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Joseph McElroy

Born

in Brooklyn, The United States

August 21, 1930

Website

http://www.josephmcelroy.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction

Influences

Saul Bellow, William Gaddis, Vladimir Nabokov, Norman Mailer, Thomas P ...more

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Joseph McElroy is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist.

McElroy grew up in Brooklyn Heights, NY, a neighborhood that features prominently in much of his fiction. He received his B.A. from Williams College in 1951 and his M.A. from Columbia University in 1952. He served in the Coast Guard from 1952–4, and then returned to Columbia to complete his Ph.D. in 1961. As an English instructor at the University of New Hampshire, his short fiction was first published in anthologies. He retired from teaching in 1995 after thirty-one years in the English department at Queens College, City University of New York.

McElroy's writing is often grouped with that of William Gaddis and Thomas Pynchon because of the encyclopedic quality of his n ...more

Combine Editions
Joseph McElroy’s books

Average rating: 3.98 · 1,989 ratings · 374 reviews · 32 distinct works • Similar authors

	Women and Men 4.13 avg rating — 312 ratings — published 1987 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Smuggler's Bible 4.01 avg rating — 283 ratings — published 1966 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Plus by Joseph McElroy, Tom LeClair (Goodreads Author) (Introduction) 3.96 avg rating — 256 ratings — published 1976 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cannonball 3.81 avg rating — 216 ratings — published 2013 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lookout Cartridge 4.14 avg rating — 196 ratings — published 1974 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Night Soul and Other Stories 3.72 avg rating — 198 ratings — published 2011 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ancient History: A Paraphase 4.08 avg rating — 123 ratings — published 1971 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Letter Left to Me 3.74 avg rating — 128 ratings — published 1988 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Actress in the House 4.03 avg rating — 87 ratings — published 2003 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hind's Kidnap 4.28 avg rating — 80 ratings — published 1969 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Joseph McElroy (?)

“Novels are narratives to be in. To live in. To exist in. Not primarily forms to jump into and get to the end of. It’s a substance that the great big novel becomes…which invites you to be in it, not necessarily to leave it. To move around in it. To move laterally.”
― Joseph McElroy

27 likes

“And isn't this hard when we ourselves are always at the beginning of ourselves?”
― Joseph McElroy, Women and Men

17 likes

“I have in my head things I may not have exactly seen, just as you who read this have me.”
― Joseph McElroy, Lookout Cartridge

10 likes

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Joseph McElroy’s Followers (234)

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Joseph McElroy

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