Peter Taylor (writer) facts for kids
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Peter Taylor (born Matthew Hillsman Taylor Jr., January 8, 1917 – November 2, 1994) was a famous American writer. He wrote many novels, short stories, and plays. Peter Taylor grew up in Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri. His stories often showed what life was like in cities in the Southern United States.
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About Peter Taylor
Peter Taylor was born in Trenton, Tennessee. His father, Matthew Hillsman "Red" Taylor, was a well-known lawyer and played football at Vanderbilt University. His mother was Katherine Baird Taylor. Peter's grandfather, Robert Love Taylor, was a politician from eastern Tennessee. He served as a US Congressman, the governor of Tennessee three times, and a United States Senator.
Early Life and Education
When Peter was young, his family lived in Nashville. In 1926, they moved to St. Louis because his father became the president of an insurance company. Peter went to the Rossman School and St. Louis Country Day School there.
In 1932, his family moved again to Memphis, where his father started a new law practice. Peter graduated from Central High School in Memphis in 1935. While in high school, he wrote his first published article, which was an interview with the actress Katharine Cornell.
After high school, Peter took a year off to travel to England. In 1936, he started college at Southwestern at Memphis (which is now Rhodes College). He studied with a famous writer named Allen Tate. Tate encouraged Peter to go to Vanderbilt University. Later, Peter moved to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, to continue studying with another great writer, John Crowe Ransom.
At Kenyon College, Peter became good friends with the poet Robert Lowell. He also met many other important writers like Robert Penn Warren, Randall Jarrell, and Katherine Anne Porter.
Writing Style and Themes
Peter Taylor is known as one of America's best short story writers. He often wrote about the urban South and its history. His characters were usually middle or upper-class people. They often lived during times of big changes in the 20th century. These characters often tried to figure out who they were and what their place was in society.
Awards and Teaching
Peter Taylor's book of short stories, The Old Forest and Other Stories (1985), won the PEN/Faulkner Award. He also wrote three novels. One of them, A Summons to Memphis (1986), won the famous Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1987. His last novel, In the Tennessee Country, came out in 1994.
Besides writing, Peter Taylor taught literature and writing at Kenyon College and the University of Virginia.
He was married to the poet Eleanor Ross Taylor for 51 years. Peter Taylor passed away in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1994. His writings and papers are kept at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia. He was also a founding member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.
In 2017, a collection of his Complete Stories was published in two volumes by Library of America.
Peter Taylor's Books
Short Story Collections
- A Long Fourth and Other Stories, 1948.
- The Widows of Thornton, 1954.
- Happy Families Are All Alike: A Collection of Stories, 1959.
- Miss Leonora When Last Seen and Fifteen Other Stories, 1963.
- The Collected Stories of Peter Taylor, 1969.
- In the Miro District and Other Stories, 1977.
- The Old Forest and Other Stories, 1985.
- The Oracle at Stoneleigh Court, 1993.
Novels
- A Woman of Means, 1950.
- A Summons to Memphis, 1986.
- In the Tennessee Country, 1994.
Plays
- Tennessee Day in St. Louis, 1959.
- A Stand in the Mountains, 1965.
- Presences: Seven Dramatic Pieces, 1973. This book includes seven short plays.
Awards and Honors
- 1986 – PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for The Old Forest and Other Stories
- 1987 – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for A Summons to Memphis
- 1993 – PEN/Malamud Award for "excellence in the art of the short story"
