World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Mark Thompson

マーク・トンプソン

Maaku Tonpuson

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1959
Nationality
United Kingdom
Languages
English, French, Italian, Croatian
Residence History
Oxford, UK (residence) → Norwich, UK (while at University of East Anglia)

Career

Occupations
Historian, Author, Translator, Academic, Media analyst
Active Years
1988-
Affiliations
University of East Anglia, International Crisis Group, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), United Nations peacekeeping missions (UNPROFOR, UNMOP etc.)

Education

Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Country: United Kingdom
Listed as his school; details of university education are not widely available in the source.

Awards

Hessell-Tiltman Prize
2009
Work: The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919
Organization: English PEN / Hessell-Tiltman Prize organizers
Result: winner
Orwell Prize
2009
Work: The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919
Organization: The Orwell Prize
Result: shortlist
National Book Critics Circle Award
2013
Work: Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš
Category: Biography
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: shortlist
Jan Michalski Prize for Literature
2015
Work: Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš
Organization: Fondation Jan Michalski
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Paper House

1992 Political travelogue / non-fiction

A political travelogue describing the federal republic of Yugoslavia on the brink of dissolution, reporting on political tensions and social change from on-the-ground observation.

Yugoslaviapoliticsethnicity and nationhood

Forging War

1999 Media studies / history

An account analysing media manipulation before and during the Wars of Yugoslav Succession, examining techniques of propaganda and information control in wartime.

media manipulationpropagandaBalkan conflicts

The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919

2008 Military history / narrative history

The first comprehensive narrative history in English of Italy's role in World War I, combining archival sources and testimony to provide detailed battlefield accounts and social-historical analysis.

World War IItalian frontmilitary and social history

Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš

2013 Biography / literary history

A biography tracing the life and work of Yugoslav novelist Danilo Kiš, approaching his life and writings together and giving attention to literary-critical perspectives.

biographyliterary historyYugoslav culture

Bibliography

  • Something in the Wind: Politics after Chernobyl (edited with Louis Mackay, 1988)
  • A Paper House (1992)
  • Forging War (1999)
  • The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 (2008)
  • Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš (2013)

Translations by Author

  • Translations from French
  • Translations from Italian
  • Translations from Croatian

Style & Themes

Literary Style
narrative-driven historical writingdocumentary and archival-based approachbiographical and literary-critical synthesis
Recurring Motifs
Balkan history and culturewar and its social consequencesmedia and propaganda

Legacy

An important English-language scholar on the Balkans and World War I; The White War is regarded as a definitive study of the Italian front, and his biography of Danilo Kiš has been recognized for combining literary analysis with life history.

Quotes

  • "a great biography of the work as much as the life"
    Source: Times Literary Supplement (review by Adam Thirlwell) (2013)
  • "magnificent ... original, masterly and definitive."
    Source: The Guardian (review by Piers Brendon) (2008)

Trivia

  • Has translated fiction from French, Italian and Croatian.
  • Served as head of media analysis for UNPROFOR (1994–1995).
  • Educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood.