世界・海外・国外の文学賞

← ホームに戻る

William T. Vollmann

ウィリアム・T・ヴォルマン

William T. Vollmann

ペンネーム: DoloresFemale alter ego used during cross-dressing exploration (referenced in his work and essays)

プロフィール

性別
男性
生誕
1959-07-28 (Los Angeles, California, U.S.)
国籍
United States
言語
English
居住地歴
Los Angeles (birth) → Bloomington, Indiana → New Hampshire → New York → San Francisco Bay Area → Sacramento, California

経歴

職業
novelist, journalist, short story writer, essayist, war correspondent
活動期間
1987年〜2025年
影響を受けた人物
Ernest Hemingway, Comte de Lautréamont, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Yukio Mishima, Yasunari Kawabata, Leo Tolstoy

学歴

Deep Springs College
国: United States
Cornell University
Comparative Literature
学位: BA(summa cum laude)
国: United States
Lived in the Telluride House
University of California, Berkeley (doctoral fellowship)
Comparative Literature (doctoral program)
国: United States
Left the doctoral program after one year

受賞歴

Whiting Award
1988
主催: The Whiting Foundation
結果: winner
National Book Award for Fiction
2005
対象作品: Europe Central
主催: National Book Foundation
結果: winner
Strauss Living Award
2008
主催: Strauss Living Award (grant)
結果: winner

受賞・候補エディション

作品

代表作

You Bright and Risen Angels

1987年 literary fiction

Early novel with fantastical and political allegorical elements.

politicsallegoryviolence and ethics

Europe Central

2005年 historical fiction / literary fiction

A novel set around World War II in Germany and the Soviet Union following a wide cast of characters, including historical figures such as Dmitri Shostakovich.

warmoralityart and politics

Rising Up and Rising Down

2003年 non-fiction / treatise

A major work on violence, originally seven volumes (~3,300 pages); later a single-volume condensed edition was published. Represents over 20 years of research and reporting from conflict zones.

ethics of violencewar reportagemoral calculus

Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes (selected volumes)

1990年 historical fiction / epic

A series of novels engaging with North American settlement and indigenous histories; each volume addresses different times and locales.

colonizationNorth American historycultural contact

Imperial

2009年 non-fiction / reportage

A nonfiction account detailing life in Imperial County, California, focusing on border-region social issues.

borderpovertysocial observation

全著作

  • You Bright and Risen Angels (1987)
  • The Ice-Shirt (1990)
  • Fathers and Crows (1992)
  • Rising Up and Rising Down (2003)
  • Europe Central (2005)
  • Imperial (2009)
  • The Dying Grass (2015)
  • Last Stories and Other Stories (2014)

作風・主題

文体
dense, reference-rich proseblending of reportage and fictionhistorical reconstruction in narrative
頻出モチーフ
violence and its ethicssites of warmarginalized and frontier peoplesgender and self-expression

健康

  • colon cancer
    数年
    Undergoing chemotherapy; as of August 2025 he publicly reported a life expectancy of 2–3 years.

評価・遺産

Renowned for weighty works on war, violence and marginalized peoples; winner of the 2005 National Book Award. His crossover of reportage and fiction, plus large-scale research works, have secured a distinctive place in contemporary literature.

資料所蔵先

  • The Ohio State University Rare Books & Manuscripts Library (William T. Vollmann Collection)

引用

  • 'Dolores is a relatively young woman trapped in this fat, aging male body. I’ve bought her a bunch of clothes, but she's not grateful. She would like to get rid of me if she could.'
    出典: Interview / New York Times coverage (cited 2013) (2013年)

豆知識

  • He has publicly eschewed modern conveniences such as cellphones and credit cards.
  • In the mid-1990s he was investigated by the FBI as a suspect in the Unabomber case but was cleared; he has described lasting consequences from the files.
  • Rising Up and Rising Down (2003) is known as an expansive seven-volume work of roughly 3,300 pages.
  • Since 2013 he has publicly discussed his female alter ego 'Dolores' and explored cross-dressing and gender in his work.
  • Recipient of multi-year support such as the Strauss Living Award (2008) enabling him to focus on writing.