Jay McInerney

Jay McInerney

McInerney at Pen America/Free Expression Literature, May 2014
Born John Barrett McInerney, Jr.
(1955-01-13) January 13, 1955
Hartford, Connecticut
Occupation Writer
Spouse(s) Linda Rossite
Merry Raymond
Helen Bransford
Anne Hearst (2006-present)

John Barrett "Jay" McInerney, Jr. (/ˈmækᵻnɜːrni/; born January 13, 1955) is an American novelist.[1] His novels include Bright Lights, Big City, Ransom, Story of My Life, Brightness Falls, and The Last of the Savages. He edited The Penguin Book of New American Voices, wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film adaptation of Bright Lights, Big City, and co-wrote the screenplay for the television film Gia, which starred Angelina Jolie. He was the wine columnist for House & Garden magazine, and his essays on wine have been collected in Bacchus & Me (2000) and A Hedonist in the Cellar (2006). His most recent novel is titled Bright, Precious Days, published in 2016, and since April 2010 he has been a wine columnist for The Wall Street Journal. In 2009, he published a book of short stories which spanned his entire career, titled How It Ended, which was named one of the 10 best books of the year by Janet Maslin of The New York Times.[2]

Life and work

McInerney was born in 1955 in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Marilyn Jean (Murphy) and John Barrett McInerney, Jr., a corporate executive.[3] He graduated from Williams College in 1976. At Syracuse University, he earned a Master of Arts in English and studied Writing with Raymond Carver. After working as a fact-checker at The New Yorker, he achieved fame with his first published novel, Bright Lights, Big City. Published in 1984, the novel was unique at the time for its depiction of cocaine culture in second-person narrative. The title is taken from a 1961 blues song by Jimmy Reed. The novel established McInerney's reputation as part of a new generation of writers. Labelled the 'literary brat pack' in a 1987 article in the Village Voice, McInerney, Bret Easton Ellis and Tama Janowitz were presented as the new face of literature: young, iconoclastic and fresh.[4] Five novels followed in rapid succession: Ransom, Story of My Life, Brightness Falls, The Last of the Savages and Model Behavior.

After the success of Bright Lights, Big City, publishers started looking for similar works about young people in urban settings. Ellis's Less Than Zero, published in 1985, was promoted as following McInerney's example. McInerney, Ellis and Janowitz were based in New York City and their lives there were regular literary themes, chronicled by New York media.

Ellis used McInerney's character, Alison Poole (Story of My Life), in his novels American Psycho and Glamorama. McInerney revealed that the character of Alison Poole is based upon his former girlfriend, Rielle Hunter, then known as Lisa Druck. He described the character as "cocaine addled," and "sexually voracious" but also treated her with some sympathy. McInerney's roman à clef opened a prescient glimpse into the notorious horse murders scandal, which did not become known to the public until 1992, when Sports Illustrated magazine published a confession from the man who had murdered Lisa Druck's horse at her father's behest, in order to claim the insurance on its life.[5]

McInerney also has a cameo role in Ellis's Lunar Park, attending the Halloween party Bret hosts at his house. It was later revealed that McInerney was not pleased with his representation in the novel.[6]

Throughout his career McInerney has struggled against the strong, almost indelible, image of himself as both the author and protagonist of Bright Lights, Big City. He appeared at Williams College as the Commencement speaker for the Class of 2010.

His 2006 novel, The Good Life, sold only 15,000 copies, much fewer than anticipated.[7]

Personal life

His first wife was fashion model Linda Rossiter. His second wife was writer Merry Reymond. For four years he lived with fashion model Marla Hanson.[8] His third marriage to Helen Bransford, with whom he had fraternal twin children, John Barrett McInerney III and Maisie Bransford McInerney, lasted nine years. In 2006, he married Anne Hearst.

Works

Fiction

Nonfiction

Film

Television

Short stories

References

  1. ↑ A slideshow of the best dressed authors, Vanity Fair
  2. ↑ Maslin, Janet. "Janet Maslin's Top 10 Books of 2009". New York Times.
  3. ↑ http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-2590000459/mcinerney-jay-1955.html
  4. ↑ In the September/October 2005 issue of Pages magazine, the "literary brat pack" was identified retrospectively as Bret Easton Ellis, Tama Janowitz, and McInerney. Other associated authors included Donna Tartt, Susan Minot, Peter Farrelly, Mark Lindquist, Peter J. Smith, and Mary Robison.
  5. ↑ Nack, William, & Munson, Lester, Sports Illustrated (1992-11-16). "Blood Money: In the rich, clubby world of horsemen, some greedy owners have hired killers to murder their animals for the insurance payoffs". CNN. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  6. ↑ Brinbaum, Robert, The Morning News (2006-01-19). "Birnbaum v. Bret Easton Ellis". Retrieved 2007-02-25.
  7. ↑ Written By Roger Friedman. Published March 28, 2006 FoxNews.com Jacko: New Authorized Book in Three Weeks?
  8. ↑ Barber, Lynn, The Observer (September 10, 2000) Interview: Jay McInerney "The beautiful and the damned"
  9. ↑ "Rake's Progress" Review by Sam Tanenhaus, The New York Times Book Review, April 26, 2009. Retrieved 4/25/09.

External links

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