Andre Jules Dubus II (August 11, 1936 – February 24, 1999) was an American
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
writer and
essayist
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...
.
Biography
Early life and education
Andre Jules Dubus II was born in
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcas ...
, the youngest child of Katherine (Burke) and André Jules Dubus, a Cajun-Irish Catholic family. His two elder siblings are Kathryn and Beth.
James Lee Burke
James Lee Burke (born December 5, 1936) is an American author, best known for his Dave Robicheaux series. He has won Edgar Awards for ''Black Cherry Blues'' (1990) and ''Cimarron Rose'' (1998), and has also been presented with the Grand Master ...
is his first cousin. His surname is pronounced "Duh-BYOOSE", with the accent falling on the second syllable, as in "profuse". Dubus grew up in the Bayou country in
Lafayette, Louisiana, and was educated by the
Christian Brothers, a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
religious order that emphasized
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
and writing. Dubus graduated from nearby
McNeese State College in 1958 as a
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...
and English major. Dubus then spent six years in the
Marine Corps
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...
, eventually rising to the rank of
captain. At this time he married his first wife and started a family. After leaving the Marine Corps, Dubus moved with his wife and four children to
Iowa City, where he later graduated from the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...
's
Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative W ...
with an
MFA in
creative writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...
, studying under
Richard Yates. The family then moved to
Haverhill, Massachusetts, where Dubus would spend the bulk of his academic career teaching literature and creative writing at
Bradford College
Bradford College is a further and higher education college in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, with approximately 25,000 students. The college offers a range of full and part-time courses from introductory level through to postgraduate l ...
. He admired Hemingway, Chekhov, and Cheever.
Personal difficulties
Dubus's life was marked by several tragedies. His daughter was raped as a young woman, causing Dubus many years of paranoia over his loved ones' safety. Dubus carried personal firearms to protect himself and those around him, until the night in the late 1980s, when he almost shot a man who was in a drunken argument with his son, Andre, outside a bar in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Dubus was seriously injured in a car accident on the night of July 23, 1986. He was driving from
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
to his home in
Haverhill, Massachusetts, and he stopped to assist two disabled motorists—brother and sister Luis and Luz Santiago. As Dubus assisted the injured Luz to the side of the highway, an oncoming car swerved and hit them. Luis was killed instantly; Luz survived because Dubus had pushed her out of the way. Dubus was critically injured and both his legs were crushed. After a series of unsuccessful operations, his right leg was amputated above the knee, and he eventually lost the use of his left leg. Dubus spent three years undergoing a series of painful operations and extensive
physical therapy.
To help Dubus with mounting medical bills, his friends and fellow writers
Ann Beattie
Ann Beattie (born September 8, 1947) is an American novelist and short story writer. She has received an award for excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the short story f ...
,
E.L. Doctorow
Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction.
He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...
,
John Irving
John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.
Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of ''The World According to ...
,
Gail Godwin
Gail Godwin (born June 18, 1937) is an American novelist and short story writer. Godwin has written 14 novels, two short story collections, three non-fiction books, and ten libretti. Her primary literary accomplishments are her novels, which have ...
,
Stephen King,
John Updike,
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...
, and
Richard Yates held a special literary benefit in Boston and raised $86,000.
Despite his efforts to walk with a
prosthesis, chronic infections confined him to a
wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...
for the remainder of his life, and he battled
clinical depression
Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Intro ...
as a result of his condition. Over the course of these struggles Dubus's third wife left him, taking with her their two young daughters.
Final years
Dubus eventually continued to write after his accident and produced two books of essays—including ''Broken Vessels'', which became a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize—and a collection of short stories. Dubus also conducted a weekly writers' workshop in his home.
Dubus spent his later years in Haverhill, until his death from a heart attack in 1999, age 62. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, near his home in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Legacy
Andre Dubus was married three times and fathered six children. His son
Andre Dubus III
Andre Dubus III (born September 11, 1959) is an American novelist and short story writer. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Early life and education
Born in Oceanside, California, to Patricia (née Lowe) a ...
is also an author; his most noted book is the novel ''
House of Sand and Fog'' (1999), which was both a finalist for the
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
and the basis for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-nominated film of the
same title. In 2011, Andre Dubus III published a memoir of his life, ''Townie'', which tells of growing up in Haverhill and deals extensively with his relationship with his father and the impoverished conditions faced by his mother and siblings after Dubus left the family for a student.
Dubus was the subject of an essay by Kacey Kowars entitled "A Celebration of Words," and was also paid tribute to in ''Andre Dubus: Memoirs'', a book edited by Kowars and featuring authors such as James Lee Burke, Andre Dubus II, and Andre Dubus III.
Xavier Review Press has published several scholarly titles on Dubus, including a special issue of
Xavier Review' on both Dubus and his son. In 2001, the press released ''Andre Dubus: Tributes'' edited by Donald Anderson, and in 2003
Leap of the Heart: Andre Dubus Talking' edited by Ross Gresham.
Professor Olivia Carr Edenfield edited ''Conversations with Andre Dubus'' (University Press of Mississippi, 2013) and is the author of the critical monograph ''Understanding Andre Dubus'' (University of South Carolina Press, 2017.
Writing career
Although he did write one novel, ''The Lieutenant'' (1967), Dubus considered himself primarily a writer of short stories and novellas. Throughout his career, he published most of his work in small, distinguished literary journals such as ''
Ploughshares
''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bos ...
'' and ''
Sewanee Review
''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism.
History
''Th ...
,'' though he also placed stories in magazines such as ''The New Yorker'' and ''Playboy''. Dubus remained loyal to a small publishing firm run by
David R. Godine that published his first works. When larger book publishers approached him with more lucrative deals, Dubus stayed with Godine, switching only to
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...
towards the end of his career to assist with medical bills.
Dubus's collections and novellas include: ''Separate Flights'' (1975), ''Adultery and Other Choices'' (1977), ''Finding a Girl in America'' (1980), ''The Times Are Never So Bad'' (1983), ''Voices from the Moon'' (1984), ''The Last Worthless Evening'' (1986), ''Selected Stories'' (1988), ''Broken Vessels'' (1991), ''
Dancing After Hours'' (1996), and ''Meditations from a Movable Chair'' (1998). Several writing awards are named after Dubus. His papers are archived at
McNeese State University
McNeese State University is a public university in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. The present name was adopted in 1970. M ...
and
Xavier University
Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 stud ...
in
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
and at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas in Austin.
Italian writer and editor Nicola Manuppelli has translated six collections of short stories and novellas by Dubus for Italian publishe
Mattioli 1885 "Separate Flights" ("Voli separati"), "The Times Are Never So Bad" ("I tempi non sono mai così cattivi"), "Voices From The Moon" ("Voci dalla luna"), "We Don't Live Here Anymore" ("Non abitiamo più qui"), "Finding a girl in America" ("Il padre d'inverno") "Dancing After Hours" ("Ballando a notte fonda"). For the publication of these works, Manuppelli has included introductions or afterwords by several American authors, including Dennis Lehane, Peter Orner, and Tobias Wolff, among others.
In 2017, work began a
David R. Godine, Publishersto gather together all of the fiction Dubus released with his longtime and loyal publisher between the mid-1970s and late 1980s. The three-volume collected short stories and novellas was conceived of by series editor Joshua Bodwell and is made up of six of Dubus's previous books, two books per volume, plus previously uncollected stories in volume three. The project was a thorough re-launch of the master's work: for the first time since Dubus's stories were originally published by Godine, all of the interior pages were re-set and re-designed; all new cover photographs were commissioned fro
Greta Rybus the paperback originals were given handsome French flaps; and new, original introductions by Ann Beattie, Richard Russo, and Tobias Wolff were commissioned. All three volumes were published in 2018.
Cinematic adaptations
After Dubus's death, his story ''
Killings'' was adapted into
Todd Field
William Todd Field (born February 24, 1964) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for directing three feature films: '' In the Bedroom'' (2001), '' Little Children'' (2006), and '' Tár'' (2022). He has received three Academy Award no ...
's ''
In the Bedroom
''In the Bedroom'' is a 2001 American independent drama film directed by Todd Field from a screenplay written by Field and Robert Festinger, based on the 1979 short story " Killings" by Andre Dubus. It stars Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stah ...
'' (2001) starring
Sissy Spacek
Mary Elizabeth Spacek (; born December 25, 1949) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for four Britis ...
,
Tom Wilkinson
Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson (born 5 February 1948)Born January–March 1948, according to the ''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com is an English actor of film, television, and stage. He has rece ...
, and
Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei ( , ; born December 4, 1964) is an American actress. She came to prominence as a cast member on '' The Cosby Show'' spin-off '' A Different World'' in 1987. After having minor roles in a few films, she came to international attentio ...
. The film was nominated for five
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
–
Best Picture
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
,
Actor in a Leading Role (Wilkinson),
Actress in a Leading Role (Spacek),
Actress in a Supporting Role (Tomei), and
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Published (Robert Festinger & Field).
The 2004 movie ''
We Don't Live Here Anymore
''We Don't Live Here Anymore'' is a 2004 drama film directed by John Curran and starring Mark Ruffalo, Laura Dern, Peter Krause, and Naomi Watts. It is based on the short stories ''We Don't Live Here Anymore'' and ''Adultery'' by Andre Dubus.
S ...
'' is based upon two of Dubus' novellas, "We Don't Live Here Anymore" and "Adultery."
Awards and honors
* Fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations
*
L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award (for debut collection ''Separate Flights)'' (1975)
* Jean Stein Award from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
(1988)
*
PEN/Malamud Award
The PEN/Malamud Award and Memorial Reading honors "excellence in the art of the short story", and is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The selection committee is composed of PEN/Faulkner directors and representatives of Bernard Ma ...
for Excellence in the Short Story (1991)
* Pulitzer Prize, Finalist (for nonfiction, ''Broken Vessels'') (1992)
*
Rea Award for the Short Story
The Rea Award for the Short Story is an annual award given to a living American or Canadian author chosen for unusually significant contributions to short story fiction.
The Award
The Rea Award is named after Michael M. Rea, who was engaged in ...
(1996)
* National Book Critics Circle Award, Finalist (for fiction, ''Dancing After Hours'') (1996)
Bibliography
* ''The Lieutenant'' (Novel, 1967,
Dial Press)
* ''Separate Flights'' (Stories, 1975,
David R. Godine, Publisher)
* ''Adultery & Other Choices'' (Stories, 1977, David R. Godine, Publisher) (Reprint, David R. Godine Publisher, 1999)
* ''Finding a Girl in America'' (Stories, 1980, David R. Godine, Publisher)
* ''The Times Are Never So Bad'' (Stories, 1983, David R. Godine, Publisher)
* ''Voices from the Moon'' (Novella, 1984, David R. Godine, Publisher)
* ''The Last Worthless Evening'' (Stories, 1986, David R. Godine, Publisher)
* ''Selected Stories'' (Stories, 1988, David R. Godine, Publisher) (Reprint, Vintage, 1996)
* ''Broken Vessels'' (Essays, 1991, David R. Godine, Publisher) (Reprint, Vintage, 1992)
* ''
Dancing After Hours'' (Stories, 1996, Knopf, )
* ''Meditations from a Moveable Chair'' (Essays, 1998, Knopf)
* ''In the Bedroom'' (Stories, 2001, Vintage) (Selected and with a foreword by
Todd Field
William Todd Field (born February 24, 1964) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for directing three feature films: '' In the Bedroom'' (2001), '' Little Children'' (2006), and '' Tár'' (2022). He has received three Academy Award no ...
)
*
We Don't Live Here Anymore: Collected Short Stories & Novellas, Volume 1' (Stories, 2018, David R. Godine, Publisher) (Introduction by
Ann Beattie
Ann Beattie (born September 8, 1947) is an American novelist and short story writer. She has received an award for excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the short story f ...
)
*
The Winter Father: Collected Short Stories & Novellas, Volume 2' (Stories, 2018, David R. Godine, Publisher) (Introduction by
Richard Russo)
*
The Cross Country Runner: Collected Short Stories & Novellas, Volume 3' (Stories, 2018, David R. Godine, Publisher) (Introduction by
Tobias Wolff
Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible, T ...
)
Reviews
* Review of ''Voices from the Moon''.
*
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubus, Andre
1936 births
1999 deaths
MacArthur Fellows
20th-century American memoirists
Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
Writers from Lake Charles, Louisiana
American amputees
United States Marine Corps officers
McNeese State University alumni
20th-century American novelists
PEN/Malamud Award winners
American male novelists
American male essayists
American male short story writers
20th-century American short story writers
20th-century American essayists
20th-century American male writers
Novelists from Louisiana