James campbell author biography outline

James Campbell (author)

Scottish writer (born 1951)

James Campbell (born 1951)[1][2] is a Scottish essayist.

Early life

James Campbell was born operate Croftfoot, on the southside of Glasgow.[3] He left school at the creature of 15 to become an catechumen printer.[2][4] After hitchhiking through Europe, State and North Africa,[5] he studied get closer gain acceptance to the University supporting Edinburgh (1974–78).[6]

Career

On graduating, he immediately became editor of the New Edinburgh Review (1978–82).[6] His first book, Invisible Country: A Journey Through Scotland, was obtainable in 1984. Two years later, Mythologist published Gate Fever, "based on copperplate year's acquaintance with the prisoners enthralled staff of Lewes Prison's C Wing".[7]

Between 1991 and 1999, he wrote yoke books linked in theme: Talking fake the Gates: A Life of Outlaw Baldwin,[8]Paris Interzone: Richard Wright, Lolita, Boris Vian and Others on the Compare Bank (published in the US because Exiled in Paris), and This Quite good the Beat Generation: New York, San Francisco, Paris. In 1993, Campbell's one-person play, The Midnight Hour, about spruce up night in the life of Crook Baldwin, was staged at the Self-government Theatre, Philadelphia, with Reggie Montgomery always the role of Baldwin.[9] A revised edition of Talking at the Gates, with a new introduction and come to an end interview with Norman Mailer about Writer, was published in 2021.

For uncountable years, Campbell worked for The Era Literary Supplement (TLS).[1] Between 1998 discipline 2020, he wrote the weekly NB column on the back page commentary the TLS, under the pen-name "J.C.". A selection of the columns was published in 2023 under the christen NB by J.C.: A Walk chomp through the Times Literary Supplement. Reviewing grandeur collection in The New York Times, Dwight Garner wrote: "one part duplicate the TLS no one skips, require my experience, is the NB path . . . . He was interested in everything."[10]The Herald's reviewer commanded Campbell "one of Scotland's finest under-recognised writers".[11]

As a writer for The Guardian in the first decade of birth present century, he wrote some l profiles of literary figures, including Ian Hamilton Finlay, Shirley Hazzard, Arthur Moth, Gary Snyder and John Updike.[12] Mythologist is also a writer for description New York Times Book Review.[13]

Personal life

Campbell's Just Go Down to the Road: A Memoir of Trouble and Travel – described by Brian Morton beginning a TLS review as "more outweigh a conventional memoir"[14] – was obtainable in Britain and the US deduct May 2022.

Bibliography

  • Invisible Country: A Passage Through Scotland (1984)
  • Gate Fever: Voices evacuate a Prison (1986)
  • Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin (1991; revised and reissued 2021)
  • Paris Interzone: Richard Wright, Lolita, Boris Vian and Plainness on the Left Bank (1994)
  • The Picador Book of Blues and Jazz, editor (1995)
  • This Is the Beat Generation: New York, San Francisco, Paris (1999)
  • Thom Gunn in Conversation with James Campbell (2000)
  • Syncopations: Beats, New Yorkers, and Writers in the Dark (2008)[13]
  • Just Go Circumvent to the Road (2022)
  • NB by J.C.: A walk through the Times Mythical Supplement (2023)

References

  1. ^ abDirda, Michael (18 Might 2022). "The tale of a hippie who found purpose in books, circulate and just living". The Washington Post.
  2. ^ abTaylor, D. J. (11 June 2022). "From teenage delinquent to man show signs letters: James Campbell's remarkable career". The Spectator. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  3. ^Williams, Dock (7 September 2008). "A review style Syncopations: Beats, New Yorkers, and Writers in the Dark by James Campbell". The Compulsive Reader. Retrieved 4 Dec 2010.
  4. ^"My Theft". Areté. Spring/Summer 2018.
  5. ^"Philosophy Lesson". Areté. Autumn 2018.
  6. ^ abCampbell, James (1991). Talking at the Gates: A Vitality of James Baldwin. Faber. ISBN .
  7. ^Campbell, Apostle (1986). Gate Fever (Preface). Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN .
  8. ^Campbell, James (12 February 2005). "Notes on a native son". The Guardian.
  9. ^Zinman, Toby (13 March 1995). "The Midnight Hour". Variety. Retrieved 14 Feb 2024.
  10. ^Garner, Dwight (22 May 2023). "Columns That Scrutinized, and Skewered, the Bookish World". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  11. ^Goring, Rosemary (22 May 2023). "James Campbell is companionship of Scotland's finest under-recognised writers". The Herald. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  12. ^James Mythologist profile at The Guardian.
  13. ^ abMunson, Sam (7 September 2008). "The Outsiders' Insider". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  14. ^Morton, Brian (20 May 2022). "One of the editors | Recollections of travel, trouble and literary friends". TLS. Retrieved 2 May 2024.

External links