T. Coraghessan Boyle
(December 2, 1948- present)
Grabber: “But unlike some of the most
demanding of the post-modernists (or
superfictionists), Boyle is a writer who never
forgets his audience. Most of the time, Boyle is
simply not interested in prosaic reality, but rather
in the magical, the visionary, the unexpected, the
horrific, and the comically bizarre” (Krstovic 8).
Introduction
Thesis A:
Boyle creates stories that revolve
around grave and dark topics that absorb
readers. Boyle’s profound and distinctive literary
voice exposes the various faults and foibles of
society with a uniquely satirical outlook.
Essay Map: What defines Boyle’s unmatched
literary voice is his masterful use of literary
devices such as extensive symbolism and
metaphors to expose truths in a subtle and yet
innovative way, his insight into the human
condition and the inevitable emotions and events
that arise based on human nature, and the
scathing social criticism generated throughout his
works.
Thesis B: Being a relatively recent author, T.C. Boyle has the challenge of creating
works that put a fresh spin on time worn ideas and subjects. Despite this challenge, Boyle
should be regarded as a master whose soon- to- be- classic work should, with more time
and exposure, be permanently included in the American literary canon.
Literary Works
Books: Water Music (1982), Budding Prospects
(1984), World’s End (1987), East is
East (1990), The Road to Wellville (1993),
The Tortilla Curtain (1995), Riven Rock
(1998), A Friend of the Earth (2000), Drop
City (2003), The Inner Circle (2004), Talk
Talk (2006), The Women (2009), When The
Killing’s Done (2011).
Anthologies:
Descent of Man (1979), Greasy
Lake & Other Stories (1985), If the River was
Whiskey (1989), Without a Hero (1994), T.C. Boyle
Stories (1998), After the Plague (2001), Tooth and
Claw (2005), The Human Fly (2005), and Wild
Child & Other Stories (2010).
Biography
~ Born in Peekskill, New York as a second
generation Irish descendant
~ Self described “Pampered Punk”
~ Baby Boomer with alcoholic parents
~ Became a heroin addict
~ Currently a professor of English at USC
Awards
~ Short stories regularly in major
magazines
~ World’s End won Pen/Faulkner award
of Fiction in 1987
~ Tortilla Curtain won France's Prix
Médicis étranger award in 1995
Distinctive Features of Boyle’s Work
1. Masterful use of literary devices
A. Literary Example: “I’ve never seen anything so moving, so emotionally ravaging
in my life—he began to cry…great wet heaving sobs tearing t his lungs, the
riveting blue eyes that had gazed with equanimity on the most heinous scenes
of devastation known to civilized man reddened with a sorrow beyond despair”
(Greasy Lake & Other Stories, 40).
B. Critical Quote: “characterized by comic irreverence, dark humor, occasional
somber irony, and an eclectic prose style that employs both formal and
colloquial language that has been described as, by turns, playful, bawdy, and
lyrical... themes and motifs introduced in his earliest stories recur throughout his
short fiction... variety of plot, characterization, style, and tone in Boyle’s short
story oeuvre” (Krstovic 1).
2. Insight into the Human Condition and Human Nature
A. Literary Example: “Before we could pin her to the hood of the car, our eyes
masked with lust and greed an the purest primal badness… there we were,
dirty, bloody, guilty, dissociated from humanity and civilization…shreds of nylon
panty and spandex brassiere dangling from our fingers, our flies open, lips
licked” (Greasy Lake & Other Stories, 6).
B. Critical Quote: “And like many satirical works remind readers of the nature of the
body and the inescapable animal side of human beings” (Lyons 74).
3. Scathing Social Criticism
A. Literary Example: “I admit it. I was an optimist, I was aggressive, I believed in
man and in science, I challenged the heavens and dared to tamper with the face
of the universe and its inscrutable design—and I paid for it swiftly” (Greasy Lake
& Other Stories, 127).
B. Critical Quote: “Almost all of his novels and stories have used comedy of one
sort or another to serve moral purposes such as exposing greed, racism, and
cultural insensitivity, satirizing contemporary foibles and obsessions, or deflating
pomposity” (Lyons 73).
4. How should Boyle’s work be regarded?
A. Calvino Quote: “In a classic we sometimes discover something we
have always known (or thought we knew)” (Calvino)
B. Bloom’s List: T.C. Boyle is too recent to be included in Bloom’s
literary canon (536)
C. Critical Quote: “T. Coraghessan Boyle has emerged as one of the
most inventive and verbally exuberant writers of his generation”
(World’s End backcover).