JOHN KNOWLES Biography - Writers

 
 

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JOHN KNOWLES

John Knowles was born in 1926 in Fairmont, West Virginia. He left home at age 15     
to attend Phillips Exeter Academy, a prestigious boarding school in New             
Hampshire. After graduating in 1945, he spent eight months in the U.S. Army Air     
Force's Aviation Cadet Program, then enrolled at Yale University, which awarded     
him a bachelor's degree in 1949.                                                     
                                                                                     
Knowles worked as a journalist and free-lance writer from 1950 to 1956. He           
traveled in Europe during this period and began to publish short stories. The       
playwright Thornton Wilder took an early interest in Knowles's fiction writing,     
encouraging him to write about compelling experiences from his past. In 1957         
Knowles became an associate editor at Holiday magazine. The success of his first     
published novel, A Separate Peace, allowed him to resign this position and           
devote his time to traveling and writing fiction.                                   
                                                                                     
Knowles has published eight other novels, a book on travel, and a collection of     
stories. He has lectured widely and served as writer-in-residence at Princeton       
University and the University of North Carolina. While none of Knowles's later       
novels received the critical and popular acclaim that greeted A Separate Peace,     
reviewers have generally praised his craftsmanship and his talent for describing     
local atmosphere. In his fiction, Knowles often explores the effects of greed,       
competitiveness, and emotional repression on his characters, many of whom are       
affluent Americans.