John Dolan (writer)
Encyclopedia
John Carrol Dolan is an American
poet
, author
and essayist. He currently writes for and co-edits the eXile
, an English-language paper founded and formerly based in Moscow
, Russia
, and now based online in California. He was recently laid off from the University of Victoria, British Columbia.
in 1955. Dolan taught and studied at UC Berkeley
, where he completed a Ph.D. thesis on the literary writing of the Marquis de Sade
. Dr. Dolan has held various jobs, including attack-dog handler at a truckyard in Oakland. He is the eldest of three brothers.
He has published poems in many US and New Zealand literary journals and his first collection won the Berkeley Poetry Prize in 1988. In 1993, he moved to Dunedin, New Zealand, where he lectured at the University of Otago
. During his time in Dunedin, Dolan contributed regularly to the Otago literary journal Deep South. In 2001 Dolan resigned his academic post, and moved to Moscow to become co-editor of the eXile
, a bi-weekly English-language publication based there. He was the first reviewer of A Million Little Pieces
by James Frey
, a bestseller featured on Oprah's monthly bookclub
, to correctly expose this alleged memoir as fraudulent years before that was officially brought to light (the title of Dolan's review was "A Million Pieces of Shit" and the first line was "This is the worst thing I have ever read") http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=6948&IBLOCK_ID=35&PAGE=1. He is married to his former student, Katherine Liddy. Dolan relocated to Canada to teach at the University of Victoria
in Canada in 2006. He was fired for encouraging students to criticize George Monbiot
in 2008.
Until spring 2010, Dolan was an associate professor of English composition and literature at the American University of Iraq - Sulaimani. He was fired in 2010 and wrote a lengthy article on his experience there.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and essayist. He currently writes for and co-edits the eXile
The eXile
The eXile was a Moscow-based English-language biweekly free tabloid newspaper, aimed at the city's expatriate community, which combined outrageous, sometimes satirical, content with investigative reporting...
, an English-language paper founded and formerly based in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and now based online in California. He was recently laid off from the University of Victoria, British Columbia.
Biography
John Dolan was born in Denver, ColoradoDenver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
in 1955. Dolan taught and studied at UC Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, where he completed a Ph.D. thesis on the literary writing of the Marquis de Sade
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
. Dr. Dolan has held various jobs, including attack-dog handler at a truckyard in Oakland. He is the eldest of three brothers.
He has published poems in many US and New Zealand literary journals and his first collection won the Berkeley Poetry Prize in 1988. In 1993, he moved to Dunedin, New Zealand, where he lectured at the University of Otago
University of Otago
The University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...
. During his time in Dunedin, Dolan contributed regularly to the Otago literary journal Deep South. In 2001 Dolan resigned his academic post, and moved to Moscow to become co-editor of the eXile
The eXile
The eXile was a Moscow-based English-language biweekly free tabloid newspaper, aimed at the city's expatriate community, which combined outrageous, sometimes satirical, content with investigative reporting...
, a bi-weekly English-language publication based there. He was the first reviewer of A Million Little Pieces
A Million Little Pieces
A Million Little Pieces is a semi-fictional memoir by James Frey. It tells the story of a 23-year-old alcoholic and drug abuser and how he copes with rehabilitation in a Twelve steps-oriented treatment center...
by James Frey
James Frey
James Christopher Frey is an American writer. His books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard , as well as Bright Shiny Morning , were bestsellers...
, a bestseller featured on Oprah's monthly bookclub
Oprah's Book Club
Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new novel for viewers to read and discuss each month. The Club ended its 15-year run, along with...
, to correctly expose this alleged memoir as fraudulent years before that was officially brought to light (the title of Dolan's review was "A Million Pieces of Shit" and the first line was "This is the worst thing I have ever read") http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=6948&IBLOCK_ID=35&PAGE=1. He is married to his former student, Katherine Liddy. Dolan relocated to Canada to teach at the University of Victoria
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...
in Canada in 2006. He was fired for encouraging students to criticize George Monbiot
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
in 2008.
Until spring 2010, Dolan was an associate professor of English composition and literature at the American University of Iraq - Sulaimani. He was fired in 2010 and wrote a lengthy article on his experience there.
Short fiction
- Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Dead Cat" and "The Very Moment When The Camera Left Me," Deep South v.2 n.3 (Spring 1996).
Poetry
- People With Real Lives Don't Need Landscapes (Paul & Co Pub Consortium September 2003, ISBN 1-86940-287-1)
- Slave (Occident Press, January 1988, ISBN 1-4006-3100-9)
- Stuck Up : Poems from Great Central Lake (Paul & Co Pub Consortium April 1995, ISBN 1-86940-120-4)
- "Collage," a poem by Dolan appearing in Double Jointed, a compendium of poems compiled by Jenny Powell-Chalmers (Inkweed Press, Titahi Bay, NZ 2003).
- "A Couple of Mongols," published the New Zealand literary journal, Sport (v.10 1993).
- "An Angel Reports to Darwin," Deep South v.1 n.1 (February 1995).
- "What Happens to a Cyanide Molecule? A Ballet," Deep South v.1 n.2 (May 1995).
- "HOW I KILLED THE MOUSE," People With Real Lives Don't Need Landscapes).
Translation
- A Young Scoundrel (Russian: Молодой Негодяй), a novel by Eduard LimonovEduard LimonovEduard Limonov is Russian writer and political dissident, and is the founder and leader of radical National Bolshevik Party. An opponent of Vladimir Putin, Limonov is one of leaders of Other Russia political bloc.-Early life:...
(to which Dolan wrote a translator's note).
Criticism
- "Books," a review of The Paris Review Book appearing in New York PressNew York PressNew York Press was a free alternative weekly in New York City, that was published from 1988 to 2011. During its lifetime, it was the main competitor to the Village Voice...
(v.16, n.30). - Poetic Occasion from Milton to Wordsworth (Palgrave Macmillan June 2000, ISBN 0-333-73358-4)
- "Conceived in Sin: The Online Audience and the Case of the eXile," a lecture given May 22, 2004 at Budapest University of Technology and EconomicsBudapest University of Technology and EconomicsThe Budapest University of Technology and Economics , in hungarian abbreviated as BME, English official abbreviation BUTE, is the most significant University of Technology in Hungary and is also one of the oldest Institutes of Technology in the world, having been founded in 1782.-History:BME is...
, during an international conference entitled "Dissolving and Emerging Communities - The Culture of Periodicals from the Perspective of the Electronic Age". The title of Dolan's talk was originally listed in the conference's program as "Our Friends From Frolix 8: Offending, Attracting and Ignoring the Reader from Afar." - "Attack Ships on Fire off the Shoals of Otago: Arguing about Starship Troopers," Deep South v.4 n.2 (Spring, 1995).
- "The King's Bow: Review of Rick McGregor's Per Olof Sundman and the Icelandic Sagas," Deep South v.1 n.3 (Spring, 1995).
- http://www.exile.ru/2003-May-29/book_review.html "A Million Pieces of Shit," appearing in eXile May 29, 2003. This was the first review to expose James Frey's memoirs as fraudulent.
Other publications
- Masculinities in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Aotearoa Dunmore Press: Palmerston North (1999). In addition to co-editing with R. Law and H. Campbell, Dolan collaborated on the introduction, one chapter of original material, and an interview. The table of contents is available online.
- Writing Well, Speaking Clearly, University of Otago Press 1997, ISBN 1-877133-69-8. A textbookTextbookA textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
. - Dolan has acknowledged writing The War Nerd column for The eXile, under the pseudonym Gary BrecherGary BrecherGary Brecher is the author of The War Nerd, a twice-monthly column discussing current wars and other military conflicts, published in the eXile. A collection of his columns was published by Soft Skull Press in June 2008 ....
.
Quotations
- "[I'm] most interested in pathos and the tantalizing possibility of saying something like the truth, if only for destructive purposes."
- "[People] who squirt impenetrable clouds of ink do so for the same reason squid do."
External links
- Dolan's entry in the New Zealand Book Council's directory.
- A short biography of Dolan appears on the website of a conference he attended at Budapest University of Technology and Economics (see above). The biography seems to have been self-submitted.
- A list of reviews made by Dolan on Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
(under an account with Amazon's 'real name' tag). - An archive of some of Dolan's literary and commentary articles.
- A review of Stuck Up by Dolan's University of Otago colleague Lucy McAllister, appearing in Deep South v.1 n.2 (May, 1995).
- X-rated Journalism on Criticweb
- Archive of articles by John Dolan on The eXile website.
- The Man Who Loves To Hate, profile on Dolan in The Listener.