David Madden (born July 25, 1933) is an American writer of many

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

short stories 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 t ...

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

s, and works of

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and

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Biography

Madden was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, to James Helvy and Emile Merritt Madden.Finding Aid for the David Madden Papers MS.0515. Special Collections Online at The University of Tennessee. Retrieved 2013-11-3.
/ref> He was named after David Madden, president of the East Tennessee Packing Co., where many of Madden’s family worked. At the age of 16, he was a radio announcer for WKGN in Knoxville. His first success was winning second place in a statewide one-act play competition with “Call Herman in to Supper” when he was 16.Jack Neely. “A Stroll Around Author David Madden’s Wonderfully Bizarre and Mysterious Hometown”. Metro Pulse. Retrieved 2013-11-3.
/ref> He graduated from Knox High School in 1951.Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer (eds.) Contemporary Novelists, Seventh Edition. New York, NY: St. James Press (2001). Madden enrolled at the University of Tennessee in 1951. In 1952, he became a seaman in the Merchant Marine. Following his discharge from the army in 1955, he returned to the University of Tennessee and graduated in 1957 with a B.S. in education; he earned an M.A. in creative writing from San Francisco State University in 1958, and received a

John Golden fellowship John Lionel Golden (June 27, 1874 – June 17, 1955) was an American actor, songwriter, author, and theatrical producer. As a songwriter, he is best-known as lyricist for "Poor Butterfly" (1916). He produced many Broadway shows and four films. ...

to attend

Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...

from 1959 to 1960.

Writing

Fiction

''Cassandra Singing'', originally written in 1954 as a one-act play, rewritten in various forms over fifteen years and published in 1969 as his second novel, is about the conflicts between Lone, a motorcycle gang leader who lives a life of the imagination and his invalid sister Cassie, who lives a life of the imagination in Harlan in Eastern Kentucky.Randy Hendricks and James A. Perkins (eds.). A Writer for All Genres. Knoxville, Tennessee: The University of Tennessee Press (2006). His first novel, ''The Beautiful Greed'', published in 1961, is based on a trip to Panama and Chile as a merchant seaman. ''Bijou'' (1974) is set in a movie theater in Knoxville where Madden was an usher in 1946. Novelist Stephen King described it as “one of the books I admire most in the world.”Stephen King. “Not Guilty: The Guest Word.” The New York Times (October 24, 1974). Retrieved 2013-11-3.
/ref> The protagonist is Lucius Hutchfield, a movie lover and aspiring writer, who is also the main character in ''Pleasure-Dome'' (1979), in which he fails to get his little brother off the Georgia chain gang, then moves on to Blowing Rock where he bribes an old lady in a deserted resort hotel to tell him the story of her brief love affair with Jesse James. ''On the Big Wind'' (1980) is a novel composed of previously published stories about Big Bob Travis who moves from a radio station in Boone to become a network newscaster. ''Sharpshooter: A Novel of the Civil War'' (1996), places one of Madden’s foremost interests into novel form. It is the fictional memoir of Willis Carr who avoids death by switching to the Confederates during the Civil War.Sharpshooter: Novel Civil War.” Publishers Weekly. 1996-11-25. Retrieved 2013-11-3.
/ref> In ''The Suicide’s Wife'' (1978), Madden traces the progress of a very ordinary woman to self-hood as she struggles to understand her husband’s suicide and her own vacuous life. A television movie adaptation starring Angie Dickinson aired in 1979.“The Suicide’s Wife (1979)”. Internet Movie Database. IMDB.com. Retrieved 2013-11-3.
/ref> His novel ''Abducted by Circumstance'' (2010) is set in northern New York and is about what happens to an abductee, Glenda, as imagined by Carol Seaborg, who witnesses the abduction.Brock, Chris (2010-6-27). “Novelist Returns to Scene of Fictional Crime: Thousand Islands in Winter”. Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, New York: Johnson Newspaper Corporation). Retrieved 2013-11-3.
/ref> Madden’s latest novel, ''London Bridge in Plague and Fire'' (2012), is a “meditative narrative” with London Bridge serving as the focal-point of twenty-six characters.Gerald Duff. “’A Thought Turned to Stone’: David Madden’s London Bridge in Plague and Fire.” kenyonreview.org. Retrieved 2013-11-3.
/ref> Madden’s two short-story collections are ''The Shadow Knows'' (1970) and ''The New Orleans of Possibilities'' (1982); forthcoming in 2014 is a third volume ''The Last Bizarre Tale''.

Poetry

Madden has published numerous poems in ''Cimarron Review'', ''Film Quarterly'', ''The Georgia Review'', ''The International Portland Review'', ''Kansas Quarterly'', ''Kentucky Poetry Review'', ''National Forum'', ''New American Review'', ''Northwest Review'', ''Poem'', ''Southern Poetry Review'', ''Wormwood Review'', and many others.

Literary criticism

Madden has compiled and edited numerous textbook collections of stories and is the author of academic volumes on Wright Morris, James M. Cain, James Agee, Nathaniel West, Robert Penn Warren, and William Faulkner. He also authored ''The Poetic Image in 6 Genres'' (1969), ''Harlequin’s Stick, Charlie’s Cane: A Comparative Study of Commedia dell’arte and Silent Slapstick Comedy'' (1975), ''A Primer of the Novel'' (1980), ''Writers’ Revisions'' (1981), ''Revising Fiction: A Handbook for Writers'' (1988), ''Beyond the Battlefield'' (2000), ''Touching the Web of Southern Novelists'' (2006), and ''The Tangled Web of the Civil War and Reconstruction'' (forthcoming in 2015). He compiled and edited ''Rediscoveries'' (1971), ''American Dreams, American Nightmares'' (1972), ''Proletarian Writers of the Thirties'' (1979), ''Tough Guy Writers of the Thirties'' (1979), and ''Rediscoveries II'' (1988).

Awards

* Rockefeller Grant, 1969 * National Endowment for the Arts prize, 1970 * Bread Loaf Writers Conference William Raney fellowship, 1972 * National Council on the Arts Award (The Shadow Knows)David Madden Biography-Bibliography Expanded. davidmadden.net. Retrieved 2013-11-3.
/ref> * Pulitzer Prize nomination, The Suicide’s Wife, 1979

Bibliography

Works about

A collection of essays by various critics and novelists about his life and work is called ''David Madden: A Writer for All Genres'', edited by Randy J. Hendricks and James A. Perkins (2006). This volume includes a bibliography of critical writing on Madden.

Teaching

Madden began his teaching career in 1958 as an instructor in English at Appalachian State Teachers College in Boone, North Carolina. He spent time teaching at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky (1960-1962), the University of Louisville in Kentucky (1962-1964), Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he was also the assistant editor of ''Kenyon Review'' (1964-1966), and Ohio University in Athens, Ohio (1966-1968). In 1968, he joined the faculty of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as the university’s writer in residence, a position he held for 24 years. At LSU, he founded the Creative Writing Program and the United States Civil War Center. From 1992 to 1994, he was the director of LSU’s Creative Writing Program. He retired in 2008 as Robert Penn Warren Professor of Creative Writing, Emeritus.

Personal

Madden’s archive is held at the University of Tennessee Special Collections Library in Knoxville. Madden married Roberta Margaret Young in 1956 after they met at the Iowa State Teacher’s College radio station. They have one son, Blake, and currently live in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

References

External links

David Madden Website

United States Civil War Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madden, David 1933 births 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Living people Novelists from Tennessee Louisiana State University faculty Writers from Baton Rouge, Louisiana University of Tennessee alumni Yale School of Drama alumni 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Louisiana