Walter tevis biography

American writer (1928–1984)

Walter Stone Tevis Jr. (; Feb 28, 1928^[4] – August 9, 1984^[5]) was an American author and screenwriter.

Three of empress six novels were adapted turn into major films: The Hustler, The Color of Money and The Man Who Fell to Earth. A fourth, The Queen’s Gambit, was adapted into a miniseries with the same title allow shown on Netflix in 2020. His books have been translated into at least 18 languages.

Life and career

Tevis was home-grown in San Francisco, California,^[6] fasten 1928 to Anna Elizabeth "Betty" (née Bacon) and Walter Slab Tevis, an appraiser,^[7] growing fixation in the Sunset District,^[8] band the street from Golden Insipid Park.

His sister, Betty, was born in 1925.^[3]

He developed a-one rheumatic heart condition,^[9] so rule parents placed him in class Stanford Children's Convalescent home^[10][11][12] (and given heavy doses of phenobarbital), for a year, during which time they returned to Kentucky, where the Tevis family confidential been given an early citizens grant in Madison County.

Director traveled across country alone exceed train at age 11 respect rejoin his family in Kentucky. He made friends with Mug Kavanaugh, a fellow high educational institution student, and learned to vilify pool in the Kavanaugh fastness in Lawrenceburg.^[13] In the swat there, he read science myth for the first time.^[14] They remained lifelong friends.

Kavanaugh afterwards became the owner of adroit pool room^[15] in Lexington, which would have an impact authority Tevis's writing.^{[16][dead link‍]}

Tevis joined goodness Navy on his seventeenth eat one\'s fill. He became a carpenter's associate, serving on the USS Hamul in Okinawa.^[17][18][19]

After his discharge, explicit graduated from Model Laboratory Kindergarten in 1945.

He entered illustriousness University of Kentucky, where filth received B.A. (1949) and M.A. (1954) degrees in English creative writings and studied with A. Uncomfortable. Guthrie Jr., the author adherent The Big Sky. While clever student there, Tevis worked persuasively a pool hall and obtainable a story about pool hard going for Guthrie's class.

He adjacent attended the Iowa Writers' Mill, where he received an MFA in creative writing in 1960.

After graduation, Tevis wrote commandeer the Kentucky Highway Department. Dirt taught classes in fields breakout the sciences and English say nice things about physical education in small-town Kentucky high schools in Science Mound, Hawesville, Irvine, and Carlisle.

Fiasco also taught at Northern Kentucky University, the University of Kentucky, and Southern Connecticut State College.

Tevis taught English literature accept creative writing at Ohio Foundation in Athens, Ohio, from 1965 to 1978, where he was named University Professor. Tevis was a member of the Authors Guild.

Career

Short stories

Tevis wrote very than two dozen short make-believe for a variety of magazines. "The Big Hustle," his waterhole bore hall story for Collier's (August 5, 1955), was illustrated vulgar Denver Gillen. It was followed by short stories in The American Magazine, Bluebook, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Galaxy Science Fiction, Playboy, Redbook and The Saturday Evening Post.

Novels

His first novel, The Hustler, was published by Harper & Row in 1959. Tevis followed it with The Man Who Fell to Earth, published regulate 1963. Tevis drew from smattering of his childhood in The Man Who Fell to Earth, as noted by James Sallis, writing in The Boston Globe:

On the surface, Man is the tale of image alien who comes to blue planet to save his own mankind and, through adversity, distraction, suffer loss of faith ("I demand to...

But not enough"), fails. Just beneath the surface, hurt might be read as dinky parable of 1950s conventionalism reprove of the Cold War. Individual of the many other funny it is, in Tevis's soothe words, is "a very cloaked autobiography," the tale of tiara removal as a child evade San Francisco, "the city elaborate light," to rural Kentucky, cranium of the childhood illness ditch long confined him to stratum, leaving him, once recovered, enervated, fragile, and apart.

It was also – as he realistic only after writing it – about his becoming an sexy. Beyond that, it is, indicate course, a Christian parable, existing a portrait of the maven. It is, finally, one interrupt the most heartbreaking books Wild know, a threnody on skilled ambition and terrible failure, limit an evocation of man's complete, unabridgeable aloneness.^[20]

During his time tuition at Ohio University, Tevis became aware that the level rule literacy among students was sweeping continuous at an alarming rate.

Roam observation gave him the truth for Mockingbird (1980), set pulsate a grim and decaying In mint condition York City in the Xxv century. The population is failing, no one can read, nearby robots rule over the high, illiterate humans. With the descent rate dropping, the end break into the species seems a line of traffic.

Tevis was a nominee tend the Nebula Award for Outstrip Novel in 1980 for Mockingbird. During one of his hindmost televised interviews, he revealed defer PBS once planned a arrange of Mockingbird as a bolstering to their 1979 film rejoice Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven.

Tevis additionally wrote The Steps of integrity Sun (1983), The Queen's Gambit (1983), and The Color defer to Money (1984), a sequel warn about The Hustler.

His short untrue myths were collected in Far let alone Home in 1981.

Adaptations

Three of Tevis's six novels were adapted for major hillock pictures, and one for nifty TV mini-series. The Hustler, fast by Robert Rossen, and The Color of Money, directed uncongenial Martin Scorsese, followed the antics of fictional pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson.

The Man Who Fell to Earth, directed vulgar Nicolas Roeg, was released identical 1976; it was subsequently re-made in 1987 as a Small screen film, and in 2022 orangutan a TV series. The Queen’s Gambit is a 2020 Netflixmini-series starring Anya Taylor-Joy.

Personal life

Tevis married Jamie Griggs in 1957, and they remained together target over twenty years before descent divorced.

They had two lineage, a son, William Thomas,^[21] pole daughter, Julia Ann.^[22]

Tevis was top-notch frequent smoker, gambler and inebriating, and his works often specified these vices as central themes.^[23] Tevis took some of birth money he earned from depiction movie rights to The Hustler and moved his family unity Mexico, where he later conjectural that he "stayed drunk call eight months."^[23] When Tevis was drinking, he couldn't write.^[23] According to his son Will, "[Walter Tevis] is the [anti-]hero unconscious all his own books."^{[17][clarification needed]} Having a heart condition, Tevis was given phenobarbital at orderly young age.

This is advised part of the inspiration to about the character Beth Harmon newest The Queen's Gambit, and according to Tevis, part of justness reason for his later crapulence. Tevis was able to overpower his alcohol habit in significance 1970s with help from Alcoholics Anonymous.^[17]

Tevis spent his last era in New York City brand a full-time writer,^[22] where yes died of lung cancer referee 1984.

He was buried bring into being Richmond, Kentucky.^[1][16]

In 2003, Jamie Griggs Tevis published her autobiography, My Life with the Hustler. She died on August 4, 2006.^[24]

In 1983, Tevis married Eleanora Walker,^[25] later the trustee of illustriousness Walter Tevis Copyright Trust.

She died December 9, 2016, certified Bellevue Hospital in New Dynasty City, in an apparent suicide.^[26] Walter Tevis's literary output stick to represented by the Susan Schulman Literary Agency.^[27]

Bibliography

Novels

Short fiction

Collections

• Far from Home, Doubleday, 1981
• The King Is Dead: Stories, Vintage, 2023

List of stories

• "The Best in the Country", Esquire, November 1954.
• "The Big Hustle", Collier's, August 5, 1955.
• "Misleading Lady", The American Magazine, October 1955.
• "Mother some the Artist", Everywoman's, 1955.^{[citation needed]}
• "The Man from Chicago", Bluebook, Jan 1956.
• "The Stubbornest Man", Saturday Half-light Post, January 19, 1957.
• "The Hustler", (original title: "The Actors") Playboy
• "Operation Gold Brick" (original title: "The Goldbrick"), If, June 1957.
• "The Ifth of Oofth", Galaxy, April 1957
• "The Big Bounce", Galaxy, February 1958.^[28][29]
• "Sucker's Game", Redbook, August 1958.
• "First Love", Redbook, August 1958.
• "Far From Home", The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 1958.
• "Alien Love" (original title: "The Man get round Budapest") Cosmopolitan, April 1959.

  Equipped as a teleplay for NBC's The Loretta Young Show, seasoned 7, episode 12, aired Dec 13, 1959.

• "A Short Ride crucial the Dark", Toronto Star Hebdomadary Magazine, April 4, 1959.
• "Gentle Report the Gunman" Saturday Evening Post, August 13, 1960.
• "The Other Investigate of the Line", The Arsenal of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1961.
• "The Machine That Hustled Pool", Nugget, February 1961.
• "The Scholar's Disciple", College English, October 1969.
• "The King Is Dead", Playboy, Sept 1973.
• "Rent Control", Omni, October 1979.
• "The Apotheosis of Myra", Playboy, July 1980.
• "Echo" The Magazine of Play-acting & Science Fiction, October 1980.
• "Out of Luck", Omni, November 1980.
• "Sitting in Limbo", Far from Home, 1981.
• "Daddy", Far from Home, 1981.
• "A Visit from Mother", Far unapproachable Home, 1981.

References

Further reading

External links