Barry Hughart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barry Hughart

Born March 13, 1934 (1934-03-13) (age 74)
Peoria, Illinois
Occupation Novelist
Nationality Flag of the United States American
Writing period 1984–1990
Genres Fantasy, Chinoiserie
Official website

Barry Hughart (born March 13, 1934) is an American author of fantasy novels.

Hughart was born in Peoria, Illinois, and educated at Phillips Academy and Columbia University. During military service in the Far East he developed a lifelong interest in China that led him to plan a series set in "an Ancient China that never was."[1]

His first novel, Bridge of Birds (1984), introduced Li Kao, an ancient sage and scholar with "a slight flaw in his character",[1] and his client, later assistant, the immensely strong peasant Number Ten Ox, who narrates the story. The book blended Chinese mythology—authentic and imagined, from several eras—with detective fiction and a gentle, ironic humour. Among the genuine myths alluded to in the book is "The story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl", from the which the title is derived.

Bridge of Birds shared the 1985 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and won the 1986 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. It was followed by The Story of the Stone (1988) and Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1990). No further books followed, although Hughart had planned a series of seven novels, in the last of which Li Kao and Number Ten Ox would die facing the Great White Serpent (a conflict alluded to in Bridge of Birds), but would become minor deities, continuing to cause problems for the August Personage of Jade.

An omnibus edition, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox (ISBN 0966543610), was published in 1998. It was illustrated by Kaja Foglio.[2]

Hughart has blamed the end of his writing career on unsympathetic and incompetent publishers. The style of his books made him difficult to classify and he felt his market was restricted by the decision to sell only to SF/fantasy outlets. His publishers did not notify him of the awards given Bridge of Birds, and published The Story of the Stone three months ahead of schedule, so that no copies were available when the scheduled reviews appeared; whilst the paperback of Eight Skilled Gentlemen was published simultaneously with the hardback. When his publishers then refused to publish hardback editions of any future books, Hughart found it impossible to afford to continue writing, which brought the series to an end.[3]

Hughart's novels are an example of chinoiserie in literature.

He lives in Tucson, Arizona, and may be reached at yrrab@spearnet.net.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b From Hughart's description of Bridge of Birds, as quoted on the back cover and in reviews.
  2. ^ "Bookstore owner turns publisher" by Sam T. Weller. Publishers Weekly, January 25, 1999 (Vol. 246, Issue 4), page 23 (about the 1998 printing of The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox).
  3. ^ "Interview with Barry Hughart" by Jerry Kuntz, 2000.

[edit] External links and references

Persondata
NAME Hughart, Barry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Novelist
DATE OF BIRTH March 13, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Peoria, Illinois
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH