David Means: Difference between revisions

'''David Means''' (born October 17, 1961) <ref name=LOC>{{cite web|title=Assorted fire events : stories |url=http://lccn.loc.gov/00133360 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121213082732/http://lccn.loc.gov/00133360 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 13, 2012 |work=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=July 22, 2011 }}</ref> is an American short story writer and novelist based in [[Nyack, New York]]. His stories have appeared in many publications, including ''[[Esquire Magazine|Esquire]]'', ''[[The New Yorker]]'', and ''[[Harper's]]''. They are frequently set in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] or the [[Rust Belt]], or along the Hudson River in New York.

''Contemporary Authors'' writes: "With Means's second collection, ''Assorted Fire Events: Stories'', he was compared favorably to such esteemed writers as [[Raymond Carver]] and [[Alice Munro]] and praised by critics for his sharp prose."<ref>''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2007. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC</ref> James Wood, in ''The London Review of Books'' notes that "Means' language offers an exquisitely precise and sensuous register of an often crazy American reality. Sentences gleaming with lustre are sewn through the stories. One will go a long way with a writer possessed of such skill. You can hear the influence of Flannery O'Connor in Means' prose: in the scintillating shiver of the beautiful imagery, in the lack of sentimentality, in the interest in grotesque violence, and gothic tricksterism." [[Eileen Battersby]] in ''[[The Irish Times]]'' has compared Means' work to that of [[Eudora Welty]] and [[John Cheever]].<ref name=Iowa>{{cite web|title=Oct. 6 WSUI Reading Features Short Story Writer David Means|date=September 22, 2004|url=http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2004/september/092204means-PL.html|work=University News Service|publisher=University of Iowa|access-date=July 22, 2011|archive-date=October 1, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001091505/http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2004/september/092204means-PL.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Story consultant]] [[Robert McKee]] said, "David Means writes short stories, I suspect, because his arsenal of prose techniques is so diverse, he needs hundreds of tellings to explore them all."<ref>{{cite book|last =McKee|first = Robert|date =2016|title =Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for the Page, Stage, and Screen|location = New York|publisher = Twelve|page=80|isbn =9781455591916 }}</ref>

His first novel is ''Hystopia'' was long listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/69442-war-is-hell-pw-talks-with-david-means.html|title=War Is Hell: PW Talks with David Means|work=PublishersWeekly.com}}</ref> It was long listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2016.

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;====Collections====

*O. Henry Prize (2011) for "The Junction" <ref name="O'Henry2011">{{cite web|title=The O. Henry Prize Stories 2011|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/anchor/ohenry/winners/|work=The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories|publisher=Anchor Books|access-date=July 22, 2011}}</ref>

*[http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/printers-row/2010/05/review-the-spot-by-david-means.html Chicago Tribune review of The Spot] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512223852/http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/printers-row/2010/05/review-the-spot-by-david-means.html |date=2014-05-12 }}

*[http://bookmunch.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/why-don't-you-ask-bob-dylan-or-bruce-springsteen-when-they're-going-to-write-a-symphony-interview-with-david-means-author-of-the-spot/ Interview with David Means]{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}