Jay McInerney | |
|---|---|
 McInerney at Pen America/Free Expression Literature in May 2014 | |
| Born | John Barrett McInerney Jr. (1955-01-13)January 13, 1955 (age 70) Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education | Williams College Syracuse University (MA) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 2 |
| Website | https://jaymcinerney.com/ |
John Barrett "Jay"McInerney Jr. (/ˈmækɪnɜːrni/; born January 13, 1955) is an Americannovelist,screenwriter,editor, andcolumnist.[1] His novels includeBright Lights, Big City,Ransom,Story of My Life,Brightness Falls, andThe Last of the Savages. He editedThe Penguin Book of New American Voices, wrote the screenplay for the1988 film adaptation ofBright Lights, Big City, and co-wrote the screenplay for the television filmGia, which starredAngelina Jolie. He was the wine columnist forHouse & Garden magazine, and his essays on wine have been collected inBacchus & Me (2000) andA Hedonist in the Cellar (2006). His most recent novel is titledBright, Precious Days, published in 2016. From April 2010 he was a wine columnist forThe Wall Street Journal. In 2009, he published a book of short stories which spanned his entire career, titledHow It Ended, which was named one of the 10 best books of the year byJanet Maslin ofThe New York Times.[2]
McInerney was born in 1955 inHartford, Connecticut, the son of Marilyn Jean (Murphy) and John Barrett McInerney Sr., a corporate executive.[3] He graduated fromWilliams College in 1976. AtSyracuse University, he earned aMaster of Arts in English and studied writing withRaymond Carver.
After working as a fact-checker atThe New Yorker, McInerney achieved fame with his first published novel,Bright Lights, Big City. Published in 1984, the novel was unique at the time for its depiction ofcocaine culture insecond-person narrative. The title is taken from a 1961blues song byJimmy Reed.[4][citation needed] The novel established McInerney's reputation as part of a new generation of writers. Labelled the 'literarybrat pack' in a 1987 article in theVillage Voice, McInerney,Bret Easton Ellis andTama Janowitz were presented as the new face of literature: young, iconoclastic and fresh.[a] Five novels followed:Ransom,Story of My Life,Brightness Falls,The Last of the Savages andModel Behavior.
After the success ofBright Lights, Big City, publishers started looking for similar works about young people in urban settings. Ellis'sLess than Zero, published in 1985, was promoted as following McInerney's example. McInerney, Ellis and Janowitz were based in New York City and their lives there were the subject of heavy media coverage.
Ellis used McInerney's character, Alison Poole (Story of My Life), in his novelsAmerican Psycho andGlamorama. McInerney revealed that the character of Alison Poole is based upon his former girlfriend, Rielle Hunter, then known as Lisa Druck. He described the character as "cocaine addled," and "sexually voracious" but also treated her with some sympathy. McInerney'sroman à clef opened a prescient glimpse into the notorioushorse murders scandal, which did not become known to the public until 1992, whenSports Illustrated magazine published a confession from the man who had murdered Lisa Druck's horse at her father's behest, in order to claim the insurance on its life.[5]
McInerney also has a cameo role in Ellis'sLunar Park, attending the Halloween party Bret hosts at his house. It was later revealed that McInerney was not pleased with his representation in the novel.[6]
Throughout his career, McInerney has struggled against the image of himself as both the author and protagonist ofBright Lights, Big City. In 2009, he said in an interview, "Obviously, I'm no longer a 25-year-oldbon vivant, but [that] gave me what I always wanted: the opportunity to be a full-time writer. It hasn't been entirely fair to my other books, and I've had to deal with a lot of idiocy on the part of the critics and the cultural commentators."[7] He appeared atWilliams College as the commencement speaker for the Class of 2010.
His first wife was fashion model Linda Rossiter. His second wife was writer Merry Reymond. For four years he lived with fashion modelMarla Hanson.[8]His third marriage, to Helen Bransford, lasted nine years, and the couple hadfraternal twin children, John Barrett McInerney III and Maisie Bransford McInerney. In 2006, he marriedAnne Hearst.
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| Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Queen and I" | 1996 | McInerney, Jay (1996).The Queen and I. London: Bloomsbury.ISBN 0-7475-2895-0. | McInerney, Jay (2009).How it ended : new and collected stories. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.ISBN 978-0307268051. |
| Con doctor | McInerney, Jay (2009).How it ended : new and collected stories. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.ISBN 978-0307268051. | ||
| "Everything is lost" | 2009 | McInerney, Jay (January 4, 2009). "Everything is lost".Sunday Times. London. | |
| "In the North-West Frontier Province" | McInerney, Jay (2009).How it ended : new and collected stories. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.ISBN 978-0307268051. | ||
| "Invisible fences" | |||
| "The Madonna of turkey season" | |||
| "My public service" | |||
| "Smoke" |
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