Author
Peter Taylor
Birth Date
January 8, 1917
(77 Years)
Death Date
November 2, 1994
Associated Country
United States
Peter Taylor was an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright, widely regarded as a master of short fiction. He was born in Trenton, Tennessee and grew up in the American South, a region that deeply shaped his writing. Much of his work focuses on the “Upper South,” especially Tennessee, portraying families and communities dealing with social change and the tension between tradition and modern life.
Taylor studied at several universities, including Vanderbilt University and Kenyon College, and later served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He went on to teach writing at various institutions, eventually joining the faculty at the University of Virginia. His stories were often first published in magazines like The New Yorker and became known for their careful attention to character, class, and family dynamics.
He is best known for works such as A Woman of Means and A Summons to Memphis (1986), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1987. Taylor also received the PEN/Faulkner Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for his contributions to short fiction. He is remembered as one of the leading voices in Southern literature, admired for his subtle, realistic portrayals of people navigating a changing society.
Taylor studied at several universities, including Vanderbilt University and Kenyon College, and later served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He went on to teach writing at various institutions, eventually joining the faculty at the University of Virginia. His stories were often first published in magazines like The New Yorker and became known for their careful attention to character, class, and family dynamics.
He is best known for works such as A Woman of Means and A Summons to Memphis (1986), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1987. Taylor also received the PEN/Faulkner Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for his contributions to short fiction. He is remembered as one of the leading voices in Southern literature, admired for his subtle, realistic portrayals of people navigating a changing society.
Books
A Summons to Memphis 1999
During the twilight of a Sunday afternoon in March, New York book editor Phillip Carver receives an urgent phone call from each of his older, unmarried sisters. They plead with Phillip to help avert...
A Woman of Means 1996
Gerald Dudley is an executive at a hardware company in St. Louis, living the quintessential bachelor life with his young son, Quint. He is also a man who aspires beyond his means and class. When...
The Old Forest and Other Stories is a collection of short fiction set primarily in the American South, where tradition, family, and social expectations shape the lives of its characters. Moving...