World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Philipp Meyer

フィリップ・マイヤー

Philipp Meyer

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1974-05-03 （New York City）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Baltimore (hometown) → Ithaca (studies) → Austin (Michener Center / residence) → New York City (birthplace)

Career

Occupations
Novelist
Active Years
2009-
Influenced By
Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Eudora Welty

Education

Cornell University
English
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Wrote an unpublished long novel while an undergraduate
University of Texas at Austin (Michener Center for Writers)
Creative Writing (MFA)
Degree: MFA
Country: United States
Received a Michener fellowship; wrote much of American Rust while enrolled

Awards

Los Angeles Times Book Prize
2009
Work: American Rust
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: Winner
Center for Fiction First Novel Prize (shortlist)
2009
Work: American Rust
Organization: Center for Fiction
Result: Shortlist
Dobie Paisano Fellowship
2010
Organization: J. Frank Dobie
Result: Recipient
Guggenheim Fellowship
2010
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: Recipient
New Yorker's "20 Under 40"
2010
Organization: The New Yorker
Result: 選出
Western Heritage Award (Books)
2013
Work: The Son
Organization: National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (and partners)
Result: Winner
Writers League of Texas Book Award
2013
Work: The Son
Organization: Writers League of Texas
Result: Winner
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (finalist)
2014
Work: The Son
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: Finalist
Lucien Barrière Prize
2014
Work: The Son
Organization: French literary prize organization
Result: Winner
Prix Littérature-Monde
2015
Work: The Son
Organization: French literary committee
Result: Recipient
International Dublin Literary Award (longlist)
2011
Work: American Rust
Organization: International Dublin Literary Award
Result: Longlist
International Dublin Literary Award (longlist)
2015
Work: The Son
Organization: International Dublin Literary Award
Result: Longlist
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier)
2017
Organization: French Ministry of Culture (ordre committee)
Result: Chevalier (Knight)

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

American Rust

2009 Novel (contemporary / modernist-influenced) 384 pages

Set in a declining industrial town in the United States, the novel follows the lives and moral struggles of its inhabitants. Told in a third-person, often stream-of-consciousness-influenced style, it explores social decay and personal responsibility.

decline of industrial townseconomic inequalitymorality and responsibility
Adaptations
  • [Television series] American Rust (TV series) (2024)
Translations
  • American Rust (translations in multiple languages)

The Son

2013 Historical novel / family saga 608 pages

An epic tale of three generations of a Texas family, tracing their rise from frontier conflict through the oil age. The novel examines violence, power, and inheritance to interrogate the American creation myth.

violence and powerfamily inheritanceAmerican creation myths
Adaptations
  • [Television series] The Son (TV series) (2017)
Translations
  • The Son (translated into multiple languages)

The City

2026 Magical realism / dystopian fiction

A modern take on Dante's Divine Comedy, mixing magical realism and dystopia. Set at the end of the world, it uses multiple viewpoints and interlocking stories to portray a collapsing city and civilization (planned publication).

apocalypsemythic structureurban collapse

Bibliography

  • American Rust (2009)
  • The Son (2013)
  • The City (2026, forthcoming)
  • "What You Do Out Here, When You're Alone" (The New Yorker, 2010)
  • "You Are Right Here" (Texas Observer, 2011)

Adaptations

  • The Son (AMC television series, starring Pierce Brosnan)
  • American Rust (television adaptation by Showtime/Amazon, starring Jeff Daniels)

Translations of Works

  • American Rust - translated editions (Japanese and other languages)
  • The Son - translated editions

Style & Themes

Literary Style
modernist-influenced prosestream-of-consciousness elementsmultiple viewpoints and nested narratives
Recurring Motifs
violencefamily and inheritancenational origin mythsfrontier / borderlands

Legacy

Philipp Meyer established his reputation with American Rust and The Son, and is regarded for his explorations of violence, family, and regional decline in contemporary American literature. He has often been compared to Faulkner and Hemingway, and TV adaptations have extended his influence into popular culture.

In Popular Culture

  • The Son (AMC television adaptation)
  • American Rust (Showtime/Amazon television adaptation)

Quotes

  • My influences are basically the modernists — Woolf, Faulkner, Joyce, Hemingway, Welty, etc.
    Source: Interview (Omnivoracious / various profiles) (2010)

Trivia

  • Dropped out at 16 and obtained a GED; worked as a bicycle mechanic, EMT, and volunteer firefighter.
  • Traveled to New Orleans as one of the first outside EMTs during Hurricane Katrina.
  • Prepared for The Son by learning hide tanning, bow hunting, and firearms training as part of immersive research.
  • Named a Chevalier in France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.