Troy Jollimore is a
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
,
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
, and
literary critic
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
.
Career and education
Troy Jollimore was born in 1971 in
Liverpool, Nova Scotia and attended the
University of King's College
The University of King's College, established in 1789, is in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.Roper, Henry. "Aspects of the History of a Loyalist College: King's College, Windsor, and Nova Scotian Higher Education in the Nineteenth Century." Anglic ...
in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 1999, under the direction of
Harry Frankfurt
Harry Gordon Frankfurt (born May 29, 1929) is an American philosopher. He is professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University, where he taught from 1990 until 2002. Frankfurt has also taught at Yale University, Rockefeller University, and ...
and
Gilbert Harman
Gilbert Harman (May 26, 1938 – November 13, 2021) was an American philosopher, who taught at Princeton University from 1963 until his retirement in 2017. He has published widely in philosophy of language, cognitive science, philosophy of min ...
. He has lived in the U.S. since 1993 and is currently Professor of Philosophy at
California State University, Chico
California State University, Chico, or commonly, Chico State, is a public university in Chico, California. Founded in 1887, it is the second oldest campus in the California State University system. As of the fall 2020 semester, the university had ...
. He has been an External Faculty Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center (2006–07), the Stanley P. Young Fellow in Poetry at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference (2012), and a Guggenheim Fellow (2013).
Jollimore's philosophical writings frequently concern ethical issues connected to personal relationships. His first book, ''Friendship and Agent-Relative Morality,'' was published in 2001; his second, ''Love's Vision'', appeared in 2011, and his third, ''On Loyalty,'' in 2012. Many of his papers explore issues in the philosophy of friendship and romantic love. He has also published on topics including the ethics of terrorism, the depiction of evil in literature, the nature of happiness, the existence of so-called "admirable immorality," and aesthetic issues in philosophy of poetry and philosophy of dance.
His first collection of poetry, ''Tom Thomson in Purgatory,'' won the
National Book Critics Circle
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization ( 501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the National Book Critics C ...
award for poetry in 2006. In an interview with the
Los Angeles Review Of Books
The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...
, Jollimore says of that book, "I don’t plan what I’m going to write; I discover it by writing it.".
The book was also nominated for the 2007
Poets' Prize
The Poets' Prize is awarded annually for the best book of verse published by a living American poet two years prior to the award year. The $3000 annual prize is donated by a committee of about 20 American poets, who each nominate two books and who ...
.
His second collection, ''At Lake Scugog,'' appeared in 2011 in Princeton University Press's Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets, which has published all of his subsequent poetry books. His third collection, ''Syllabus of Errors,'' was selected by the New York Times as one of the "Best Poetry Books of 2015."
His most recent book, ''Earthly Delights,'' was published in 2021. The poet Forrest Gander called it an “engaging and unusual book” that “mixes humor, philosophy,
ndpolitical ire,” and remarked that “Jollimore’s riveting language is both familiar and uncanny, somehow as lean and precise as it is lexically rich.”
Jollimore's poems have appeared in publications including ''The New Yorker'', ''The Believer'', ''McSweeney's'', and ''Poetry''. He is also a frequent book reviewer, writing for the ''Washington Post'', the ''Chicago Tribune'', the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', and the ''New York Times Book Review'', among others.
Views
In ''Love's Vision'' and in several papers published since Jollimore defends the view that we have reasons for loving the people we love, while allowing that love has significant non-rational elements and that our reasons do not completely determine whom we love. He defends the "Vision View" of love, which claims that love has many of the features of perception, and that an understanding of these features can solve common philosophical puzzles that arise in connection with love.
Papers published since ''Love's Vision'' explore themes of autonomy, identity, and anxiety in the contexts of romantic love and friendship.
Jollimore frequently discusses contemporary cinema in his work, and has published papers on philosophical issues found in such films as ''Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,'' ''The Big Lebowski,'' ''Her,'' ''Rear Window,'' and ''Vertigo.''
Books
Poetry collections
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Philosophy
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References
External links
Troy Jollimore's websiteGuggenheim Foundation websiteAuthor info page on Poets & Writers siteSan Francisco Chronicle review of ''Tom Thomson in Purgatory'' by John Freeman*
ttp://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-691-14942-4 Publishers Weekly review of ''At Lake Scugog''br>
ForeWord review of ''At Lake Scugog'' by Jennifer Sperry SteinorthReview of ''Love's Vision'' at 'Philosophy in Review'"On the Origins of Things" (poem)"The Solipsist" (poem)
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Living people
Analytic philosophers
Princeton University alumni
California State University, Chico faculty
20th-century American philosophers
21st-century American philosophers
Canadian expatriate writers in the United States
University of King's College alumni
American literary critics
People from Chico, California
American ethicists
21st-century American poets
21st-century Canadian poets
Poets from California
Formalist poets
Writers from Nova Scotia
Canadian philosophers
Canadian male poets
Year of birth missing (living people)
Journalists from California
21st-century Canadian male writers
21st-century American essayists
Canadian male non-fiction writers