Raymond Federman
Encyclopedia
Raymond Federman was a French
–American
novelist and academic, known also for poetry, essays, translations, and criticism. He held positions at the University at Buffalo
from 1973 to 1999, when he was appointed Distinguished Emeritus Professor. Federman was a writer in the experimental style, one that sought to deconstruct traditional prose. This type of writing is quite prevalent in his book Double or Nothing
, in which the linear narrative of the story has been broken down and restructured so as to be nearly incoherent. Words are also often arranged on pages to resemble images or to suggest repetitious themes.
, France, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1947. After serving in the U.S. Army in Korea and Japan from 1951 to 1954, he studied at Columbia University
under the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1957. He did his graduate studies at U.C.L.A., receiving his M.A. in 1958, and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature in 1963, with his doctoral dissertation on Samuel Beckett
.
He taught in the French Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara
from 1959 to 1964, and in the French Department at The State University of New York at Buffalo from 1964 to 1973, and as a fiction writer in the English Department at SUNY-Buffalo from 1973 to 1999. He was promoted to the rank of Distinguished Professor in 1990, and in 1992, appointed to the Melodia E. Jones Chair of Literature, where he served until retiring in July 1999. In 2000, he was appointed as Distinguished Emeritus Professor.
He was a member of the Board of Directors of The Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines
from 1973-1976. From 1979-1982 he was Co-Director of the Fiction Collective, a publishing house dedicated to experimental fiction and its writers, and later served on the Board of Directors of Fiction Collective Two.
Federman died of cancer at the age of 81 in San Diego, California
., and in May 2010, his final new English novel was released by Starcherone Press: SHHH: The Story of a Childhood, edited and with an introduction from writer Davis Schneiderman
, who also made a 2007 YouTube video with Federman and author Lidia Yuknavtich, in which the three boil books in noodles. This is a reference to Federman's first novel Double or Nothing
.
In his lifetime he read from his work in most major American Universities, and lectured in at least eighteen foreign countries. His novels have been translated into over a dozen languages, and all his novels have been adapted into radio plays in Germany.
Several full-length books have been written about his work, including a 400-page casebook entitled Federman From A to X-X-X-X by Larry McCaffery
, Thomas Hartl and Doug Rice. In 2010 SUNY Press published Federman's Fiction's: Innovation, Theory, and the Holocaust, a collection of essays edited by Jeffrey R. Di Leo intended to demonstrate the relevance of Federman's writing to disciplines beyond contemporary and experimental literature. The collection featured a preface by the esteemed American poet Charles Bernstein, Federman's former colleague at SUNY Buffalo, as well as contributions by an international cast of scholars, writers, and critics including Jerome Klinkowitz, Dan Stone, Marcel Cornis-Pope, Alyson Waters, Eric Dean Rasmussen, Jan Baetens, Susan Rubin Suleiman, Davis Schneiderman, Eckhard Gerdes
and Brian McHale. His collected plays were published in Austria in a bilingual edition (English/German) under the title The Precipice & Other Catastrophes. In 2002 The Journal of Experimental Fiction devoted a 510 page issue to his work.
Raymond Federman’s excerpt from Return to Manure won an &NOW award in 2009 and was published in The &NOW Awards: The Best Innovative Writing. Federman also participated in the biennial &NOW festival, a festival for experimental and innovative writing.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
–American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist and academic, known also for poetry, essays, translations, and criticism. He held positions at the University at Buffalo
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, also commonly known as the University at Buffalo or UB, is a public research university and a "University Center" in the State University of New York system. The university was founded by Millard Fillmore in 1846. UB has multiple campuses...
from 1973 to 1999, when he was appointed Distinguished Emeritus Professor. Federman was a writer in the experimental style, one that sought to deconstruct traditional prose. This type of writing is quite prevalent in his book Double or Nothing
Double or Nothing
Double or nothing in gambling, is to repeat the same bet with the same wager.Double or Nothing may also refer to:-Films:* Double or Nothing , a 1936 short film* Double or Nothing , a 1937 musical film-Books:...
, in which the linear narrative of the story has been broken down and restructured so as to be nearly incoherent. Words are also often arranged on pages to resemble images or to suggest repetitious themes.
Biography
Federman was born in MontrougeMontrouge
Montrouge is a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, located from the center of Paris, France. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe...
, France, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1947. After serving in the U.S. Army in Korea and Japan from 1951 to 1954, he studied at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
under the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1957. He did his graduate studies at U.C.L.A., receiving his M.A. in 1958, and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature in 1963, with his doctoral dissertation on Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
.
He taught in the French Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
from 1959 to 1964, and in the French Department at The State University of New York at Buffalo from 1964 to 1973, and as a fiction writer in the English Department at SUNY-Buffalo from 1973 to 1999. He was promoted to the rank of Distinguished Professor in 1990, and in 1992, appointed to the Melodia E. Jones Chair of Literature, where he served until retiring in July 1999. In 2000, he was appointed as Distinguished Emeritus Professor.
He was a member of the Board of Directors of The Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines
Council of Literary Magazines and Presses
The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses is an American organization of independent literary publishers and magazines. It was founded in 1967 by Robie Macauley, Reed Whittemore ; Jules Chametzky ; George Plimpton ; and William Phillips as the...
from 1973-1976. From 1979-1982 he was Co-Director of the Fiction Collective, a publishing house dedicated to experimental fiction and its writers, and later served on the Board of Directors of Fiction Collective Two.
Federman died of cancer at the age of 81 in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
., and in May 2010, his final new English novel was released by Starcherone Press: SHHH: The Story of a Childhood, edited and with an introduction from writer Davis Schneiderman
Davis Schneiderman
Davis Schneiderman is an American innovative writer and academic.-Biography:Schneiderman earned a B.A. from the Pennsylvania State University , an M.A. and Ph.D. from Binghamton University...
, who also made a 2007 YouTube video with Federman and author Lidia Yuknavtich, in which the three boil books in noodles. This is a reference to Federman's first novel Double or Nothing
Double or Nothing
Double or nothing in gambling, is to repeat the same bet with the same wager.Double or Nothing may also refer to:-Films:* Double or Nothing , a 1936 short film* Double or Nothing , a 1937 musical film-Books:...
.
In his lifetime he read from his work in most major American Universities, and lectured in at least eighteen foreign countries. His novels have been translated into over a dozen languages, and all his novels have been adapted into radio plays in Germany.
Several full-length books have been written about his work, including a 400-page casebook entitled Federman From A to X-X-X-X by Larry McCaffery
Larry McCaffery
Lawrence F. "Larry" McCaffery Jr. is a literary critic, editor, and retired professor of English and Comparative Literature at San Diego State University...
, Thomas Hartl and Doug Rice. In 2010 SUNY Press published Federman's Fiction's: Innovation, Theory, and the Holocaust, a collection of essays edited by Jeffrey R. Di Leo intended to demonstrate the relevance of Federman's writing to disciplines beyond contemporary and experimental literature. The collection featured a preface by the esteemed American poet Charles Bernstein, Federman's former colleague at SUNY Buffalo, as well as contributions by an international cast of scholars, writers, and critics including Jerome Klinkowitz, Dan Stone, Marcel Cornis-Pope, Alyson Waters, Eric Dean Rasmussen, Jan Baetens, Susan Rubin Suleiman, Davis Schneiderman, Eckhard Gerdes
Eckhard Gerdes
Eckhard Gerdes is an American novelist and editor. He earned his MFA in creative writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.He is the author of twelve novels:* Projections [1986, Depth Charge Press]...
and Brian McHale. His collected plays were published in Austria in a bilingual edition (English/German) under the title The Precipice & Other Catastrophes. In 2002 The Journal of Experimental Fiction devoted a 510 page issue to his work.
Raymond Federman’s excerpt from Return to Manure won an &NOW award in 2009 and was published in The &NOW Awards: The Best Innovative Writing. Federman also participated in the biennial &NOW festival, a festival for experimental and innovative writing.
Awards
- Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
(1666–67) - Fellow in residence at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France (1977)
- Fulbright Fellowship to Israel as Writer-in-Residence at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1982–83)
- National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
Fellowship in fiction (1985) - New York Foundation for the ArtsNew York Foundation for the ArtsThe New York Foundation for the Arts was created in conjunction the in 1971. The organization gives grants to individual artists and writers and developing arts organizations with a mission to '.'-NYFA's Programs:...
Fellowship for fiction (1986) - Writer-in-Residence at The Artists-in-Berlin Programme of the DAAD (1990)
- Awarded Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French Government (1995)
- Honorary Trustee of the Samuel Beckett Society.
- Double or NothingDouble or NothingDouble or nothing in gambling, is to repeat the same bet with the same wager.Double or Nothing may also refer to:-Films:* Double or Nothing , a 1936 short film* Double or Nothing , a 1937 musical film-Books:...
winner of the Frances Steloff Fiction Prize (1971) and The Panache Experimental Fiction Prize (1972) - Amer Eldorado nominated for Le Prix MédicisPrix MédicisThe Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux. It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent."...
- American Book AwardAmerican Book AwardThe American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
for “Smiles on Washington Square: A Love Story of Sorts” (1986)
Novels or Novelistic Memoirs
- Double or NothingDouble or NothingDouble or nothing in gambling, is to repeat the same bet with the same wager.Double or Nothing may also refer to:-Films:* Double or Nothing , a 1936 short film* Double or Nothing , a 1937 musical film-Books:...
Swallow Press. Re-issued by Ohio University Press, 1976. New revised edition, Fiction Collective Two, 1991. - Amer Eldorado Written in French, Editions Stock, Paris, 1974. New Editions revised and expanded, Weidler Buchverlag, 2001.
- Take It Or Leave It The Fiction Collective, 1976. New revised edition, Fiction Collective Two, 1997.
- The Voice in the Closet / La Voix Dans le Cabinet de Débarras (Bilingual novel), Coda Press, 1979. Re-issued Station Hill Press, 1985. New edition, Starchrone Books, 2001. New expanded edition Impressions Nouvelles, 2001.
- The Twofold Vibration Indiana University Press & Harvester Press Ltd., 1982.
- Smiles on Washington Square Thunder's Mouth Press, 1985.
- To Whom It May Concern Fiction Collective Two, 1990.
- La Fourrure de ma Tante Rachel (written in French) Éditions Circé, 1997.
- Loose Shoes Weidler Verlag, 2001.
- Aunt Rachel's Fur Fiction Collective Two, 2001.
- Mon corps en neuf parties Editions Al Dante, 2003.
- A qui de droit (French) Al Dante, 2003. New edition, 2006.
- Retour au fumier Editions Al Dante, 2005.
- My Body in Nine Parts Starcherone Books, 2005.
- Return To Manure Fiction Collective Two, 2006.
- Chut(French) Léo Scheer, 2008.
- The Carcasses (A Fable) BlazeVOX Books, 2009.
- SHHH: The Story of a Childhood 2010.
Poetry
- Among the Beasts / Parmi Les Monsters (Bilingual poems) Milas-Martin Editions, 1967.
- Me Too Westcoast Poetry Press, 1975.
- Duel-L (Poems in English/French/German). The Stop-over Press, 1991.
- Now Then / Nun denn (Bilingual Poems in English & German) Edition Isele, 1992.
- 99 hand written poems = 99 poèmes faits à la Main Weidler Buchverlag, 2001.
- Here and Elsewhere: Poetic Cul de Sac Six Gallery Press, 2003.
- Surcomixxxx (English and German with comic strips illustrations). Ed. Dirk Gortler. Klauss Isele, 2003.
- Ici et ailleurs / Here & elsewhere Le Mot et le reste, 2004.
- L'extatique de Jule & Juliette Le Mot et le reste, 2006.
- Chair Jaune (English & French) Le Bleu du Ciel, 2007.
Critical Work
- Journey into Chaos: Samuel Beckett's Early Fiction University California Press, 1965. Reprinted by Books on Demand, 1998.
- Samuel Beckett, His Works and His Critics: An Essay in Bibliography (with John Fletcher). University California Press, 1970.
- Surfiction: Fiction Now & Tomorrow Editor, Swallow Press, 1975. Revised & expanded edition, Ohio University Press, 1981.
- Samuel Beckett (Co-Editor with Tom Bishop). Editions de L'Herne, 1976. New edition, Hachette, 1985.
- Samuel Beckett the Critical Heritage (Co-Editor with Lawrence Graver). Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978.
- Critifiction: Postmodern Essays State University of New York Press, 1993.
Selected Other Works
- The Rigmarole of Contrariety (Limited edition chapbook) The Bolt Court Press, 1982.
- Eine Version meines Lebens (Autobiography with photos, in German) Maro Verlag, 1993.
- The Supreme Indecision of the Writer: The 1994 Lectures in Turkey (Essays) The Boltcourt Press, 1995.
- The Line, 1996.
- The Precipice and Other Catastrophes / der abgrund und andere katastrophen (Collected Plays, bilingual edition, English/German). Ed. Thomas Harti. Poetry Salzburg, 1999.
- The Twilight of the Bums (with George Chambers), 2002.
- More Loose Shoes and Smelly Socks Six Gallery Press, 2005.
- Coup de Pompes (Fragments d’écriture). Le Mot & Le Reste, 2007.
- The Sam Book (Memoir), Two Ravens, 2008.
External links
- Raymond Federman's website
- Raymond Federman's blog
- Raymond Federman's University at Buffalo page
- "Here & Elsewhere" Federman's poem "on Faith and Reason."
- the precipice and other catastrophes / der abgrund und andere katastrophen (Poetry Salzburg, 1999)
- The &NOW AWARDS: The Best Innovative Writing (Volume 1)
- &NOW Festival