David Means Explained

David Means (born October 17, 1961)^[1] is an American short story writer and novelist based in Nyack, New York. His stories have appeared in many publications, including Esquire, The New Yorker, and Harper's. They are frequently set in the Midwest or the Rust Belt, or along the Hudson River in New York.

Biography

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Means graduated from Loy Norrix High School in 1980.^[2] He received his bachelor's degree in 1984 from the College of Wooster, where his I.S. was "Bullfighting in Boston and other Poems".^[3] He went to graduate school at Columbia University, where he received an MFA in poetry.^[4] He has been a part-time member of the English department at Vassar College since 2001. Means is married with two children.

Work

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."^[5] 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.^[6] 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."^[7]

His first novel Hystopia was long listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2016.^[8]

Bibliography

Novels

• Hystopia (2016)

Short fiction

Collections

• A Quick Kiss of Redemption (1991)
• Assorted Fire Events (2000)
• The Secret Goldfish (2004)
• The Spot (2010)
• Instructions for a Funeral (2019)
• Two Nurses, Smoking (2022)

Appearances in anthologies

• Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, "Found" Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts, edited by David Shields and Matthew Vollmer, W. W. Norton, 2012

Awards

• Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2000) for Assorted Fire Events^[9]
• National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist, 2000) for Assorted Fire Events^[10]
• The Pushcart Prize (2001)
• O. Henry Prize (2006) for "Sault Ste. Marie"^[11]
• Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award (Shortlist, 2005) for The Secret Goldfish^[12]
• O. Henry Prize (2011) for "The Junction" ^[13]

External links

• New York Times interview with David Means
• New Yorker interview with David Means
• The Guardian (London) review of The Spot
• Leonard Lopate Show radio interview with David Means
• Time Out review of The Spot
• Chicago Tribune review of The Spot
• Interview with David Means
• "Elective Mute" (Story) from Esquire
• Ponteri, Jay. "David Means and the Secret Mystery". Loggernaut, 2005. Long interview discussing the author's work.
• Radio interview in which David Means discusses his book Assorted Fire Events and reads his short story The Woodcutter
• Interview at Powells.com
• Short story "The Knocking" at The New Yorker
• 2010 Short story collection "The Spot"
• New York Times Review of The Secret Goldfish
• Essay about stories by David Means
• Artist George Condo on David Means
• David Means reads "Chef's House" by Raymond Carver/New Yorker/short interview

Notes and References

1. Web site: Assorted fire events : stories . https://archive.today/20121213082732/http://lccn.loc.gov/00133360 . dead . December 13, 2012 . . July 22, 2011 .
2. News: Michael Chevy. Castranova. David Means explores stories of 'victims': Former Kalamazoo writer seeks a darker perspective. July 22, 2011. The Kalamazoo Gazette. August 8, 2010.
3. Web site: I.S. Database . College of Wooster. . July 22, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110722123915/http://www.wooster.edu/Independent-Study/Search-the-IS-Database . July 22, 2011 .
4. Web site: David Means Makes It Work. Powell's Books. October 10, 2006. July 22, 2011.
5. Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
6. Web site: Oct. 6 WSUI Reading Features Short Story Writer David Means. September 22, 2004. University News Service. University of Iowa. July 22, 2011. October 1, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20111001091505/http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2004/september/092204means-PL.html. dead.
7. Book: McKee, Robert. 2016. Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for the Page, Stage, and Screen. New York. Twelve. 80. 9781455591916 .
8. Web site: War Is Hell: PW Talks with David Means. PublishersWeekly.com.
9. Web site: 2000 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winners. Los Angeles Times. July 22, 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110704145506/http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/previous-winners/year-2000/. July 4, 2011.
10. Web site: All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists - Page 2. National Book Critics Circle. July 22, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20180223040500/http://bookcritics.org/awards/past_awards/page_2/. February 23, 2018. dead.
11. Web site: The O. Henry Prize Stories 2006. Random House. July 22, 2011.
12. News: Crown. Sarah. Inaugural short story award goes to debut author. July 22, 2011. The Guardian. September 26, 2005.
13. Web site: The O. Henry Prize Stories 2011. The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories. Anchor Books. July 22, 2011.