Thomas Louis Berger (July 20, 1924 – July 13, 2014) was an American writer who created novels. He is most famous for his novel Little Big Man, which was later made into a movie by Arthur Penn. Throughout his career, Berger wrote in many different types of fiction, such as crime stories, detective tales, science fiction, utopian stories, and stories based on classical myths, Arthurian legends, and survival adventures.

Reviewers often described Berger as a satirist or "comic" novelist because of his sharp, humorous writing style. However, Berger did not agree with these labels. Many people who admired his work believed his skills and accomplishments were not fully recognized, due to his ability to write in many forms of fiction, his careful use of language, and his thoughtful and deep understanding of ideas.

Biography

Thomas Berger was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in the nearby town of Lockland. He paused his college studies to join the United States Army in 1943. During World War II, Berger served in Europe and worked in a medical unit with the first U.S. Occupation Forces in Berlin. These experiences inspired his first novel, Crazy in Berlin, published in 1958. After returning home, he earned a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati in 1948. He later studied English at Columbia University but left his thesis unfinished to join a writing program at the New School for Social Research. There, he met and married an artist named Jeanne Redpath in 1950. To support himself, Berger worked as a librarian at the Rand School of Social Science and briefly held a position at the New York Times Index. He later became a copy editor at Popular Science Monthly and did freelance editing while starting his writing career.

After his third book, Little Big Man, gained attention in 1964, Berger focused fully on writing. Though he occasionally wrote short stories, plays, or non-fiction articles, including a time as a film critic for Esquire, he mainly wrote novels and produced many critically praised books throughout his life. In 1984, his book The Feud was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction by the Pulitzer committee, but the Pulitzer board chose William Kennedy’s Ironweed instead.

Berger taught at the University of Kansas in 1974 and was a visiting professor at Southampton College from 1975 to 1976. He gave lectures at Yale University in 1981 and 1982 and was a Regents’ Lecturer at the University of California, Davis, in 1982. His papers are now kept at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.

Berger lived in New York City from 1948 to 1953 and then spent the next twelve years in a town along the Hudson River. Later, he lived in London, Malibu, California, New York City again, Long Island, and Mount Desert Island in Maine, before returning to the Hudson River area. He died on July 13, 2014, seven days before his 90th birthday.

Awards and honors

Berger received a Dial Fellowship in 1962. In 1965, he was awarded the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award and the Western Heritage Award, both for his book Little Big Man. He received the Ohioana Book Award for Reinhart's Women. In 1984, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his book The Feud. In 1986, Long Island University awarded him a Doctor of Letters (Litt. D.).

Adaptations

Berger is best known for his book Little Big Man, which became a movie in 1970. The film was directed by Arthur Penn and featured actors Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway. The movie Neighbors, which included actors John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Cathy Moriarty, was released in 1981. Bill D'Elia produced and directed a movie version of The Feud in 1989. A movie based on the 1992 book Meeting Evil, which stars Samuel L. Jackson and Luke Wilson, was made in 2011. It was shown in American theaters in May 2012.

Berger's play Other People was performed at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in 1970. His radio play At the Dentist's was aired by Vermont Public Radio in 1981.