Thomas LeClair (born 1944) is a writer, literary critic, and was the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of English at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

until 2009. He has been a regular book reviewer for the ''

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Book Review'', the ''

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Book World'', the ''

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'', the ''

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Review'', and the ''

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''.

Early life

Tom LeClair grew up in Vermont, got his AB from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, his MA from the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

, and his PhD from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. He taught for two years at Norwich College before joining the faculty at the University of Cincinnati in 1970.

Literary career

In 1979, LeClair secured the first interview with

Don Delillo Donald Richard DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, per ...

, in Athens.DePietro, Thomas (ed.) ''Conversations with Don DeLillo''; the interview was originally published in ''Contemporary Literature'', 23, 1, pp 19-31. LeClair taught at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

in 1981-82, and since then regularly spent his summers and sabbaticals in Greece. His works of criticism include ''In the Loop: Don DeLillo and the Systems Novel'', ''The Art of Excess: Mastery in Contemporary American Fiction,'' and ''What to Read (and Not): Essays and Reviews.'' He is co-editor with

Larry McCaffery Lawrence F. McCaffery Jr. (born May 13, 1946) is an American literary critic, editor, and retired professor of English and comparative literature at San Diego State University. His work and teaching focuses on postmodern literature, contemporary ...

of ''Anything Can Happen'', a collection of interviews the two co-editors did with contemporary American novelists.

Bibliography

Novels: *''Passing Off'' (1996) *''Well-Founded Fear'' (2000) *''Passing On'' (2004) *''The Liquidators'' (2006) *''Passing Through'' (2008) *''Lincoln's Billy'' (2015) *''Passing Away'' (2018) *''Passing Again'' (2021; corrected, expanded edition 2022) Nonfiction works: *''In the Loop: Don DeLillo and the Systems Novel'' (1988) *''ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN: Interviews with Contemporary American Novelists'' (1983) with Larry McCaffery *''The Art of Excess: Mastery in Contemporary American Fiction'' (1989) *''What to Read and Not'' (2014) *''Harpooning Donald Trump'' (2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:LeClair, Tom American editors American literary critics Postmodernists University of Cincinnati faculty Living people American academics of English literature 1944 births