David McLean
David McLean was a 1994 winner of the O. Henry Award for outstanding American short stories. He currently lives in California, and he has provided the following information about his life:
"I was born and grew up in Granite City, Illinois, a town very much like the Stone City of 'Marine Corps Issue.' My father was a career Marine, and my brothers, sisters, and I moved a number of times. He retired when I was 11, and we settled permanently in Granite City.
"In 1987, I graduated from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where I studied biology as well as English. I knew when I was in high school that I wanted to be a writer, but it was at Bradley that I first began to think seriously about it. I spent one year of college in London, England, and then attended graduate school at Boston University, where I obtained a master's degree in English.
"Not many people can make a living solely as a writer, especially during the years when you are learning your craft. After finishing graduate school, I worked in a bookstore in Boston for about 31/2 years before traveling to Slovakia. The revolutions in Eastern Europe had occurred in 1989, and I was curious to see what life was like there. I love to travel and wanted to teach, so in January 1992 I went to Slovakia (then still part of Czechoslovakia) and spent seven months teaching English to high school students.
"I was in Slovakia when I wrote 'Marine Corps Issue.' I have found during my years of writing that I often write better about a place when I'm living somewhere else. I think the distance forces the imagination to work harder, to recall or invent details of a place that is a disorganized jumble of memories. As a result, Stone City in the story resembles my hometown but has taken on an existence all its own. I have a picture of it in my mind, and it is not exactly my hometown but is like a lot of similar towns in the Midwest. It is like an actual place for me. I visit there often and write stories about others who 'live' there."
|
|
