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LECTURE 20
SOME NAMES IN CONTEMPORARY ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE (1996 –)
20.1. Современные писатели Великобритании.
20.1.1. Nicholas Evans (1950 –) is an English journalist, screenwriter and novelist. He studied at Oxford and served in Africa with a charity. He then studied journalism and worked as a newspaper reporter and TV screenwriter. His novel, The Horse Whisperer, was No.10 on the bestselling list in the USA for 1995. It was made into a motion picture.
20.1.2. Nick Hornby (1957 –) was educated at Cambridge. He is best known for several novels, some turned into successful movies. His work frequently touches upon music, sports, and the both aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists. High Fidelity — his second book and first novel — was published in 1995. The novel, about a neurotic record collector and his failed relationships, was adapted first into a film and later into a Broadway musical. His third novel, About a Boy, published in 1998, is about two "boys" – Marcus, an awkward yet endearing adolescent from a single parent family, and the free floating, mid-30s Will Freeman who overcomes his own immaturity and self-centeredness through his growing relationship with Marcus. Hugh Grant starred in the movie version. Hornby's newest book, entitled Slam, was recognized as a 2008 Best Book for Young Adults. The protagonist of Slam is a 15-year-old skateboarder named Sam whose life changes drastically when his girlfriend gets pregnant.
20.1.3. Helen Fielding (1958 –) is best known as the author of the novel Bridget Jones's Diary and its sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. In 2003, she was listed as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In her early years, she graduated from the University of Oxford with an English degree, and worked in television journalism for several years before writing her first novel, Cause Celeb. The Bridget Jones books had their origins in a column published in The Independent and The Daily Telegraph.
20.1.4. Joanne Rowling (1965 –) is a British author, who writes about the magical adventures of a boy wizard named Harry Potter. The Harry Potter books dominated bestseller lists in the late 1990s and early 2000s, attracting fans worldwide among children and adults alike. Rowling knew she wanted to be a writer as early as age six, when she wrote her first story. She graduated from the University of Exeter in England and afterward worked in various jobs while attempting to write fiction for adults. Rowling moved to Portugal at age 26, where she taught English. While there, she married a Portuguese journalist, and they had a daughter in 1993. During this time she began writing a book about an orphaned boy who lives with his mean-spirited aunt and uncle and does not know that he is actually a wizard with magic powers. By 1995 Rowling was divorced, and she moved to Edinburgh, Scotland. Unable to pay for childcare, Rowling went on public assistance and continued writing her book, often jotting down passages in cafés while her daughter slept at her side. Her finished manuscript was rejected by a number of publishers before its publication as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Britain in 1997. This is how it all began. In July 2007, the last book of the series was released. So far, Rowling has earned one billion dollars. The first six books have sold over 300 million copies and have been translated into 62 languages.
20.1.5. Cecelia Ahern (1981—) is an Irish novelist. In addition to publishing several novels, she has also contributed a number of short stories to various anthologies, for which all her royalties go to charity, and she is currently a TV producer. In 2000, she was part of an Irish pop group, who finished third in the Irish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. Before starting her writing career, she read for a Degree in Journalism and Media Communications from a college in Dublin. When Cecelia Ahern was twenty-one, her first novel PS, I Love You was the number one bestseller in Ireland, the UK, USA, Germany and Holland.. It is now sold in over forty countries. Her second book, Where Rainbows End (U.S. Love, Rosie), also reached number one in Ireland and the UK. She has also contributed to charity books with short stories such as Irish Girls are Back in Town and Ladies' Night.
20.2. Современные писатели США.
20.2.1. Robert James Waller (1939 –) is an American author also known for his work as a photographer and a musician. Several of his books were on the New York Times bestseller list including The Bridges of Madison County (1992). Waller received his Ph.D. in business and later taught at a university where he was also dean of the business school. Puerto Vallarta Squeeze, have also been made into a motion picture. Another fascinating novel by Waller is Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend (1993). Waller currently resides in Texas.
20.2.2. John Grisham (1955-), attorney-turned-novelist, accomplished a rare feat in publishing: he completed writing four novels, A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and The Client, and had each one reach the New York Times best-seller lists within five years. Thus, Grisham became the fastest-selling writer of modern fiction in history. Though often criticized for depicting one-dimensional characters and for formulating implausible plots, Grisham was generally lauded for his fast-paced, adrenaline-charged page-turners. Despite being free of gratuitous sex, violence, and gore, Grisham's novels managed to keep readers on the edge of their seats just by making heroes out of innocent people fighting corrupt government, the underworld, and immoral businessmen.
John Grisham was inspired by a trial he had observed in 1984, and took three years to write his first novel, A Time to Kill, which deals with the legal, social, and moral repercussions when a black man is tried for the murder of two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter. Despite good reviews for its skillfully crafted dialogue and sense of place, the novel failed to sell. Grisham vowed to "take a naked stab at commercial fiction" with his next novel, The Firm, about a law-school graduate who is seduced into joining a Memphis law firm that turns out to be a front for the Mafia. Within weeks of its release in 1991, the novel appeared on the New York Times best-seller list, where it stayed for nearly a year. Many of Grisham's other novels were equally successful.
20.2.3. Tracy Chevalier (1962 –) a bestselling historical novelist. She is of Swiss and French descent on her father's side, and currently lives in London with her husband and son. Chevalier was raised in Washington, D.C. After receiving her degree in English, she moved to England where she worked several years as a reference book editor. Her writing career began with the book The Virgin Blue but she became well known with her novel Girl with a Pearl Earring, a book based on the creation of the famous painting by Vermeer. The film based on the book received three Academy Award nominations. Another novel, recreating medieval history, is The Lady and the Unicorn (2003). Her most recent book is Burning Bright and concerns two children who become neighbours of William Blake in London in 1792.
20.2.4. Dan Brown (1964 –) is an American writer of thriller fiction. Brown is interested in cryptography, keys, and codes, which are a recurring theme in his stories. Currently his novels have been translated into more than 40 languages. After graduating from Amherst College, Brown dabbled with a musical career, self-producing a children's cassette which sold a few hundred copies. He then formed his own record company and moved to Hollywood to pursue a career as singer-songwriter. At 30, he returned to his home town in New England. Brown became an English teacher, and gave Spanish classes to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at a small school for K–8th grade with about 250 students. While on holiday, he read Sidney Sheldon's novel, and decided that he could do better. He started work on Digital Fortress published in 1998. Brown's first three novels had little success, with fewer than 10,000 copies in each of their first printings; but the fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became a runaway bestseller. It is now credited with being one of the most popular books of all time, with 60.5 million copies sold worldwide as of 2006. His other novels are Angels and Demons (2000) and Deception Point (2001).
20.2.5. Lauren Weisberger (1977 –) is an American novelist. Following her graduation from school, she attended Cornell University where she was an English major. After college, she traveled as a backpacker through many countries of the world. Returning home, she moved to Manhattan and was hired as editor's assistant at Vogue. She was there for ten months. While she herself said she felt out of place there, the magazine's managing editor said "she seemed to be a perfectly happy, lovely woman".
After leaving the fashion magazine, she wrote 100-word reviews before writing her first novel. She started writing it as a story about her time at Vogue, trying to get done fifteen pages every couple of weeks. After continuous nudging for her to show her completed writing to agents, she finally did and within two weeks, it was sold and published in 2003 entitled The Devil Wears Prada. As of July 2006, it was the best-selling mass-market softcover book in the nation.
The book provides a semi-fictional but highly critical view of the Manhattan elite's empty obsession with materialism and fashion. The book's protagonist is 23-year-old Andrea Sachs. She is also quite well traveled, after visits to west Canada, India, Thailand and Italy. She goes to New York City and lands a job at Runway magazine working for a tyrannical boss, Miranda Priestly. She believes that if she can last one year as Miranda's assistant, she will be able to achieve her goal of becoming a writer. After many trials and tribulations, including a breakup with her long-time boyfriend, her best friend Lily's terrible accident and the myriad unreasonable requests of her boss, Andrea quits her job at Runway with only a month left until the end of her year. The book calls into light the many aspects of one's first job. It also highlights the presumed insanity of the fashion world and the difficulty and pressure a person goes through when trying to balance a demanding job with an adequate social life. The book provides a comical insight into the fashion world. The book was met with stunning success.
Weisberger's second novel, Everyone Worth Knowing, was published in 2005, and received generally unfavorable reviews. Despite debuting on The New York Times Best Sellers List at #10, it dropped off the list in two weeks and was noted for its disappointing sales. Chasing Harry Winston is Weisberger's third novel, which was released in May 2008. The main characters are three best friends Emmy, Adriana and Leigh who are facing the horror of turning 30. Recently dumped Emmy promises to make a drastic change and find guys from every continent for casual affairs. Beautiful Brasilian Adriana in turn tries to leave her old lifestyle of sleeping around and living off daddy in order to get a Harry Winston ring on her finger before the first wrinkes start showing. Leigh, the one with the perfect life, doesn't know what she needs in order to be happy and to be able to relax.
The movie The Devil Wears Prada was released in 2006, starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. The film grossed $27.5 million in its opening weekend, amassing total U.S. sales of $125 million and total worldwide sales of $322 million, making it one of the top grossing films of summer 2006. Though it departs from the book in several ways, it's definitely worth watching!
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