Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 13-20, 1999

Volume 28, Number 4

Tobias Wolff

New fund will bring noted authors
to Yale to nurture students' creativity

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Schlesinger of Pound Ridge, New York, have established the John-Christophe Schlesinger Visiting Writer Endowment Fund, which will enrich the experience of student writers in Yale College by supporting annual visits to campus by distinguished or emerging authors.

Tobias Wolff will visit Yale as the first John-Christophe Schlesinger Visiting Writer during the week of Sept. 13. Wolff, a novelist, short story writer and nonfiction author, is perhaps best known for his memoir "This Boy's Life," which became the basis for a 1993 movie starring Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin.

Wolff will give a public reading from his work on Tuesday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. in Rm. 102 of Linsly-Chittenden Hall, 63 High St. He will also be the guest at a master's tea at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15, in Ezra Stiles College, 9 Tower Pkwy. In addition, he will attend writing classes and meet individual student writers, a format that subsequent Schlesinger Visiting Writers will continue.

The Schlesingers -- whose daughters, Lauren and Katherine, graduated from Yale College in 1994 and 1998 respectively -- have established this permanently endowed fund as a memorial to their son, John-Christophe Schlesinger. Schlesinger Visiting Writers will be selected by a committee appointed by the chair of the English department.

Mr. and Mrs. Schlesinger commented: "As parents of two Yale graduates, we have a strong appreciation of the special qualities that define a Yale College education. We hope that our gift will enable Yale to build on its tradition of active education in the arts and its nurturing of students' creativity through close interaction with experts in many fields. In honor of John's interest in creative writing, we wanted our gift to help inspire and encourage student writers through direct contact with established authors."

In thanking the Schlesingers, Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead stated: "I know that Yale students will benefit from the opportunities afforded by the John-Christophe Schlesinger Visiting Writers Fund. The program Mr. and Mrs. Schlesinger have established has the particular advantage of giving student writers close contact with seasoned practitioners of their craft. This is a welcome addition to the opportunities Yale offers through regularly scheduled courses."

English Department Chair Linda Peterson also expressed enthusiasm at the establishment of the program and its ability to sponsor visits by authors such as Wolff.

Wolff's books include two autobiographical works and four collections of short stories. The former are "A Boy's Life," which won the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and "In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War," a memoir of his service in Vietnam, which was chosen as a finalist for the National Book Award.

His short story collections include "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs," which won the St. Lawrence Award for Fiction in 1981; "The Barracks Thief," which received the PEN/Faulkner Award for Best Work of Fiction; "Back in the World"; and, most recently, "The Night in Question." Wolff has twice won the O. Henry Award for his short stories, and he won the Lila-Wallace-Reader's Digest award in fiction in 1993. His works have been widely anthologized. He has also edited several anthologies of short fiction, including the 1994 editions of "The Best American Stories" and "The Vintage Book of Contemporary Stories."

Wolff was writer-in-residence at Syracuse University from 1980 to 1997 and is currently teaching creative writing at Stanford University.

In a 1996 interview with The Atlantic Monthly, Wolff said of his craft: "I have no theory of stories, just a theory for each story I write. A particular form is right for a given story and that's all. I don't like generalizations about literature -- I think the general is the enemy of the particular and the particular is the friend of the writer. Overarching theories of literature are completely useless to a writer, to tell the truth."

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