Barry Hughart
Encyclopedia
Barry Hughart in Peoria
, Illinois
, is an American
author of fantasy
novel
s.
on March 13, 1934. His father, John Harding Page, served as a naval officer. His mother, Veronica (Barry) Hughart, was an architect.
Hughart was educated at Phillips Academy
(Andover). After graduating high school, he suffered from undiagnosed depression, which was classified at the time as schizophrenia
, and was treated in the Kings County Psychiatric Ward. Following his release he attended Columbia University
where he obtained a BA
in 1956.
Upon his graduation from Columbia, Hughart joined the United States Air Force
and served from 1956 to 1960 where he was involved in laying mines in the Korean DMZ.
During Hughart's military service he began to develop his lifelong interest in China
that led him to plan a series set in "an Ancient China that never was." His connection to China continued after his military service, as he worked with TechTop, a military surplus company that was based in Asia, from 1960 to 1965.
From 1965 to 1970 Hughart was the manager of the Lenox Hill Book Shop in New York City
.
Hughart lives in Tucson, Arizona
.
and The Arabian Nights are two major works he also states as affecting his own writing.
Bridge of Birds
(1984), was the first novel published under Hughart's name. In it, he introduced Li Kao
, an ancient sage and scholar with "a slight flaw in his character", and his client, later assistant, the immensely strong peasant Number Ten Ox
, who narrates the story. The book blended Chinese mythology—authentic and imagined, from several eras—with detective fiction and a gentle, ironic
humour. Among the genuine myths alluded to in the book is "The story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl", from which the title is derived.
Bridge of Birds shared the 1985 World Fantasy Award
for Best Novel
and won the 1986 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. It was followed by The Story of the Stone (1988) and Eight Skilled Gentlemen
(1990). No further books followed, although Hughart had planned a series of seven novels. In the last of these, Li Kao and Number Ten Ox would die facing the Great White Serpent (a conflict alluded to in Bridge of Birds). They would then become minor celestial deities who would continue to cause problems for the August Personage of Jade
.
An omnibus edition, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox
(ISBN 0966543610), was published in 1998. It was illustrated by Kaja Foglio
. A new omnibus edition was published in October 2008 by Subterranean Press
.
These novels are an example of chinoiserie
in literature.
Hughart has also written dialogue for the following films:
More recently, Hughart wrote
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author of fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s.
Background
Hughart was born in Peoria, IllinoisPeoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
on March 13, 1934. His father, John Harding Page, served as a naval officer. His mother, Veronica (Barry) Hughart, was an architect.
Hughart was educated at Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
(Andover). After graduating high school, he suffered from undiagnosed depression, which was classified at the time as schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
, and was treated in the Kings County Psychiatric Ward. Following his release he attended 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...
where he obtained a BA
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in 1956.
Upon his graduation from Columbia, Hughart joined the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
and served from 1956 to 1960 where he was involved in laying mines in the Korean DMZ.
During Hughart's military service he began to develop his lifelong interest in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
that led him to plan a series set in "an Ancient China that never was." His connection to China continued after his military service, as he worked with TechTop, a military surplus company that was based in Asia, from 1960 to 1965.
From 1965 to 1970 Hughart was the manager of the Lenox Hill Book Shop in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Hughart lives in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
.
Writing
Hughart cites Alexandre Dumas, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mark Twain as major influences in his work. Romance of the Three KingdomsRomance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, is a Chinese historical novel based on the events in the turbulent years near the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, starting in 169 and ending with the reunification of the land in...
and The Arabian Nights are two major works he also states as affecting his own writing.
Bridge of Birds
Bridge of Birds
Bridge of Birds is a fantasy novel by Barry Hughart, first published in 1984. It is the first of three novels in the The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox series...
(1984), was the first novel published under Hughart's name. In it, he introduced Li Kao
Li Kao
Li Kao is a fictional character in Barry Hughart's novels Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen. He is a brilliant scholar, con artist, and detective who lives in China during the seventh century C.E. At the time the novels take place, his age is unknown, but he...
, an ancient sage and scholar with "a slight flaw in his character", and his client, later assistant, the immensely strong peasant Number Ten Ox
Number Ten Ox
Number Ten Ox is a fictional character from Barry Hughart's series Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, set in a version of ancient China that never was....
, who narrates the story. The book blended Chinese mythology—authentic and imagined, from several eras—with detective fiction and a gentle, ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
humour. Among the genuine myths alluded to in the book is "The story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl", from which the title is derived.
Bridge of Birds shared the 1985 World Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
for Best Novel
World Fantasy Award for Best Novel
This World Fantasy Award is given to the fantasy novel or novels voted best by a panel of judges, and presented each year at the World Fantasy Convention.-1975:...
and won the 1986 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. It was followed by The Story of the Stone (1988) and Eight Skilled Gentlemen
Eight Skilled Gentlemen
Eight Skilled Gentlemen is a novel by Barry Hughart, first published in 1990.It is the third, and final, part of a series set in a version of ancient China that began with Bridge of Birds and The Story of the Stone.-Plot summary:...
(1990). No further books followed, although Hughart had planned a series of seven novels. In the last of these, Li Kao and Number Ten Ox would die facing the Great White Serpent (a conflict alluded to in Bridge of Birds). They would then become minor celestial deities who would continue to cause problems for the August Personage of Jade
Jade Emperor
The Jade Emperor in Chinese folk culture, is the ruler of Heaven and all realms of existence below including that of Man and Hell, according to a version of Taoist mythology. He is one of the most important gods of the Chinese traditional religion pantheon...
.
An omnibus edition, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox
The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox
The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, by Barry Hughart, is the omnibus edition of all three of his novels in the series by the same name...
(ISBN 0966543610), was published in 1998. It was illustrated by Kaja Foglio
Kaja Foglio
Kaja Foglio is a Seattle-based writer, artist, and publisher. Foglio co-won the first Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story in 2009 for Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, and has continued to co-win two Hugo Awards the following years.-Early life and education:Born in...
. A new omnibus edition was published in October 2008 by Subterranean Press
Subterranean Press
Subterranean Press is a small press publisher in Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction...
.
These novels are an example of chinoiserie
Chinoiserie
Chinoiserie, a French term, signifying "Chinese-esque", and pronounced ) refers to a recurring theme in European artistic styles since the seventeenth century, which reflect Chinese artistic influences...
in literature.
Hughart has also written dialogue for the following films:
- Devil's BrideThe Devil Rides Out (film)The Devil Rides Out is a 1968 British film based on the 1934 novel The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley...
(1968) - Honeymoon with a Stranger (1969)
- Man on the Move (Jigsaw) (1972)
- Welcome Home Johnny Bristol (1972)
- The Other Side of Hell (1978)
- Special Effects (1984)
- Snow Job (1983–1985)
- When the Bough Breaks(1986)
Demise of the Master Li and Number Ten Ox series
Hughart has blamed the end of the Master Li and Number Ten Ox series on unsympathetic and incompetent publishers. The style of his books made them difficult to classify and he felt his market was restricted by the decision to sell only to SF/fantasy outlets. As an example of publisher incompetence, Hughart notes that his publishers did not notify him of the awards given Bridge of Birds. He also points out that The Story of the Stone was published three months ahead of schedule, so that no purchasable copies were available by the time the scheduled reviews finally appeared; finally, the paperback edition of Eight Skilled Gentlemen was published simultaneously with the hardback edition resulting in few sales of the latter. When his publishers then refused to publish hardback editions of any future books, Hughart stated that he found it impossible to afford to continue writing novels, which brought the series to an end.More recently, Hughart wrote
- Will there be more? I doubt it, and it’s not because of bad sales and worse publishers. It’s simply that I’d taken it as far as I could. ... [N]o matter how well I wrote I’d just be repeating myself.
External links
- BarryHughart.org
- Subterranean Press to publish omnibus editions of Hughart's three novels
- OCLC WorldCat Identity