- 1981 – CAPS grant[19]
- 1981 – PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction[20]
- 1985 – Fellow of National Endowment for the Arts How German Is It[15]
- 1987 – Fellow of German Academic Exchange Service[21]
- 1987 – MacArthur Fellows Program[10]
- 1991 – American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award of Merit Medal for the Novel[21]
- 1992 – Lila Wallace – Reader's Digest Fund fellowship[22]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cowell, Alan (May 31, 2022). "Walter Abish, Daring Writer Who Pondered Germany, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-313-29462-4.
abish.
- ^ a b c d Updike, John (February 8, 2004). "Sentimental Re-Education". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
- ^ Taylor, Robert (July 9, 1974). "A to Z and back again". Boston Globe. p. 35. Retrieved June 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Novak, Michael Paul (June 29, 1975). "A Problem of Modern Fiction In Dealing With New Realities". Kansas City Star. p. 10D. Retrieved June 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sims, Alfred (December 11, 1977). "A Return Trip With Alice . ". The Tennessean (Nashville). p. 8-F. Retrieved June 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Literature Fellowships". National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
- ^ Anderson, Don (October 31, 1981). "Why isn't it in German?". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 25. Retrieved June 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Walter Abish". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
- ^ a b "Walter Abish". www.macfound.org. MacArthur Foundation. July 1, 1987. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
- ^ "Walter Abish - Conjunctions". www.conjunctions.com.
- ^ Self, Will (July 25, 1993). "The word is worth a thousand pictures". The Independent (London). p. 37. Retrieved June 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
- ^ Abish, Walter (1970). Duel Site. Tibor de Nagy.
- ^ a b c "Abish, Walter 1931- | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com.
- ISBN 978-1-135-45607-8.
- ^ Hall, Carla (May 20, 1982). "The Gift of 'Garp'". Washington Post.
- ^ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Walter Abish". www.gf.org. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-136-80620-9.
- ^ "Walter Abish | American author | Britannica". www.britannica.com. May 24, 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-135-45607-8.
- ISBN 978-0-7876-3995-2.
External links
- "Sentimental Re-Education", John Updike, The New Yorker, February 2004