Stanley Elkin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Stanley Elkin
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| Born | Stanley Lawrence Elkin May 11, 1930 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | May 31, 1995 (aged 65) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist, professor |
| Period | 1950–1995 |
Stanley Lawrence Elkin (born May 11, 1930 – died May 31, 1995) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. His funny and sometimes over-the-top stories often looked at American life, especially how people buy things, popular culture, and relationships between men and women.
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About Stanley Elkin
Stanley Elkin was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. When he was three years old, his family moved to Chicago, where he grew up. He went to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign for college and graduate school. He earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1952. Later, in 1961, he received his Ph.D. after studying the writer William Faulkner.
From 1955 to 1957, Elkin served in the U.S. Army. In 1953, he married Joan Marion Jacobson. Starting in 1960, he taught English at Washington University in St. Louis until he passed away. He lived with multiple sclerosis, a health condition, for much of his adult life.
His Writing Style
During his career, Stanley Elkin wrote ten novels, two books of novellas (shorter novels), two collections of short stories, a book of essays, and one movie script that was never made into a film.
Elkin's work often explored American popular culture. His stories were usually funny, sometimes with a dark humor. He focused a lot on interesting characters and a unique writing style, rather than on complicated plots. His language was very rich and lively, almost like music, with his characters often talking a lot.
Another writer, William Gass, said that Elkin's writing was "like a jazz artist who would go off on riffs," meaning he was very creative with his words. A reviewer named Ralph B. Sipper noted that Elkin was skilled at mixing funny parts with sad parts in his stories without making mistakes. Elkin himself said he admired writers who were great stylists, meaning they used language in a special way. He cared most about the way he used words in his writing.
Life and Awards
Even though he lived in the Midwest, Elkin spent his childhood and teenage summers in a small community called West Oakland in northern New Jersey. This place was a summer escape for many families, mostly Jewish, from the hot cities of New York and New Jersey. His experiences there influenced some of his writings about New Jersey.
Stanley Elkin won the National Book Critics Circle Award twice. He won for his novel George Mills in 1982. He won again in 1995 for Mrs. Ted Bliss, which was his last novel. His book The MacGuffin was also a finalist for the 1991 National Book Award for Fiction.
Even though critics highly praised his books, they were never widely popular with many readers. The 1976 movie Alex & the Gypsy, starring Jack Lemmon, was based on Elkin's novella "The Bailbondsman."
Stanley Elkin passed away on May 31, 1995, from a heart attack, shortly after his 65th birthday. His original writings and letters are kept at Olin Library at Washington University in St. Louis.
He has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, which honors famous people from the St. Louis area.
Works
Novels
- Boswell: A Modern Comedy (1964)
- A Bad Man (1967)
- The Dick Gibson Show (1971)
- The Franchiser (1976)
- The Living End (novella) (1979) ISBN: 978-0525070207
- George Mills (1982)
- The Magic Kingdom (1985)
- The Rabbi of Lud (1987)
- The MacGuffin (1991) ISBN: 978-0671673246
- Mrs. Ted Bliss (1995)
Story Collections
- Criers and Kibitzers, Kibitzers and Criers (1966)
- Early Elkin (1985)
Novella Collections
- Searches and Seizures (1973) (Also known as Eligible Men in the U.K. in 1974)
- Van Gogh's Room at Arles (1993)
Other Works
- "A Prayer for Losers", from the Why Work Series (1966)
- Stanley Elkin's Greatest Hits (a collection of his best works) (1980)
- The Six-Year-Old Man (a movie script) (1987)
- Pieces of Soap (a collection of essays) (1992)
Audio
- "A Poetics for Bullies", read by Jackson Beck, with comments by Elkin, in New Sounds in American Fiction, Program 10. (1969)
As Editor
- Stories From the Sixties (1971)
- The Best American Short Stories 1980 (with Shannon Ravenel) (1980)
Awards
- 1995 – National Book Critics Circle Award for Mrs. Ted Bliss
- 1994 – PEN/Faulkner Award finalist for Van Gogh's Room at Arles
- 1991 – National Book Award finalist for Fiction for The MacGuffin
- 1982 – National Book Critics Circle Award for George Mills
