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Lydia Davis

リディア・デイヴィス

Ridia Deivisu

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1947-07-15 （Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English, French (used in translation)
Residence History
Northampton, Massachusetts → New York, NY

Career

Occupations
Writer, Translator, Essayist, Short-story writer
Active Years
1976-
Affiliations
University at Albany, SUNY (Professor Emerita), New York University (Lillian Vernon Distinguished Writer-in-Residence, 2012)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Fellow)
Influenced By
Maurice Blanchot, Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert
Influenced
Contemporary flash-fiction writers, Younger short-story writers influenced by her brevity and precision

Education

The Brearley School
Period: 小学校・中学校（5年生〜8年生）
Country: United States
Attended for middle school years in New York City
The Putney School
Period: 高校（卒業 1965年）
Year of Graduation: 1965
Country: United States
Completed high school; deepened literary interests
Barnard College
Period: 在学（学部）
Country: United States
Studied at Barnard; primarily wrote poetry while a student

Awards

PEN/Hemingway Award (finalist)
1986
Work: Break It Down
Organization: PEN America
Result: finalist
Whiting Award
1988
Category: フィクション
Organization: Whiting Foundation
Result: winner
Guggenheim Fellowship
1997
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: fellowship
Lannan Literary Award for Fiction
1998
Category: フィクション
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: winner
Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
1999
Work: For fiction and translation
Organization: French Ministry of Culture
Result: chevalier
MacArthur Fellowship
2003
Organization: MacArthur Foundation
Result: fellow
National Book Award (Fiction) finalist
2007
Work: Varieties of Disturbance
Category: フィクション
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: finalist
American Academy of Arts and Letters Award of Merit Medal
2013
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: recipient
Philolexian Society Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement
2013
Organization: Philolexian Society
Result: recipient
Man Booker International Prize
2013
Work: For her body of work (short stories and translations)
Organization: Man Booker Prize (International)
Result: winner
PEN/Malamud Award
2020
Organization: PEN/Faulkner Foundation
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Thirteenth Woman and Other Stories

1976 Short stories

Early collection of short stories showcasing a range of her short-form work.

human relationshipscommunication breakdowns

Break It Down

1986 Short stories

A collection of precise, often experimental short stories; a PEN/Hemingway finalist.

attentiveness to languagemundane details

The End of the Story

1995 Novel

Her only full-length novel; explores memory, relationships, and the uncertainties of narration.

memoryreliability of narration

Varieties of Disturbance

2007 Short stories

A collection noted for its poetic precision and brevity; a National Book Award finalist.

language and meaninggendered communication

The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis

2009 Collected short stories

Collected stories up to 2008; regarded as one of the notable books of the 21st century.

compressed narrativeseconomy of language

Can't and Won't

2014 Short stories

A later collection containing stories of varied lengths; received critical acclaim.

observations of everyday lifesubtle dynamics of language

Bibliography

  • The Thirteenth Woman and Other Stories (1976)
  • Sketches for a Life of Wassilly (1981)
  • Story and Other Stories (1983)
  • Break It Down (1986)
  • The End of the Story (1995)
  • Almost No Memory (1997)
  • Samuel Johnson Is Indignant (2001)
  • Varieties of Disturbance (2007)
  • Proust, Blanchot, and a Woman in Red (2007)
  • The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis (2009)
  • The Cows (2011)
  • Lydia Davis: Documenta Series 078 (2012)
  • Two American Scenes (2013)
  • Can't and Won't (2014)
  • Essays One (2019)
  • Essays Two (2021)
  • Our Strangers: Stories (2023)
  • Into the Weeds (2025)

Translations by Author

  • Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (translated by Lydia Davis)
  • Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (translated/edited by Lydia Davis)
  • Other translations: Maurice Blanchot, Michel Foucault, Michel Butor, Michel Leiris, etc.

Style & Themes

Literary Style
extremely condensed short forms (flash fiction)poetic, precise manipulation of languageuse of ellipsis and blank space in narration
Recurring Motifs
communication between men and womenminute details of everyday lifeambiguity of language and meaning

Legacy

Lydia Davis is regarded as a writer who opened new territory in short fiction through brevity and precision; as a translator she has also made significant contributions and influenced 21st-century short-story practice.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Archives

  • Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library (Finding aid to Lydia Davis papers)

Quotes

  • “I was probably always headed to being a writer, even though that wasn't my first love.”
    Source: Interview (032c and others)

Trivia

  • She refused to allow her new book Our Strangers to be sold on Amazon (reported).
  • Mother of Daniel Auster (1977–2022).
  • Known for very short 'flash' stories and extremely brief fiction.