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Marilynne Robinson

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Marilynne Robinson
Robinson in 2012
Robinson in 2012
BornMarilynne Summers
(1943-11-26)November 26, 1943(age 80)
Sandpoint, Idaho,U.S.
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • essayist
Education
Notable awards
Spouse
Fred Robinson
​
​
(m.1967;div.1989)​
[1]
Children2

Marilynne Summers Robinson(born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including thePulitzer Prize for Fictionin 2005,National Humanities Medalin 2012, and the 2016Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.In 2016, Robinson was named inTimemagazine's list of 100 most influential people.[2]Robinson began teaching at theIowa Writers' Workshopin 1991[3]and retired in the spring of 2016.[4]

Robinson is best known for her novelsHousekeeping(1980) andGilead(2004). Her novels are noted for their thematic depiction of faith and rural life.[5]The subjects of her essays span numerous topics, including therelationship between religion and science,US history,nuclear pollution,John Calvin,and contemporary American politics.

Early life and education[edit]

Robinson was born Marilynne Summers on November 26, 1943, inSandpoint, Idaho,the daughter of Ellen (Harris) and John J. Summers, a lumber company employee.[6][7][8]Her brother is the art historianDavid Summers,who dedicated his bookVision, Reflection, and Desire in Western Paintingto her. She did her undergraduate work atPembroke College,the formerwomen's collegeatBrown University,receiving herBAmagna cum laudein 1966, and being elected toPhi Beta Kappa.At Brown, one of her teachers was the postmodern novelistJohn Hawkes.[9]She received herPhDin English from theUniversity of Washingtonin 1977.[10][11]

Writing career[edit]

Robinson has written five highly acclaimed novels:Housekeeping(1980),Gilead(2004),Home(2008),Lila(2014), andJack(2020).Housekeepingwas a finalist for the 1982Pulitzer Prize for Fiction(US),Gileadwas awarded the 2005 Pulitzer, andHomereceived the 2009Orange Prize for Fiction(UK).HomeandLila arecompanions toGileadand focus on the Boughton and Ames families during the same time period.[12][13]

Robinson is also the author of many nonfiction works, includingMother Country: Britain, the Welfare State, and Nuclear Pollution(1989),The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought(1998),Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self(2010),When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays(2012),The Givenness of Things: Essays(2015), andWhat Are We Doing Here?(2018).Reading Genesiswas released on March 12, 2024. Her novels and nonfiction works have been translated into 36 languages.

She has written numerous articles, essays and reviews forHarper's,The Paris Review,andThe New York Review of Books.[14][15][16]

Academic affiliations[edit]

In addition to her tenure from 1991 to 2016 on the faculty of theUniversity of Iowa,where she retired as the F. Wendell Miller Professor of English and Creative Writing, Robinson has been writer-in-residence or visiting professor at many colleges and universities, includingAmherst College,and theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst'sMFA Program for Poets and Writers.[17]

In 2009, she held a Dwight H. Terry Lectureship atYale University,where she delivered a series of talks titledAbsence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self.In May 2011, Robinson delivered theUniversity of Oxford's annual Esmond Harmsworth Lecture in American Arts and Letters at the university'sRothermere American Institute.On April 19, 2010, she was elected a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.[18]Robinson was selected by the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University to deliver the 2018 Hulsean Lectures on Christian theology. She was the fourth woman selected for the series which was established in 1790. She has been elected a fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford and of Clare Hall, Cambridge.

The Yale Collection of American Literature at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library has acquired the papers of writer and essayist Marilynne Robinson.

Honors and awards[edit]

Robinson has received numerous literary, theological and academic honors, among them the 2006 Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion, the 2013Park Kyong-ni Prize,and the 2016 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. In 2021, the Tulsa Library Trust presented her with the Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. Robinson's alma mater, the University of Washington, honored her with their 2022 Alumni Summa Laude Dignata Award.

Robinson has received honorary degrees from over a dozen universities and colleges, starting with Oxford University in 2010 and Brown University in 2012, and followed most recently by the University of Iowa, Yale University, Boston College, Cambridge University, and the University of Portland.

Commendations[edit]

The former Archbishop of Canterbury,Rowan Williams,has described Robinson as "one of the world's most compelling English-speaking novelists", adding that "Robinson's is a voice we urgently need to attend to in both Church and society here [in the UK]."[19]

On June 26, 2015, PresidentBarack Obamaquoted Robinson in his eulogy forClementa C. PinckneyofEmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Churchin Charleston, South Carolina. In speaking about "an open heart," Obama said:"[w]hata friend of mine, the writer Marilynne Robinson, calls 'that reservoir of goodness, beyond, and of another kind, that we are able to do each other in the ordinary cause of things.' "[20]In November 2015,The New York Review of Bookspublished a two-part conversation between Obama and Robinson, covering topics in American history and the role of faith in society.[21][22]

Personal life[edit]

Robinson was raised as aPresbyterianand later became aCongregationalist,worshipping and sometimes preaching at theCongregational United Church of Christin Iowa City.[23][24]Her Congregationalism and her interest in the ideas ofJohn Calvinhave been important in many of her novels, includingGilead,which centers on the life and theological concerns of a fictional Congregationalist minister.[25]In an interview with theChurch Timesin 2012, Robinson said: "I think, if people actually read Calvin, rather than readMax Weber,he would be rebranded. He is a very respectable thinker. "[26]

In 1967 she married Fred Miller Robinson,[27][28]a writer and professor at theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst.The Robinsons divorced in 1989.[29]The couple have two sons. In the late 1970s, she wroteHousekeepingin the evenings while they slept. Robinson said they influenced her writing in many ways, since"[Motherhood]changes your sense of life, your sense of yourself. "[30]

Robinson divides her time between northern California and upstate New York.

Bibliography[edit]

Fiction[edit]

  • Housekeeping(1980)ISBN9780374525187,OCLC930404329
  • Gilead(2004)ISBN9780312424404,OCLC1016128137
  • Home(2008)ISBN9780009732997,OCLC588596243
  • Lila(2014)ISBN9781844088812,OCLC891809441[31]
  • Jack(2020)ISBN9780374279301,OCLC1136958758[32]

Online fiction[edit]

  • Kansas- published inThe New Yorkeron September 6, 2004
  • Jack and Della- published inThe New Yorkeron July 13, 2020

Nonfiction[edit]

Books[edit]

Essays and reportage[edit]

Interviews[edit]

Awards[edit]

Honorary degrees[edit]

  • 2007: Amherst College
  • 2010: Skidmore College
  • 2011: Holy Cross
  • 2011: Oxford University
  • 2012: Brown University
  • 2013: University of the South
  • 2013: Notre Dame
  • 2015: Liverpool Hope University
  • 2016: Lund University
  • 2017: University of Iowa
  • 2017: Duke University
  • 2018: Yale University
  • 2019: Boston College
  • 2019: Cambridge University
  • 2019: University of Portland

References[edit]

  1. ^This Life, This World: New Essays on Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, Gilead, and Home.BRILL. 2015-09-25.ISBN9789004302235.
  2. ^100 Most Influential People Marilynne RobinsonTime,April 2016
  3. ^"UI Writers' Workshop faculty member Marilynne Robinson win quarter-million-dollar award".February 4, 1998.RetrievedMarch 29,2016.
  4. ^"Robinson to retire from Iowa Writers' Workshop".Iowa Now.2016-04-27.Retrieved2016-04-27.
  5. ^McCrum, Robert (April 2, 2005)."A love letter to lost America".The Guardian.RetrievedMarch 29,2016.
  6. ^"Marilynne Robinson: Sandpoint Memories".NEA.2010-04-06.Retrieved2019-04-02.
  7. ^Werlock, Abby H. P. (22 April 2015).Encyclopedia of the American Novel.Infobase Learning.ISBN9781438140698.
  8. ^"Hill & Wood Funeral Service | Charlottesville, VA Funeral Home & Cremation".
  9. ^This Life, This World: New Essays on Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, Gilead, and Home.BRILL. 2015-09-25.ISBN9789004302235.
  10. ^"History & Literature of the Pacific Northwest: Marilynne Robinson, 1943".Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest,University of Washington.n.d.Retrieved2008-04-13.
  11. ^Lister, Rachel (2006-10-21)."Marilynne Robinson (1947– )".The Literary Encyclopedia.Retrieved2009-06-22.
  12. ^"Homeby Marilynne Robinson ".Us.macmillan. Archived fromthe originalon 2010-07-22.Retrieved2015-10-29.
  13. ^Dave Itzkoff,"Marilynne Robinson Wins Orange Prize",The New York Times,June 3, 2009.
  14. ^Robinson, Marilynne (2016-03-01)."Save Our Public Universities".Harper's Magazine.ISSN0017-789X.Retrieved2017-02-05.
  15. ^Fay, Interviewed by Sarah."Marilynne Robinson, The Art of Fiction No. 198".The Paris Review.Retrieved2017-02-05.
  16. ^"Marilynne Robinson".The New York Review of Books.Retrieved2017-02-05.
  17. ^Max, D. T. (2012-09-07)."D.F.W. Week: The Wonderfully Arrogant First Pitch Letter".The New Yorker.ISSN0028-792X.Retrieved2019-04-02.
  18. ^"American Academy of Arts & Sciences".Amacad.org. January 1999.Retrieved2015-10-29.
  19. ^Williams, Rowan, "Mighty plea for reasonableness",Church Times,12 August 2012
  20. ^"Remarks by the President in Eulogy for the Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney".whitehouse.gov.2015-06-26.Retrieved2015-10-29– viaNational Archives.
  21. ^Robinson, Marilynne; Obama, President Barack (November 5, 2015)."President Obama & Marilynne Robinson: A Conversation in Iowa".The New York Review of Books.62(17).RetrievedAugust 21,2016.
  22. ^Robinson, Marilynne; Obama, President Barack (November 19, 2015)."President Obama & Marilynne Robinson: A Conversation—II".The New York Review of Books.62(18).RetrievedAugust 21,2016.
  23. ^"Marilynne Robinson interview: The faith behind the fiction",Reform,September 2010.
  24. ^"Marilynne Robinson",Religion & Ethics Newsweekly,September 18, 2009.
  25. ^"Marilynne Robinson",Religion & Ethics Newsweekly,March 18, 2005.
  26. ^Wroe, Martin, "A minister of the word",Church Times,22 June 2012
  27. ^"Biography - Fred Miller Robinson, PhD - College of Arts and Sciences - University of San Diego".sandiego.edu.Retrieved2019-01-03.
  28. ^Sandra Hutchison (15 February 2015)."Marilynne Robinson".Sandra Hutchison.Retrieved2019-01-03.
  29. ^Fay, Interviewed by Sarah (2008)."Marilynne Robinson, The Art of Fiction No. 198".The Paris Review.Vol. Fall 2008, no. 186.ISSN0031-2037.Retrieved2019-01-03.
  30. ^Brockes, Emma (2009-05-29)."A life in writing: Marilynne Robinson".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved2019-01-04.
  31. ^"Five books for 2014",The EconomistNovember 21, 2013
  32. ^"Jack".US Macmillan.RetrievedSeptember 15,2020.
  33. ^"Marilynne Robinson Introduced by Paul Elie".92 St Y.
  34. ^"PEN/Hemingway Award Winners".The Hemingway Society.Retrieved7 March2015.
  35. ^"1982 Finalists".The Pulitzer Prizes.Retrieved7 March2015.
  36. ^"The 2005 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Fiction".pulitzer.org.Retrieved2019-05-21.
  37. ^"2006- Marilynne Robinson".Grawemeyer.org. Archived fromthe originalon 2014-04-04.Retrieved2015-10-29.
  38. ^"Simmons among nine honorary degree recipients".Brown University. 16 May 2012.Retrieved28 May2014.
  39. ^President Obama to Award 2012 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities MedalWhitehouse.gov,retrieved 30 June 2013
  40. ^Julie Jackson (September 26, 2013)."Park Kyung-ni literary prize goes to Robinson".Korea Herald.RetrievedJuly 7,2014.
  41. ^Alexandra Alter (March 12, 2015)."'Lila' Honored as Top Fiction by National Book Critics Circle ".New York Times.RetrievedMarch 12,2015.
  42. ^"Marilynne Robinson wins Library of Congress fiction prize".Associated Press.March 29, 2016.RetrievedMarch 29,2016.
  43. ^Foundation, Dayton Literary Peace Prize."Dayton Literary Peace Prize - Marilynne Robinson, 2016 Recipient of the Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award".daytonliterarypeaceprize.org.

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