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Jonathan Ames

ジョナサン・エイムズ

Jonasan Emuzu

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1964-03-23 （New York City）
Nationality
American
Languages
English
Religion
Judaism
Residence History
Oakland, New Jersey → New York City

Career

Occupations
Novelist, television showrunner, columnist
Active Years
1989-
Influenced By
Charles Bukowski

Education

Indian Hills High School
Country: United States
Princeton University
English
Degree: BA
Year of Graduation: 1987
Country: United States
Senior thesis: Eye Pity Eye: (The Collected Writings of Alexander Vine)
Columbia University
Fiction
Degree: MFA
Country: United States

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

I Pass Like Night

1989 literary fiction

Ames's debut novel about loneliness and nighttime New York.

lonelinesssexual misadventures

The Extra Man

1998 literary fiction

Story of a young man who becomes an escort to an elderly gentleman.

identityhomosexuality
Adaptations
  • [film] The Extra Man / Mark Brokaw (2010)

Wake Up, Sir!

2004 literary fiction

Comedy about an aspiring novelist with a butler.

butlerwriting

You Were Never Really Here

2013 thriller

A traumatized man on a rescue mission.

violencetrauma
Adaptations
  • [film] You Were Never Really Here / Lynne Ramsay (2018)

Bibliography

  • I Pass Like Night (1989)
  • The Extra Man (1998)
  • Wake Up, Sir! (2004)
  • You Were Never Really Here (2013/2018)
  • A Man Named Doll (2021)
  • The Wheel of Doll (2022)
  • Karma Doll (2025)
  • What's Not to Love? (2000)
  • My Less Than Secret Life (2002)
  • I Love You More Than You Know (2006)
  • The Double Life Is Twice As Good (2009)
  • Sexual Metamorphosis (2005)
  • The Alcoholic (2008)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
self-deprecating humorgritty style like Charles Bukowski
Recurring Motifs
sexual misadventuresboxingneuroses

Legacy

American author and creator of TV series known for self-deprecating essays and comedic novels.

In Popular Culture

  • Creator of HBO's Bored to Death and Starz's Blunt Talk

Trivia

  • Has one child.
  • Boxing enthusiast known as 'The Herring Wonder'.