Rodney William Whitaker (June 12, 1931 – December 14, 2005) was an American film scholar and writer who wrote several novels under the
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
Trevanian. Whitaker wrote in a wide variety of genres, achieved bestseller status, and published under several other names, as well, including Nicholas Seare, Beñat Le Cagot, and Edoard Moran. He published the nonfiction book ''The Language of Film'' under his own name.
Between 1972 and 1983, five of his novels sold more than a million copies each. He was described as "the only writer of
airport paperbacks to be compared to
Zola,
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., an ...
,
Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widel ...
, and
Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
."
Whitaker adamantly avoided publicity for most of his life. His real name was a closely held secret until 1998, when a reporter for the ''
Austin American-Statesman
The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett.
The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internationa ...
'' published it.
Life
Born in
Granville, New York
Granville is a town on the eastern border of Washington County, New York, United States, abutting Rutland County, Vermont. It is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town population was 6,215 at the 2020 census.
The town ...
, Whitaker became enthralled with stories as a boy. His family struggled with poverty. He lived for several years in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...
, as a youth (a time portrayed in his last published work).
Whitaker earned bachelor's and master's degrees in drama at the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...
.
[ Myrna Oliver, "Rodney Whitaker, a.k.a. Trevanian, 74; Author Wrote 'Eiger Sanction'", ''Los Angeles Times'', 19 Dec 2005](_blank)
accessed 15 Nov 2008 While there, he wrote and directed his three-act play ''Eve of the Bursting'', which was his master's thesis production in the UW Playhouse. The company manager and assistant director of the production was
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s ...
. Whitaker went on to earn a doctorate in communications and film at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
.
He taught at
Dana College in
Blair, Nebraska
Blair is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 7,990 at the 2010 census.
History
Blair was platted in 1869 when the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad was extended to that point. It was ...
, where he was chairman of the communications division. He served in the
US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
during the
Korean War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Korean War
, partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict
, image = Korean War Montage 2.png
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...
. Later, he was awarded a
Fulbright scholarship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
for study in England.
When Whitaker wrote his first two novels, he was chairman of the Department of Radio, TV, and Film at the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
, where he continued to teach for many years.
Whitaker married the former Diane Brandon, and they had four children: sons Lance and Christian, and daughters Alexandra and Tomasin. They lived for years in the
Basque countryside of France.
Whitaker died December 14, 2005, in
Somerset, England
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
. He was survived by his wife and grown children.
Literary works
Whitaker said his wife chose the pen name Trevanian based on her appreciation of English historian
G. M. Trevelyan. Trevanian wrote many bestselling novels in different genres, which received highly favorable critical reviews.
His first novel, published at the age of 40 when he was teaching at the University of Texas, was ''
The Eiger Sanction'', a thriller that became a worldwide best seller. In 1975, it was adapted as
a movie directed by and starring
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "'' Do ...
.
Trevanian described the movie as "vapid" in a footnote in his later novel ''
Shibumi''. He requested (and received) a screenwriting credit as Rod Whitaker. The balance of the script was written by
Warren Murphy, the mystery writer perhaps best known for co-writing the
''Destroyer'' series of action novels.
Saddened that some critics did not recognize the story as a spoof, Trevanian followed it with a more intense spoof, ''The Loo Sanction'' (1973), which depicted an ingenious
art theft
Art theft, sometimes called artnapping, is the stealing of paintings, sculptures, or other forms of visual art from galleries, museums or other public and private locations. Stolen art is often resold or used by criminals as collateral t ...
. Then came ''The Main'' (1976), a detective novel set in a poor neighborhood of Montreal, featuring widowed, 50-ish police lieutenant Claude LaPointe. Trevanian originally intended to publish ''The Main'' under the pen name Jean-Paul Morin.
Next came ''
Shibumi'' in 1979, a meta-spy novel, which received the most critical acclaim. In 1983, he published ''The Summer of Katya'', a
psychological horror
Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequently overlaps with the related subge ...
novel. The wide diversity of genres led to a popular theory that "Trevanian" was a collective pen name for a group of writers working together. Under the name Nicholas Seare, Trevanian also published ''1339...or So: Being an Apology for a Pedlar'' (1975), a witty medieval tale of love and courage; and ''Rude Tales and Glorious'' (1983), a bawdy retelling of
Arthurian
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
tales.
After a 15-year hiatus, Trevanian returned with a Western novel called ''Incident at Twenty-Mile'' (1998), and then a collection of short stories, ''Hot Night in the City'' (2000). His last published novel, written while he was in declining health, was ''The Crazyladies of Pearl Street'' (2005), an autobiographical coming-of-age story of a boy surviving with his mother and sister in the slums of Albany, New York, in the years preceding and during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. In November 2005, it was selected as one of 11 Editors' Choice books by the Historical Novel Society.
[Editors' Choice, Historical Novel Society, Nov. 2005](_blank)
, accessed 15 Nov 2008
''Street of the Four Winds'', Trevanian's tale of Parisian artists caught in the 1848 revolution, based on his research of the era, remains unpublished. An excerpt is posted on Trevanian's web site.
In 2005, Crown Publishers reprinted five of Trevanian's early books—''The Eiger Sanction'', ''The Loo Sanction'', ''The Main'', ''The Summer of Katya'', and ''Shibumi''—as a trade paperback set.
Whitaker kept his true identity unknown for years. He refused to grant interviews or contribute to the publicity efforts of his publishers. His first known interview was granted to
Carol Lawson of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' for a June 10, 1979 article coinciding with the release of ''Shibumi''. In this article, Trevanian stated that "Trevanian is going out of business. Now he can talk."
It was rumored that Trevanian was
Robert Ludlum writing under a pen name. Trevanian rejected that idea, stating, "I don't even know who he is. I read
Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...
, but not much else written in the 20th century."
Trevanian wrote successfully in several genres. In a 1998 interview with ''Newsweek'', he said that with each new book, he first decided what author should tell the story. He used method-acting techniques to imagine himself as the author to work into the story he wanted to tell.
Trevanian fans followed his style changes with delight.
Trevanian said of his fans:
The Trevanian Buff is a strange and wonderful creature: an outsider, a natural elitist, not so much a cynic as an idealist mugged by reality, not just one of those who march to a different drummer, but the solo drummer in a parade of one.
This was another poke at the masses—most notably the United States and Americans in general—since his apparent disillusion with the country led him to abandon it. In later years, Trevanian was more outspoken about the reasons surrounding his voluntary exile from the country of his birth; he cited US material obsession as one of the main reasons behind the declining quality of life in the United States. He said that one day Americans would wake up and realize that cheaper is not necessarily better. Trevanian also addressed the issue of value on his website.
Non-fiction (as Rod Whitaker)
* ''The Language of Film'' (1970)
* "Christ on Stage", ''Dialog 5'', Summer 1966, pp. 226–7 (1966).
* "Conversation: On translating Senecan tragedy into film", James Hynd (an interview with Rod Whitaker). ''Arion'' (Boston), v. 7 (Spring 1968), pp. 58–67 (1968).
* ''Stasis''. Script to a film by Rod Whitaker and Richard Kooris (1968).
* "The Lawyer, The Lawman, and The Law: Public Image", ''Texas Law Review'': Volume 50, Issue 4. pp. 822–7 (1972).
Novels
As Trevanian
* ''
The Eiger Sanction'' (1972)
* ''
The Loo Sanction'' (1973)
* ''The Main'' (1976)
* ''
Shibumi'' (1979)
* ''The Summer of Katya'' (1983)
* ''Incident at Twenty-Mile'' (1998)
* ''Hot Night in the City'' (2000)
* ''The Crazyladies of Pearl Street'' (2005)
As Nicholas Seare
* ''1339...or So: Being an Apology for a Pedlar'' (1975) (Based on his stage play, ''Eve of the Bursting'')
* ''Rude Tales and Glorious'' (1983)
Short stories
* "Switching", Trevanian. ''Playboy'' magazine. December 1978. (A revised version of this story appeared in ''Hot Night in the City'' as "After Hours at Rick's")
* "Minutes of a Village Meeting", by Beñat Le Cagot, translated by Trevanian. ''Harper's Monthly''. February 1979. pp. 60–63. (A revised version of this story appeared in ''Hot Night in the City''.)
* "That Fox-of-a-Beñat", by Beñat Le Cagot, translated by Trevanian. ''Yale Literary Magazine''. 1984. Vol. 151, No 1, pp. 25–33. (A revised version of this story appeared in ''Hot Night in the City''.)
* "The Secrets of Miss Plimsoll, Private Secretary", by Trevanian. ''Redbook''. March 1984. (A revised version of this story appeared in ''Hot Night in the City'' as "The Sacking of Miss Plimsoll".)
* "The Apple Tree", by Trevanian. ''The
Antioch Review'', Yellow Springs: Spring 2000. Vol. 58, Iss. 2; p. 195 (14 pages). "The Apple Tree" was also anthologized in the
Best American Short Stories collection for 2001.
* "Waking to the Spirit Clock", ''The Antioch Review'', Yellow Springs: Summer 2003. Vol. 61, Issue 3; p. 409.
Other works
* ''Eve of the Bursting'', Rod Whitaker. A drama in three acts, 1959; performed at the University Playhouse at the University of Washington. Whitaker also directed this performance.
* Introduction to the 1998 Re-issue of ''The Climb Up to Hell'' by Jack Olsen. 1st Ed. Harper & Row, 1962, New York, 1962. Reprint Edition by Griffin House (St. Martins Press), New York, 1998.
* Editor and Introduction to the short-story mystery collection ''Death Dance: Suspenseful Stories of the Dance Macabre''. Cumberland House, 2002.
* ''The Crazyladies of Pearl Street Cybernotes Companion'' (2005)
* ''The Street of the Four Winds – Part I Internet Edition (2005)
* ''Threads for the Emperor,'' a one-act children's play retelling of ''The Emperor's New Clothes.''
References
External links
Trevanian.com
{{Authority control
1931 births
2005 deaths
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
American mystery writers
Novelists from New York (state)
University of Texas at Austin faculty
University of Washington School of Drama alumni
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
Novelists from Texas
Northwestern University alumni
20th-century pseudonymous writers
21st-century pseudonymous writers