Peter Matthiessen | |
|---|---|
 Matthiessen in 2008 | |
| Born | May 22, 1927 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | April 5, 2014 (aged 86) Sagaponack, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | English |
| Education | Yale University (BA) |
| Period | 1950–2014 |
| Genre |
|
| Notable works | |
| Notable awards |
|
| Spouse | Patsy Southgate
(m. 1950; div. 1956)Deborah Love
(m. 1963; died 1972)Maria Eckhart
(m. 1980) |
| Children | 4 |
Peter Matthiessen (May 22, 1927 – April 5, 2014) was an American novelist, naturalist, wilderness writer, zen teacher and onetime CIA agent.[1] A co-founder of the literary magazine The Paris Review, he is the only writer to have won the National Book Award in both nonfiction (The Snow Leopard, 1979, category Contemporary Thought) and fiction (Shadow Country, 2008).[2] He was also a prominent environmental activist.
Matthiessen's nonfiction featured nature and travel, notably The Snow Leopard (1978) and American Indian issues and history, such as a detailed and controversial study of the Leonard Peltier case, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (1983). His fiction was adapted for film: the early story "Travelin' Man" was made into The Young One (1960) by Luis Buñuel[3] and the novel At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1965) into the 1991 film of the same name.
In 2008, at age 81, Matthiessen received the National Book Award for Fiction for Shadow Country, a one-volume, 890-page revision of his three novels set in frontier Florida that had been published in the 1990s.[4][5] According to critic Michael Dirda, "No one writes more lyrically [than Matthiessen] about animals or describes more movingly the spiritual experience of mountaintops, savannas, and the sea."[6]
Matthiessen was treated for acute leukemia for more than a year. He died on April 5, 2014, three days before publication of his final book, the novel In Paradise on April 8.[7]
- ^ "Just Who Was CIA?". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 23, 2018. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
- ^ "Washington Post Obituary" Obituary, Washington Post, April 6, 2014.
- ^ "Travelin Man". All-Story. Archived from the original on June 28, 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2008.
- ^ "National Book Awards – 2008" Archived November 21, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. National Book Foundation. Retrieved March 9, 2012. (With interview, acceptance speech by Matthiessen, and essay by Harold Augenbraum from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)
- ^ "2008 National Book Award Winner, Fiction". National Book Foundation. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
- ^ Dirda, Michael "An Epic of the Everglades Archived March 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine", The New York Review of Books, May 15, 2008.
- ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher, ""Peter Matthiessen, Lyrical Writer and Naturalist, Is Dead at 86" Archived February 4, 2017, at the Wayback Machine", "The New York Times", April 5, 2014.