Rick DeMarinis - 1937
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I. Biography Rick DeMarinis was born on May 3rd, 1937, in New York City. His parents divorced when he was three. After that he
was bounced from relatives and boarding schools until his mom remarried and moved to Los Angeles. His stepfather bought him Topper books, which were written by Thorne Smith, when he was 14 and 15. He read 20 of them because
they were funny. DeMarinis began writing seriously after he was 30, but he didn't publish his first book until he was past 40. The first works he published were short stories that he wrote during his
seven years working at San Diego State University as an assistant professor. Bringing his wife and kids, he moved to Missoula to write full-time after writing his first novel. After 13
years there, he took a job at the University of Texas. He moved back to Montana. Today he lives in Missoula and teaches occasionally at the University of Montana. The Fellini film 8 and 1/2
inspired him. Shortly after, he quit his job and went to the University of Montana in Missoula to get a Masters degree in English. He arrived not long
after the poet Richard Hugo started teaching there. Richard Hugo was a well renowned poet. DeMarinis said, "Dick was a wonderful man, the most unlikely professor you'd ever
meet, especially in those days when professors seemed way above normal life. But Dick was as normal as anything--he'd been a tech writer at Boeing for years--and he made the
study of writing a joy. I never took a fiction writing class, only Dick's poetry writing course, but it was enough. He made you look at the fundamental atoms and molecules of writing,
which are the words and the sounds of words. To me rhythms of strings of words. To me that's everything, and it's very difficult to teach, but Dick managed. "
What he learned is very valuable to him when he is writing short stories. He said, "I think the short story is more related to poetry than it is to the novel. You can't make any mistakes
in a short story or a poem; there's no forgiveness in the form." Rick DeMarinis has a unique writing style that meshes offbeat humor, original use of language and desperate characters.
The quotes were taken from an interview in Publishers Weekly May 10, 1991. II. List of works The Art and Craft of the Short Story
This essay was submitted by a student of Steve Gardiner, a teacher at Billings Senior High School in Billings, Montana.
Borrowed Hearts
Coming Triumph of the Free World
The Morticians Apprentice
Under the Wheat
The Burning Women of Far Cry
Jack and Jill
Cinder
A Lovely Monster
Year of the Zinc Penny
Voice of America