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Edward P. Jones

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Edward P. Jones
Jones in 2004
Jones in 2004
Born(1950-10-05)October 5, 1950(age 73)
Washington, D.C.,U.S.
EducationCollege of the Holy Cross(BA)
University of Virginia(MFA)
GenreNarrative fiction
Subject
Notable worksLost in the City(1992)
The Known World(2003)
All Aunt Hagar's Children(2006)
Notable awardsPEN/Hemingway Award(1992)
National Book Critics Circle Award(2003)
Lannan Literary Award(2003)
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction(2004)
MacArthur Fellowship(2004)
International Dublin Literary Award(2005)
PEN/Faulkner Award(2007)
PEN/Malamud Award(2010)

Edward Paul Jones(born October 5, 1950) is an American novelist and short story writer. He became popular for writing about theAfrican-Americanexperience in the United States, and received thePulitzer Prize for Fictionand theInternational Dublin Literary AwardforThe Known World(2003).

JournalistNeely Tucker,described Jones inThe Washington Postas "arguably the greatest fiction writer the nation's capital has ever produced".[1]According to biographer Diane Brady ofFortune,Jones has been recognized as "as one of the finest writers of his generation".[2]He has been a professor ofcreative writingat theUniversity of Virginia,George Mason University,theUniversity of Maryland,andPrinceton University.In 2010, Jones became a professor of literature atGeorge Washington University,where he was previously the Wang Visiting Professor in Contemporary English Literature.[3]

Early life and education[edit]

Jones was born inWashington, D.C.,where he was raised in poorall-black neighborhoods.[4]When he was two-years-old, his father, aJamaicanimmigrant, left the family. Jones's mother, Jeanette M. Jones, had been pregnant at the time with a third child, Jones' sister Eunice, who eventually died oflung cancerin 1973.[5]Jones' only brother Joseph was bornmentally disabled.[6]The family resided in a series of impoverished shacks and tenements northwest of D.C.'s center, ultimately moving place-to-place 18 times in 18 years.[7]

Jones was recognized for talents inmathematicsand literature.[8]At the age of five, Jones was sent to aCatholicschool, where his performance enabled him toskip a grade,but his mother could not afford the tuition and withdrew him.[9]He spent his early education at Walker-Jones Elementary School, Shaw Junior High School, then finally at the localCardozo High School,[8]where he performed well academically. Jones graduated as an honors student in English, although he had to sign his ownreport cardsas his mother was illiterate.[10][11]

In the fall of 1968, Jones enrolled into theCollege of the Holy Crosswith the initial intent to studymathematics.[12]He wrote for the school newspaper,The Crusader,and was a member of the college'sBlack Student Unionalong with classmatesClarence Thomas,Ted Wells,andEd Jenkins.[13]After taking a nineteenth-century novel class, Jones found a passion for writing.[14]He graduated from Holy Cross with aBachelor of Arts(B.A.) in English in 1972.[15]

In 1979, Jones entered theUniversity of Virginiato pursue graduate studies in creative writing, receiving aMaster of Fine Arts(M.F.A.) in 1981.[2][16]

Career[edit]

His first book,Lost in the City(1992), is a collection of short stories about the African-American working class in 20th-century Washington, D.C. In the early stories are some who are like first-generation immigrants, as they have come to the city as part of theGreat Migrationfrom the rural South.

His second book,The Known World,was set in a fictional Virginia county and had a protagonist who was a Black planter andslaveholder.It won the 2004Pulitzer Prize for Fictionand the 2005International Dublin Literary Award.

Jones's third book,All Aunt Hagar's Children,was published in 2006. LikeLost in the City,it is a collection of short stories that deal with African Americans, mostly in Washington, D.C. Several of the stories had been previously published inThe New Yorkermagazine. The stories in the book take up the lives of ancillary characters inLost in the City.In 2007, it was a finalist for thePEN/Faulkner Award,which was won byPhilip Roth'sEveryman.

The stories of Jones' first and third book are connected. AsWyatt Masonwrote inHarper's Magazinein 2006:

The fourteen stories ofAll Aunt Hagar's Childrenrevisit not merely the city of Washington but the fourteen stories ofLost in the City.Each new story—and many of them, in their completeness, feel like fully realized little novels—is connected in the same sequence, as if umbilically, to the corresponding story in the first book. Literature is, of course, littered with sequels—its Rabbits and Bechs; its Zuckermans and Kepeshes—but this is not, in the main, Jones’s idea of a reprise. Each revisitation provides a different kind of interplay between the two collections.[17]

Neely Tuckerwrote in 2009:

It's gone almost completely unnoticed, but the two collections are a matched set: There are 14 stories inLost,ordered from the youngest to the oldest character, and there are 14 stories inHagar's,also ordered from youngest to oldest character. The first story in the first book is connected to the first story in the second book, and so on. To get the full history of the characters, one must read the first story in each book, then go to the second story in each, and so on.[18]

In the spring and fall semesters of 2009, Jones was a visiting professor of creative writing at theGeorge Washington University.[19]In fall 2010 he joined the English department faculty to teach creative writing.[20]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Tucker 2009,p. 14.
  2. ^abBrady 2012,p. 216.
  3. ^"Award-Winning Author to Join GW | GW Today | The George Washington University".GW Today.Retrieved2024-07-09.
  4. ^Brady 2012,p. 12, 98.
  5. ^Brady 2012,p. 12, 215–216.
  6. ^Tucker 2009,p. 14–15.
  7. ^Tucker 2009,p. 16–17.
  8. ^abTucker 2009,p. 17.
  9. ^Brady 2012,p. 45–46.
  10. ^Swarns, Rachel L. (October 16, 2003)."Hard Times Propel Two Novelists Along the Road to Recognition".The New York Times.RetrievedAugust 23,2021.
  11. ^Brady 2012,p. 13, 46.
  12. ^Brady 2012,p. 2, 60.
  13. ^Brady 2012,p. 61, 73–74, 85, 123.
  14. ^Brady 2012,p. 166–167, 190–191.
  15. ^"Edward P. Jones".macfound.org.Retrieved2024-07-09.
  16. ^Neely, Tucker (November 15, 2009)."The Known World of Edward P. Jones".The Washington Post.RetrievedSeptember 24,2010.
  17. ^Mason, Wyatt (September 2006)."Ballad for Americans: The Stories of Edward P. Jones".Harper's Magazine.RetrievedJanuary 11,2020.
  18. ^Daniel Silliman,"Abutting the Unknown"Archived2011-10-06 at theWayback Machine,Comment, June 11, 2010.
  19. ^Scire, Sarah (June 13, 2008)."University receives $1 million donation for library collection, sponsored professorship".The GW Hatchet.Archived fromthe originalon August 31, 2008.RetrievedJuly 8,2009.
  20. ^Scire, Sarah (January 11, 2010)."Pulitzer Prize winner will join English department".The GW Hatchet.RetrievedJanuary 11,2020.
  21. ^ab"Edward P. Jones".National Book Foundation.RetrievedJanuary 11,2020.
  22. ^Edward P. JonesArchivedJune 7, 2011, at theWayback Machine,Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, 1994.
  23. ^"Edward P. Jones".Pulitzer Prize.RetrievedJanuary 11,2020.
  24. ^Battersby, Eileen(June 16, 2005)."A winner that deserves to be known to world".Irish Times.RetrievedJanuary 11,2020.
  25. ^"Edward P. Jones".MacArthur Foundation.RetrievedJanuary 11,2020.
  26. ^"Mr. Edward P. Jones".American Academy of Arts and Sciences.July 2024.Retrieved2024-07-09.
  27. ^"GW Professor Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters | GW Today | The George Washington University".GW Today.Retrieved2024-07-09.

Additional references[edit]

External links[edit]

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