Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
1 appearances
-
Edition 1 (1978) Winner
James Alan McPherson
ジェームズ・アラン・マクファーソン
James Alan McPherson
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1943-09-16 （Savannah, Georgia, United States）
- Died
- 2016-07-27 （Iowa City, Iowa, United States） age 72
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Savannah, Georgia (birth and childhood) → Cambridge, Massachusetts (studied at Harvard) → Iowa City, Iowa (primary residence and workplace) → Japan (visits/teaching at Meiji University and Chiba University)
Career
- Occupations
- essayist, short-story writer, professor
- Active Years
- 1968-2016
- Affiliations
- The Atlantic Monthly (contributing editor), Iowa Writers' Workshop (professor; later professor emeritus), Yale Law School (visiting scholar), Stanford University Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (fellow), University of Virginia (associate professor), University of California, Santa Cruz (assistant professor)
- Memberships
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Influenced By
- Ralph Ellison, Albert Murray
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan State University | — | — | — | 1963–1964 | United States |
| Morris Brown College | — | History and English | BA | 1964–1965 | United States |
| Harvard Law School | — | Law | LL.B. | 1965–1968 | United States |
| University of Iowa (Iowa Writers' Workshop) | — | Creative writing (MFA program) | MFA | 1969–1971 | United States |
Morgan State University
Period:
1963–1964
Country:
United States
Attended 1963–1964 (no degree recorded)
Morris Brown College
History and English
Degree:
BA
Period:
1964–1965
Year of Graduation:
1965
Country:
United States
Bachelor's degree in history and English
Harvard Law School
Law
Degree:
LL.B.
Period:
1965–1968
Year of Graduation:
1968
Country:
United States
Partly financed studies by working as a janitor
University of Iowa (Iowa Writers' Workshop)
Creative writing (MFA program)
Degree:
MFA
Period:
1969–1971
Year of Graduation:
1971
Country:
United States
Studied fiction writing (briefly with Richard Yates)
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Pulitzer Prize for Fiction | Elbow Room | — | The Pulitzer Prizes | 受賞 |
| 1981 | MacArthur Fellowship | — | — | John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation | 受賞 |
| 1972 | Guggenheim Fellowship | — | — | John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation | 受賞 |
| 2011 | Paul Engle Award | — | — | Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature | 受賞 |
| 1995 | Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | — | — | American Academy of Arts and Sciences | 選出 |
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
1978
Work:
Elbow Room
Organization:
The Pulitzer Prizes
Result:
受賞
MacArthur Fellowship
1981
Organization:
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Result:
受賞
Guggenheim Fellowship
1972
Organization:
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result:
受賞
Paul Engle Award
2011
Organization:
Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature
Result:
受賞
Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1995
Organization:
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Result:
選出
Awards & Nominations
Lannan Literary Awards
3 appearances
-
Edition 147 (2002, held 8 times in year) Fellowship
-
Edition 151 (2002, held 12 times in year) Fellowship
Works
Major Works
Hue and Cry: Stories
1969 Short story collectionA collection of early short stories, including the notable "Gold Coast."
raceidentityAmerican South
Elbow Room: Stories
1977 Short story collectionA short-story collection exploring race, solitude, and social distance. Winner of the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
lonelinessrace and societyindividual dignity
Crabcakes: A Memoir
1998 Memoir / NonfictionA memoir recounting childhood memories and his development as a writer.
memorycoming of agefamily
A Region Not Home: Reflections on Exile
2000 Essay collectionAn essay collection on exile, alienation, and identity.
exileidentitycross-cultural experience
Bibliography
- Hue and Cry: Stories (1969)
- Railroad: Trains and Train People in American Culture (ed.) (1976)
- Elbow Room: Stories (1977)
- Confronting Racial Difference (ed.) (1990)
- Fathering Daughters: Reflections by Men (ed.) (1998)
- Crabcakes: A Memoir (1998)
- A Region Not Home: Reflections on Exile (2000)
- On Becoming an American Writer: Essays & Nonfiction (selected, 2023)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- concise, restrained proselyrical yet observant description
- Recurring Motifs
- lonelinessrace and identitymemories and places of the South
Health
-
Pneumonia2016Died from complications of pneumonia
Legacy
James Alan McPherson is remembered as a highly regarded short-story writer and essayist; notably he was among the first African-American writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1978). He also made long-term contributions as a teacher at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Academic Societies
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Archives
- University of Iowa Special Collections
In Popular Culture
- In 2020, an Iowa City park was renamed James Alan McPherson Park as a local memorial.
Quotes
-
Words, even without pictures, gave up their secret meanings, spoke of other worlds, made me know that pain was a part of other people's lives.
Source: Essay (recollection of childhood)
Trivia
- In 1978, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Elbow Room, becoming one of the first African-American writers to receive that prize in fiction.
- While at Harvard, he partly financed his studies by working as a janitor.
- Longtime teacher at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and later professor emeritus there.