Thomas Coraghessan Boyle, born on December 2, 1948, is an American novelist and short story writer. Since the 1970s, he has written thirty-one novels and more than 150 short stories. In 1988, he won the PEN/Faulkner Award for his third novel, World's End, which tells the story of 300 years in upstate New York. Before this, he was a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.

Early life

T. C. Boyle was born Thomas John Boyle. His father was Thomas John Boyle, a school bus driver, and his mother was Rosemary Post Boyle (later Rosemary Murphy), a school secretary. He grew up in Peekskill, New York. When he was 17, he changed his middle name to Coraghessan, inspired by an ancestor of his mother. He earned a B.A. in English and History from the State University of New York at Potsdam in 1968. He received an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1974 and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1977.

Literary characteristics

In Understanding T. C. Boyle, Paul William Gleason explains that Boyle's stories and novels use the best parts of Carver's minimalism, Barth's postmodern extravaganzas, García Márquez's magical realism, O'Connor's dark comedy and moral seriousness, and Dickens' entertaining and strange plots to examine American life in a clear, challenging, and creative way.

Many of Boyle's novels and short stories focus on the baby boom generation, its desires, happiness, and struggles. His stories often include themes like the mistakes made by male heroes and the attractive qualities of anti-heroes, along with harsh satire, humor, and magical realism. His fiction also looks at the harshness and unpredictability of nature and the harm human society causes to the environment without realizing it.

Boyle has written eleven collections of short stories, including Descent of Man (1979), Greasy Lake (1985), If the River Was Whiskey (1989), and Without a Hero (1994). His short stories are often published in major American magazines, such as The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, and Playboy, as well as on the radio show Selected Shorts.

Influences

Boyle says Gabriel García Márquez is his favorite novelist. He also likes Flannery O'Connor and Robert Coover.

Personal life

Boyle is married to Karen Kvashay. They have three children and live in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California. Their home was in danger during the 2017 Thomas Fire, which burned 440 square miles and destroyed over 1,000 buildings in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The fire killed a firefighter in Ventura County. The fires removed plants from dry hillsides, and heavy rains in January 2018 moved large rocks and caused mudslides. These mudslides destroyed more than 100 homes and killed nearly 24 of Boyle’s neighbors. Over 10,000 people were forced to leave Montecito because of these natural disasters. Boyle recorded details about both events on his website and in an article for The New Yorker.

Adaptations

Boyle's book The Road to Wellville was made into a movie in 1994 by writer and director Alan Parker. The film featured actors Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Broderick, Bridget Fonda, John Cusack, Dana Carvey, and Colm Meaney. The movie did not receive good reviews from critics or make much money, and it was labeled a box-office failure. It also appeared on lists of the worst movies of that year.