Tobias Wolff

Basic Information  Born June 9 th, 1945  Birmingham, Alabama  Named Tobias Jonathan Ansell-Wolff III  Began writing stories at six years old

Schooling  Concrete High School in Concrete, Washington  The Hill School (expelled)  Hertford College, Oxford (B.A. in English)  Stanford University (M.A.)

Occupations  Writer  Professor of Graduate Writing at Syracuse University (served on faculty with Raymond Carver)  Currently employed at Stanford University as a professor of Graduate Writing

Influences  Anton Chekhov  Ernest Hemingway  Guy de Maupassant  Raymond Carver  His own father

Works  1975: Ugly Rumors (novel)  1981: In the Garden of the North American Martyrs (short story collection)  1984: The Barracks Thief (novella)  1985: Back in the World (short story collection)  1989: This Boy’s Life (memoir)  1994: In Pharaoh’s Army (memoir)  1997: The Night in Question (short story collection)  2003: Old School (novel)  2008: Our Story Begins (short story collection)

Characteristics of Wolff’s Writing  Personal/biographical exploration  Existentialism  Duplicity  Minimalism  Realism

Awards  1989: Rea Award for the Short Story  1981, 1982, 1985: O. Henry Award  2009: Story Prize

Family  Arthur Wolfe, father: aeronautical engineer  Geoffrey Wolff, older brother: author, University of California, Irvine professor  Wrote The Duke of Deception, a memoir about their father  Rosemary, mother: settled in Washington, D.C. and became the president of the League of Women Voters  Catherine Dolores Spohn, wife: clinical social worker  Michael, Patrick, Mary Elizabeth: children

After This Boy’s Life  Toby is expelled from Hill School  Joined the Army—did not finish high school  Member of the Special Forces  Served in Vietnam as an advisor  Visited England after the war  Passed entrance tests and attended Oxford University—became a serious student

After This Boy’s Life  Graduated from Oxford and stayed to pursue a master’s degree  Washington Post reporter  Moved to and settled in California  Earned a second master’s from Stanford  Continues to teach and write today

Characteristics of Memoir Writing  From the French, memoire, meaning “memory”  Narrow focus: not the author’s entire life like an autobiography  Features same narrative structure as a novel  Writer’s contemplation: therapeutic exercise  Fictional quality even though story is true  Higher emotional level  Creative license

Memoir Writing, cont’d  Gore Vidal: “a memoir is how one remembers one's own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked.“  Will Rogers: “Memoir means when you put down the good things you ought to have done and leave out the bad ones you did do."

Bibliography  “Basic Writing/Narrative and Memoir.” Wikibooks. e_and_memoir e_and_memoir  “Memoir.” Inkspell.  “Memoir.” Wikipedia.  “Tobias Wolff.” Encyclopedia of World Biography.  “Tobias Wolff.” Wikipedia.