David Lipsky
Encyclopedia
David Lipsky is an American
author
. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School
in 1983 and Brown University
in 1987, and holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University
. Lipsky is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone Magazine
. He received a National Magazine Award
for writing about David Foster Wallace
in 2009. He currently lives in New York City.
, and is the son of the painter
Pat Lipsky
. David graduated from Stuyvesant High School
in 1983. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University
, studying with the writer John Hawkes. He received his M.A.
from Johns Hopkins University
, where he studied with the novelist John Barth
. Lipsky currently teaches creative writing at the M.F.A. program at New York University.
As an undergraduate, Lipsky published his story "Three Thousand Dollars" in the New Yorker
magazine; it was selected by Raymond Carver
as one of the Best American Short Stories
of 1986. Carver was surprised by the author's youth, noting in his introduction, "I confess to not having read David Lipsky before this. Have I been asleep and missed some stories of his, or maybe even a novel or two? I don't know. I do know I intend to pay attention from now on."
explained, "It was kind of apparent that Lipsky might have the brightest future of anyone [here]." The book was well-received upon publication, with the trade publication Booklist
summarizing, "Critics loved Lipsky's short story collection"; the author was seen to possess "unlimited depth and range of vision", and the stories were compared to the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald
. The Los Angeles Times
, while noting the book's "astonishing insights into the New York art world," concluded, "Lipsky has given his contemporaries a general autobiography, one that will fit the majority with only minor adjustments."
His novel The Art Fair (1996), a bildungsroman
composed of a number of autobiographical elements, tells the story of Richard and Joan Freely—a New York artist and her precocious son. The novel won rave reviews and was named a Time Magazine Best Book of the Year. The work earned Lipsky comparisons to writers Michael Chabon
and Harold Brodkey
. The New York Times called the novel "riveting", The New Yorker
described it "a darkly comic love story", People noted, "Lipsky’s portrayal of the art world is unblinking, his portrayal of the ties between parent and child deeply affecting"; the critic Francine Prose
called the book's "Darwinian" milieu a "testament to Lipsky's skill" and James Atlas
wrote "the novel perfectly captures artists and dealers, the tiny gestures of cruelty that confirm or withhold status." The trade publication Library Journal
summarized, "The praise has poured as thick as impasto."
Lipsky's non-fiction
book Absolutely American
(2003) was written after the author spent four years living at West Point. The book's genesis was a piece Lipsky wrote for Rolling Stone
—the longest article published in that magazine since Hunter S. Thompson
's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. As Newsweek
noted, composition of the book required "14,000 pages of interview transcripts, 60 notebooks and four pairs of boots"; the magazine called the book "addictive," and Lev Grossman
in Time
wrote that it was "fascinating, funny, and tremendously well-written. Take a good look: this is the face America turns to most of the world, and until now it's one that most of us have never seen." In the New York Times Book Review, David Brooks
called the book "wonderfully told," praising it as both "a superb description of modern military culture, and one of the most gripping accounts of university life I have read." The work was a New York Times best-seller. Lipsky sold the television rights to the story to Disney, for a possible ABC television
series.
In April, 2010, Lipsky published Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself
, about a five day road trip with the writer David Foster Wallace
. In Time Magazine, Lev Grossman wrote, "The transcript of their brilliant conversations reads like a two-man Tom Stoppard
play or a four-handed duet scored for typewriter." The Atlantic Monthly called the work, "far-reaching, insightful, very funny, profound, surprising, and awfully human"; at National Public Radio, Michael Schaub described the book as "a startlingly sad yet deeply funny postscript to the career of one of the most interesting American writers of all time." Newsweek noted, "For readers unfamiliar with the sometimes intimidating Wallace oeuvre, Lipsky has provided a conversational entry point into the writer's thought process. It's odd to think that a book about Wallace could serve both the newbies and the hard-cores, but here it is." Publishers Weekly
, in a starred review, described the book as "rollicking" and "compellingly real," and Laura Miller
in Salon
called it "exhilarating."
Not all the reception was positive, however, One reviewer noted it was "interesting, but not brilliant," and noted "Lipsky's melodramatic comments."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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:...
. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
in 1983 and Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in 1987, and holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
. Lipsky is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone Magazine
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
. He received a National Magazine Award
National Magazine Award
The National Magazine Awards are a series of US awards that honor excellence in the magazine industry. They are administered by the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City...
for writing about David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace was an American author of novels, essays, and short stories, and a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California...
in 2009. He currently lives in New York City.
Background and education
David Lipsky was born in New York CityNew 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...
, and is the son of the painter
Lyrical Abstraction
Lyrical Abstraction is either of two related but distinctly separate trends in Post-war Modernist painting, and a third definition is the usage as a descriptive term. It is a descriptive term characterizing a type of abstract painting related to Abstract Expressionism; in use since the 1940s...
Pat Lipsky
Pat Lipsky
Pat Lipsky is an American painter associated with Lyrical Abstraction, Color Field Painting, and Geometric abstraction.-Education:Lipsky grew up in New York City...
. David graduated from Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
in 1983. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, studying with the writer John Hawkes. He received his M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, where he studied with the novelist John Barth
John Barth
John Simmons Barth is an American novelist and short-story writer, known for the postmodernist and metafictive quality of his work.-Life:...
. Lipsky currently teaches creative writing at the M.F.A. program at New York University.
As an undergraduate, Lipsky published his story "Three Thousand Dollars" in the New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
magazine; it was selected by Raymond Carver
Raymond Carver
Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr. was an American short story writer and poet. Carver is considered a major American writer of the late 20th century and also a major force in the revitalization of the short story in the 1980s....
as one of the Best American Short Stories
Best American Short Stories
The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in contemporary American literature.-Edward O'Brien:The...
of 1986. Carver was surprised by the author's youth, noting in his introduction, "I confess to not having read David Lipsky before this. Have I been asleep and missed some stories of his, or maybe even a novel or two? I don't know. I do know I intend to pay attention from now on."
Career
As a graduate student, Lipsky wrote the stories that would become his first book, Three Thousand Dollars (1989). The novelist John Gregory BrownJohn Gregory Brown
-Background and education:Brown was born on July 31, 1960 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He received his B.A. from Tulane University in 1982, and his M.A. from Johns Hopkins University in 1988...
explained, "It was kind of apparent that Lipsky might have the brightest future of anyone [here]." The book was well-received upon publication, with the trade publication Booklist
Booklist
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...
summarizing, "Critics loved Lipsky's short story collection"; the author was seen to possess "unlimited depth and range of vision", and the stories were compared to the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
. The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, while noting the book's "astonishing insights into the New York art world," concluded, "Lipsky has given his contemporaries a general autobiography, one that will fit the majority with only minor adjustments."
His novel The Art Fair (1996), a bildungsroman
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
composed of a number of autobiographical elements, tells the story of Richard and Joan Freely—a New York artist and her precocious son. The novel won rave reviews and was named a Time Magazine Best Book of the Year. The work earned Lipsky comparisons to writers Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
and Harold Brodkey
Harold Brodkey
Harold Brodkey, born Aaron Roy Weintraub was an American writer, and novelist.-Life:Brodkey was raised in University City, Missouri outside St. Louis...
. The New York Times called the novel "riveting", The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
described it "a darkly comic love story", People noted, "Lipsky’s portrayal of the art world is unblinking, his portrayal of the ties between parent and child deeply affecting"; the critic Francine Prose
Francine Prose
Francine Prose is an American writer. Since March 2007 she has been the president of PEN American Center. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1968 and received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1991....
called the book's "Darwinian" milieu a "testament to Lipsky's skill" and James Atlas
James Atlas
James Atlas , is the president of Atlas & Company, publishers, and founding editor of the Penguin Lives Series.A Harvard graduate, Rhodes Scholar, and onetime contributor to The New Yorker, he was an editor at The New York Times Magazine for many years.He has edited volumes of poetry and has...
wrote "the novel perfectly captures artists and dealers, the tiny gestures of cruelty that confirm or withhold status." The trade publication Library Journal
Library Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
summarized, "The praise has poured as thick as impasto."
Lipsky's non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book Absolutely American
Absolutely American
-Summary:The book recounts four years in the lives of students at the United States Military Academy.-Plot:The book's genesis was a piece Lipsky wrote for Rolling Stone—the longest article published in that magazine since Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The book follows cadets...
(2003) was written after the author spent four years living at West Point. The book's genesis was a piece Lipsky wrote for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
—the longest article published in that magazine since Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. As Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
noted, composition of the book required "14,000 pages of interview transcripts, 60 notebooks and four pairs of boots"; the magazine called the book "addictive," and Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman is an American novelist and journalist, notably the author of the novels Warp , Codex , The Magicians and The Magician King...
in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
wrote that it was "fascinating, funny, and tremendously well-written. Take a good look: this is the face America turns to most of the world, and until now it's one that most of us have never seen." In the New York Times Book Review, David Brooks
David Brooks
David Brooks may refer to:* David Brooks , American actor and stage director and producer* David Brooks , Australian author of short stories and co-editor for Southerly...
called the book "wonderfully told," praising it as both "a superb description of modern military culture, and one of the most gripping accounts of university life I have read." The work was a New York Times best-seller. Lipsky sold the television rights to the story to Disney, for a possible ABC television
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
series.
In April, 2010, Lipsky published Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself
Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself
Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace is a 2010 book by author David Lipsky, about a five day road-trip with the author David Foster Wallace.- Summary :...
, about a five day road trip with the writer David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace was an American author of novels, essays, and short stories, and a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California...
. In Time Magazine, Lev Grossman wrote, "The transcript of their brilliant conversations reads like a two-man Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
play or a four-handed duet scored for typewriter." The Atlantic Monthly called the work, "far-reaching, insightful, very funny, profound, surprising, and awfully human"; at National Public Radio, Michael Schaub described the book as "a startlingly sad yet deeply funny postscript to the career of one of the most interesting American writers of all time." Newsweek noted, "For readers unfamiliar with the sometimes intimidating Wallace oeuvre, Lipsky has provided a conversational entry point into the writer's thought process. It's odd to think that a book about Wallace could serve both the newbies and the hard-cores, but here it is." Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
, in a starred review, described the book as "rollicking" and "compellingly real," and Laura Miller
Laura Miller (disambiguation)
Laura Miller was the mayor of Dallas, Texas.Laura Miller may also refer to:* Laura Miller , American anthropologist who specialises in linguistic anthropology and Japan studies...
in Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
called it "exhilarating."
Not all the reception was positive, however, One reviewer noted it was "interesting, but not brilliant," and noted "Lipsky's melodramatic comments."
Awards and honors
- 2010 "Best Books of the Year," NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
- 2009 National Magazine AwardNational Magazine AwardThe National Magazine Awards are a series of US awards that honor excellence in the magazine industry. They are administered by the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City...
- 2009 The Best American Magazine Writing
- 2005 Lambert Fellowship
- 2003 "Best Books of the Year," Time Magazine
- 2003 "Best Books of the Year," AmazonAmazon.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...
- 2003 "Best Books of the Year," Providence Journal-Bulletin
- 2003 "Best Books of the Year," San Jose Mercury NewsSan Jose Mercury NewsThe San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...
- 2003 "Best Books of the Year," New York Daily NewsNew York Daily NewsThe Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
- 2003 "Eleven Most Remarkable Things In Culture This Month," Esquire Magazine
- 2003 "Times Notable Book," The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- 1999 GLAAD Media AwardGLAAD Media AwardsThe GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives...
- 1988 Henfield/Transatlantic Review Award
- 1986 MacDowell FellowMacDowell ColonyThe MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
- 1986 The Best American Short Stories
Non-Fiction
- Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster WallaceAlthough of Course You End Up Becoming YourselfAlthough Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace is a 2010 book by author David Lipsky, about a five day road-trip with the author David Foster Wallace.- Summary :...
(2010) - Absolutely American: Four Years at West PointAbsolutely American-Summary:The book recounts four years in the lives of students at the United States Military Academy.-Plot:The book's genesis was a piece Lipsky wrote for Rolling Stone—the longest article published in that magazine since Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The book follows cadets...
(2003)
Anthologies
- The Best American Magazine Writing (2009)
- The Best American Short Stories (1986)
External links
- David Lipsky on The Takeaway about David Foster Wallace, Audio Clips
- Lipsky at American Fiction Notes for Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself
- Lipsky on NPR for Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself
- Lipsky on The Marketplace of Ideas
- David Lipsky on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show
- Lipsky about David Foster Wallace, for All Things Considered
- David Lipsky on Consider the Lobster, for NPR
- Lipsky at University of North Carolina Summer Reading Program
- David Lipsky Interview on Charlie Rose
- David Lipsky Interview on The Today Show
- David Lipsky Interview on Powells.com
- Lipsky on Honor, Character, Duty and Country, for NPR
- Lipsky on This American Life
- Lipsky on All Things Considered
- Lipsky on NPR's Talk of the Nation
- Lipsky on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show
- Salon Interview Lipsky
- Lipsky Interview with Bill Thompson
- David Lipsky Author Page