Andre Dubus

A Literary Life

Patrick Samway

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781496863508
• Subtopic: Literary Biographies
• Index: Literature

Andre Dubus: A Literary Life recounts the life of the famed American writer while also providing deep and acute analysis of his stories and novellas often from a biographical perspective. Author Patrick Samway, S.J., a specialist in the literature of the American South who received his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was not only a friend of the late Andre Dubus but also a spiritual counselor. Uniquely situated to explore Dubus's life, Samway presents an accurate and profound portrayal of a writer who explored the depths of the human heart often in conflict with itself.

Dubus (1936–1999) was born and raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he grew up devoutly Catholic—a faith that left an impact on his work. After serving in the Marines for eight years, he received his MFA at the Writers' Workshop in Iowa and later had a successful career for seventeen years as professor of literature at Bradford College in Haverhill, Massachusetts. His oeuvre includes one novel and numerous short story and essay collections, including Broken Vessels, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Several of his stories have been adapted into films.

Dubus's personal life was marred by tragedy that deeply influenced his work: three divorces that greatly impacted his life, the lives of his former wives, and those of his six children; a severe car accident that resulted in the loss of one of his legs; and reoccurring bouts of loneliness and depression. Though it would have been easy to allow his nether self to become dominant, Dubus was aware of life's convergent blessings in such a way that he rose—sometimes anxiously and hesitatingly—above the negativity that almost enveloped him, freeing him to create an extensive and influential body of work still beloved by readers today.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Notes on the Text
• Introduction
• Chapter One: Early Years and First Marriage
• Chapter Two: Marine Career
• Chapter Three: Iowa Writers’ Workshop
• Chapter Four: Bradford College
• Chapter Five: Second Marriage
• Chapter Six: Third Marriage
• Chapter Seven: Anni Mirabiles
• Chapter Eight: Car Accident and Its Aftermath
• Chapter Nine: New Beginnings
• Notes
• Selected Works by Andre Dubus
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author