Steve Erickson

Stephen Michael Erickson (born April 20, 1950) is an American novelist, essayist and critic. His novels escape traditional classifications; no literary category describes them adequately. They are usually placed on the borders of surrealism or magic realism. Currently he is a teacher with the CalArts MFA writing program and the editor of the literary magazine Black Clock, sponsored by CalArts, which has featured the work of Don DeLillo, David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Lethem, Richard Powers, Joanna Scott, Samuel R. Delany, Greil Marcus, Darcey Steinke, Joseph McElroy, Mary Caponegro, William T. Vollmann, Aimee Bender, Michael Ventura and other nationally renowned writers. He has also written about film for Los Angeles magazine since 2001. Image File history File links Serickson. ... April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Kay Sage. ... Magic realism (or magical realism) is a literary genre in which magical elements appear in an otherwise realistic setting. ... The California Institute of the Arts, commonly known as CalArts, and located in Valencia, California, grants degrees in visual and performing arts. ... MFA is an abbreviation, initialism or acronym for: Master of Fine Arts (most notable usage) Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malta Football Association [1] Music for America [2] Managed Funds Association Multi Fibre Arrangement This is a disambiguation page — a... The California Institute of the Arts, commonly known as CalArts, and located in Valencia, California, grants degrees in visual and performing arts. ... Don DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American author best known for his novels, which paint detailed portraits of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. ... David Foster Wallace (born February 21, 1962 in Ithaca, New York) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. ... Jonathan Lethem is a novelist, whose work encompasses a variety of genres and styles. ... Richard Powers (born June 18, 1957) is a novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology on human lives, but without gee-whiz or Luddite overtones. ... Samuel Ray Chip Delany, Jr. ... Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. ... Joseph McElroy (born 1930 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American American fantasy and science fiction writer. ... William T. Vollmann is an American novelist and essayist. ... Aimee Bender is an acclaimed American novelist and short story writer, known for her often fantastic and surreal plots and characters. ...

Biography:

Steve Erickson was born and brought up as an only child in Granada Hills, Los Angeles. His mother runs a small theatre in L.A, his father (died in 1990) was a photographer. When he was a child he stuttered badly; this motif often recurs in his novels. This article is about the largest city in California. ... This article is about the year. ... This is a list of notable photographers in the art, documentary and fashion traditions. ...

He wrote his first story when he was 7, which he was accused of plagiarizing because the teachers didn't believe he could have written it. Because of his stuttering some teachers believed that he couldn’t read at all. When he was 15 he was already sending his stories to publishers. At 17 he wrote his first novel. He studied film at UCLA (B.A., 1972); then journalism M.A. 1973). Story has several different meanings as described below. ... The University of California, Los Angeles, popularly known as UCLA, is a public, coeducational university situated in the neighborhood of Westwood within the city of Los Angeles. ... A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B.) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1972 calendar). ... A Master of Arts is a postgraduate academic masters degree awarded by universities in North America and the United Kingdom (excluding the ancient universities of Scotland and Oxbridge. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

For a few years he worked as a staff-writer for a Southern California regional magazine called Westways. At the same time he started his freelancing for the alternative weeklies. He struggled hard to get published, until Days Between Stations was finally accepted in 1985. When it was issued, he destroyed all of the earlier unpublished work. This article is about the year. ...

Since 1985 he has published seven novels and two non-fiction books: Leap Year and American Nomad, which are chronicles of his cross country journeys taken during presidential elections in 1988 and 1996 respectively. They contain Erickson’s comments on politics, current events, music, film, literature, and, most of all, contemporary America. They feature some characters from his novels. This article is about the year. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

He has written on a variety of topics in periodicals including the New York Times, Esquire, Salon and Rolling Stone, among others. Among his influences he mentions William Faulkner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Philip K. Dick, Emily Bronte, Thomas Pynchon and Bob Dylan. The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Esquire (abbreviated Esq. ... Screenshot of Salon. ... The Rolling Stone logo, designed by Rick Griffin. ... William Faulkner photographed 1954 by Carl Van Vechten William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was a Nobel Prize-winning novelist from Mississippi. ... Gabriel Garcia Marquez Gabriel García Márquez (born March 6, 1928) is a Colombian novelist, journalist, publisher, and political activist. ... Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982), often known by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. ... Emily Brontë (July 30, 1818 - December 19, 1848) was a British novelist and poet, best remembered for her one novel Wuthering Heights, an acknowledged classic of English literature. ... Thomas Pynchon in 1957 Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and poet whose enduring contributions to American song are often compared, in fame and influence, to those of Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and Hank Williams. ...

He is married and has a son (born in 1997). 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Recurring motifs

Erickson’s novels revolve around certain concepts that appear in almost all his works. One of them is slavery, both actual and metaphorical. His fourth novel Arc d'X starts with the story of the love affair between Thomas Jefferson and a slave girl, Sally Hemings. In a number of his novels the selling, buying, owning and disowning of women appears; as often, the men are the more profoundly trapped by what they seek or purport to own. In virtually in all of his novels, the female protagonist is the catalytic figure who sets events into motion, particularly in Our Ecstatic Days where the female characters are dominant. Another important theme in Erickson novels, most particularly Our Ecstatic Days, is parenthood and the loss of a child. The Occupant from The Sea Came In At Midnight is left by his wife and child. In Days Between Stations Adolphe and Maurice Sarre are abandoned by their mother, and Lauren’s son Jules dies. It has been suggested that Chattel slavery be merged into this article or section. ... Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe; title page of 1719 newspaper edition A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 N.S. – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential founders of the United States. ... Sally Hemings (c. ... Parenthood is a 1989 film starring Steve Martin, Dianne Wiest, Dennis Dugan, Mary Steenburgen, Paul Linke, Jason Robards, Rick Moranis, Tom Hulce, Martha Plimpton, Zachary La Voy, Keanu Reeves, and Joaquin Phoenix. ... Two children. ... The Sea Came In At Midnight 1998 a novel by an American author Steve Erickson nominated to British Fantasy Society Award. ...

Erickson relies strongly on his autobiography. Some of his characters have problems with stuttering (Michel and Jules from Days Between Stations, the protagonist of Amnesiascope), and about half the time Erickson's narratives take place in Los Angeles. Amnesiascope is almost a memoir in which the actual people and events from Erickson’s life mix with his imagination. One more recurring theme is filmmaking, presented from the perspective of a director (Days Between Stations – Adolphe Sarre), a scriptwriter (Rubicon Beach – Lee Edgar) or a critic (Amnesiascope’s protagonist). Often the films are not mainstream but transgressive, usually misunderstood and rejected by the audience. The motif of the underestimated artist striving for recognition comes back as well. An autobiography (from the Greek auton, self, bios, life and graphein, write) is a biography written by the subject or composed conjointly with a collaborative writer (styled as told to or with). The term dates from the late eighteenth century, but the form is much older. ... Stuttering (known as stammering in the UK and scientifically known as dysphemia) is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by prolongations, repetitions, and blocks of sounds, syllables, words or phrases. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... As a literary genre, a memoir forms a subclass of autobiography, although it is an older form of writing. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... This list is poorly defined, permanently incomplete, or has become unverifiable or an indiscriminate list or repository of loosely associated topics. ... A critic (from Greek κριτικός, kritikós - one who discerns, from Ancient Greek κριτής, krités, a judge) is a person who offers reasoned judgement or analysis, value judgement, interpretation, or observation. ...

All Erickson novels can be described as apocalyptic. They present the slow obliteration of the world in which his characters live. Often it is nature that turns against people (the long winter in Paris, disappearance of water in Venice and the Mediterranean region, and sand storms in L.A. in Days Between Stations; the quake in Amnesiascope). The characters of the novels usually live in big metropolises like L.A., New York, Berlin, Paris or Tokyo in which the unexpected natural phenomena cause chaos and show how brittle civilization actually is. Erickson makes occasional use of somewhat supernatural elements, the extraordinary gifts of some of his characters (Catherine from Rubicon Beach), bizarre artifacts (a bottle with human eyes from Days Between Stations). But the most powerful force of Erickson’s universe is undoubtedly love. It is passionate, sensual, overpowering, unstoppable. Lovers hurt each other but at the same time they cannot live without their partner. When the love is lost, people become empty, bitter or full of hatred. The affection is almost like possession. The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city, with the skyscrapers of La Défense business district 5 km/ 3 mi behind. ... Venice (Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venexia) , the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto and of the province of Venice in Italy. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... Zombies attacking the player. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Largest city Albany New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi  (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... Berlin is the capital city and a single state of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city, with the skyscrapers of La Défense business district 5 km/ 3 mi behind. ... Tokyo ) , literally eastern capital, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and includes the highly urbanized central area formerly known as the city of Tokyo which is the heart of the Greater Tokyo Area. ...

Erickson’s characters often reappear in different books: Adolphe Sarre from Days Between Stations comes back in Amnesiascope; Wade and Mallory from Rubicon Beach emerge in Arc d’X; Kara from Days Between Stations is present in the third part of Rubicon Beach; Kirstin features in both The Sea Came in at Midnight and Our Ecstatic Days; Jainlight in Our Ecstatic Days and Tours of the Black Clock.

Bibliography

Novels

• Days Between Stations (1985)
• Rubicon Beach (1986)
• Tours of the Black Clock (1989)
• Arc d'X (1993)
• Amnesiascope (1996)
• The Sea Came In At Midnight (1999)
• Our Ecstatic Days (2005)

This article is about the year. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The Sea Came In At Midnight 1998 a novel by an American author Steve Erickson nominated to British Fantasy Society Award. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Other

• Leap Year (1989)
• American Nomad (1997)

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Awards

• British Fantasy Society Best Novel nominee (1997) : Amnesiascope
• British Fantasy Society Best Novel nominee (1999) : The Sea Came in at Midnight

External links

• Reviews and interviews
• Review of The Sea Came in At Midnight
• Review of Our Ecstatic Days
• Forum
• Black Clock
• In-depth 1996 interview — scroll down and click on pdf file, "Steam Engine Time 2".