Jonathan Yardley (born October 27, 1939) was the book
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governme ...
at ''
The Washington Post'' from 1981 to December 2014, and held the same post from 1978 to 1981 at the ''
Washington Star''. In 1981, he received the
Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Background and education
Yardley was born on October 27, 1939 in
Pittsburgh and spent his childhood in
Chatham, Virginia
Chatham is a town in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Pittsylvania County. Chatham's population was 1,269 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Danville, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town wa ...
. His father, William Woolsey Yardley, was a teacher of English and the classics, as well as an
Episcopal
Episcopal may refer to:
*Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church
*Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese
*Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name
** Episcopal Church (United State ...
minister and a headmaster at two East Coast private schools. His mother was Helen Gregory Yardley.
Yardley graduated from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, he was a member of
St. Anthony Hall
St. Anthony Hall or the Fraternity of Delta Psi is an American fraternity and literary society. Its first chapter was founded at Columbia University on , the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great. The fraternity is a non–religious, nonsectar ...
and was the editor of the student newspaper, ''
The Daily Tar Heel
''The Daily Tar Heel'' (''DTH'') is the independent student newspaper of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was founded on February 23, 1893, and became a daily newspaper in 1929. The paper places a focus on university news and sp ...
'', in 1961.
Career
After leaving Chapel Hill, Yardley interned at the ''
New York Times'' as assistant to
James Reston, the columnist and Washington Bureau chief. From 1964 to 1974, Yardley worked as an editorial writer and book reviewer at the Greensboro ''Daily News''; during this time, he was also a
Nieman Fellow at
Harvard University, academic year 1968-1969, where he studied American literature and
literary biography When studying literature, biography and its relationship to literature is often a subject of literary criticism, and is treated in several different forms. Two scholarly approaches use biography or biographical approaches to the past as a tool for i ...
. From 1974 to 1978, Yardley served as book editor of the ''
Miami Herald''. From 1978 to 1981, he was the book critic at the ''
Washington Star'', receiving a
Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism in 1981. In 1981, Yardley became book critic and columnist at the ''
Washington Post''.
Yardley is the author of several books, among them biographies of
Frederick Exley and
Ring Lardner
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Wo ...
. His memoir about his family, ''Our Kind of People,'' describes his parents' 50-year marriage and casts a wry eye on the American
WASP experience. He edited
H.L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
's posthumous literary and journalistic memoir, ''My Life as Author and Editor.'' He has written introductions to books by
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
,
A. J. Liebling
Abbott Joseph Liebling (October 18, 1904 – December 28, 1963) was an American journalist who was closely associated with ''The New Yorker'' from 1935 until his death. He was known for, among other things, the aphorism "Freedom of the press bel ...
,
Booth Tarkington and others.
Yardley is known simultaneously as a scathingly frank critic and a starmaker. Among the talents he has brought to public light and championed are
Michael Chabon,
Edward P. Jones
Edward Paul Jones (born October 5, 1950) is an American novelist and short story writer. His 2003 novel '' The Known World'' received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the International Dublin Literary Award.
Biography
Edward Paul Jones was born ...
,
Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler (born October 25, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, and literary critic. She has published twenty-four novels, including '' Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant'' (1982), '' The Accidental Tourist'' (1985), and ''Breathi ...
,
William Boyd,
Olga Grushin
Olga Grushin (born June 1971) is a Russian-American novelist.
Biography
Born in Moscow to the family of Boris Grushin, a prominent Soviet sociologist, Olga Grushin spent most of her childhood in Prague, Czechoslovakia.[John Berendt
John Berendt (born December 5, 1939) is an American author, known for writing the best-selling non-fiction book ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'', which was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction.
Biography
Ber ...]
. He wrote a famously harsh review of
Joe McGinniss
Joseph Ralph McGinniss Sr. (December 9, 1942 – March 10, 2014) was an American non-fiction writer and novelist.
The author of twelve books, he first came to prominence with the best-selling ''The Selling of the President 1968'' which describe ...
' book ''The Last Brother: The Rise and Fall of Teddy Kennedy'', saying "Not merely is it a textbook example of shoddy journalistic and publishing ethics; it is also a genuinely, unrelievedly rotten book, one without a single redeeming virtue, an embarrassment that should bring nothing except shame to everyone associated with it."
In February 2003, Yardley began a series called "Second Reading", described as “An occasional series in which ''The Post''’s book critic reconsiders notable and/or neglected books from the past.” Every month or so, for the next seven years, he published essays about notable books from the past, many of which had gone out of print or were in some way seen as worth reading again. It was in this series that he gained attention for his highly critical look at ''
The Catcher in the Rye'' in 2004. A collection of the Second Reading columns was published by Europa Editions in July 2011.
On December 5, 2014, Yardley announced his retirement as book critic of the ''Post''.
Publications
Books
''Second Reading: Notable and Neglected Books Revisited.'' New York: Europa Editions, 2011.
* ''Monday Morning Quarterback.'' Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1998.
* ''Misfit: The Strange Life of Frederick Exley.'' New York:
Random House, 1997.
* ''Out of Step: Notes From a Purple Decade.'' New York: Random House, 1993.
* ''States of Mind: A Personal Journey Through the Mid-Atlantic.'' Villard Publishing, 1993.
* ''Our Kind of People: The Story of an American Family.'' New York:
Grove Press, 1989.
* ''Ring: A Biography of Ring Lardner.'' New York: Random House, 1977.
As editor
*
H.L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
, ''My Life as Author and Editor.'' New York:
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 i ...
, 1993.
Awards
Yardley was awarded the 1981
Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Yardley has been a
Nieman Fellow. Yardley was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by George Washington University in 1987, and a distinguished alumnus award by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989.
Personal life
Yardley is married to biographer/novelist
Marie Arana
Marie Arana (born Lima, Peru) is an author, editor, journalist, critic, and the inaugural Literary Director of the Library of Congress.
Biography
Marie Arana was born in Peru, the daughter of Jorge Enrique Arana Cisneros, a Peruvian-born civil ...
, the former editor of ''Washington Post Book World''. His sons,
Jim Yardley and William Yardley, with his first wife Rosemary Roberts, are ''
New York Times'' reporters, and William writes for the ''Los Angeles Times'' as well.
He and his son Jim are one of two father-son recipients of the
Pulitzer Prize.
See also
*
Michael Dirda
*
Ron Charles
References
External links
Inventory of the Jonathan Yardley Papers, 1792-2006 in the Southern Historical Collection,
UNC-Chapel Hill.
*
Interviewat Washington Technology
by Yardley at ''The Washington Post''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yardley, Jonathan
1939 births
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni
Nieman Fellows
Writers from Pittsburgh
Living people
American biographers
American literary critics
The Washington Star people
The Washington Post people
Pulitzer Prize for Criticism winners
American male journalists
American male biographers
20th-century American journalists
21st-century American journalists
Journalists from Pennsylvania
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers