Reynolds Price

Introduction

Reynolds Price was born in Macon, North Carolina in 1933. Educated in the public schools of his native state, he earned an A.B. summa cum laude from Duke University, graduating first in his class. In 1955 he traveled as a Rhodes Scholar to Merton College, Oxford University to study English literature. After three years and the B.Litt. degree, he returned to Duke where he continues in his fourth decade of teaching. He is James B. Duke Professor of English (Shuman, 45-96).

Analysis his work

This paper is to analyse that Reynolds has published nearly thirty books. Among them, his novel A Long and Happy Life received the William Faulkner Award for a notable first novel and has never been out of print, and in addition his another novel Kate Vaiden received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1986. His Collected Stories appeared in l993, his Collected Poems in 1997; he has also published volumes of plays, essays and two volumes of memoir Clear Pictures and A Whole New Life. The latter is his account of a long survival of spinal cancer. A Palpable God in 1978 contained translations from the Old and New Testaments with an essay on the origins and aims of narrative; Three Gospels in 1996 contained his translations of Mark and John with introductory essays. His novel The Promise of Rest appeared in 1995 and completed with The Surface of Earth and The Source of Ligh a trilogy of novels entitled A Great Circle and concerned with nine decades in a family's life. His eleventh novel, Roxanna Slade, was published in the spring of 1998; and in 2000 he published his first novel for children A Perfect Friend and a collection of the first fifty-two of the essays he broadcasts regularly on National Public Radio's news program "All Things Considered." He is now at work on his twelfth novel (Wright and West, 22-179).

Price has received numerous literary honors, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, the William Faulkner Foundation Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his memoir Clear Pictures (1989). He is also a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Price's book, Feasting the Heart (2000), is a collection of controversial and personal essays, originally broadcast to great acclaim on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. He resides in Durham, North Carolina.

Work on Television

The paper also investigates his television play Private Contentment was commissioned by "American Playhouse" and appeared in its premiere season on PBS. His trilogy New Music premiered, with a grant from the Fund for New American Plays, at the Cleveland Play House in 1989; and its three plays have been produced throughout the country. In 1993 he served as host for PBS's documentary on the ninth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; and in 1994 Charles Guggenheim, three-time Oscar winner for the documentary, completed a film entitled Reynolds Price: Clear Pictures. It was shown nationally on PBS. Price's sixth play Full Moon was performed by ...