Bruce Henricksen
Encyclopedia
Bruce Henricksen American author, scholar, and editor, grew up in the town of Wanamingo, Minnesota
and the city of Minneapolis.
in 1963 with a degree in English, having studied under poets Alan Tate
and James Wright. In 1970, he received a Ph.D. from the University of California
and began a career at Loyola University New Orleans
, where he chaired the English Department and edited New Orleans Review. While at Loyola, he received an NEH summer fellowship to Princeton University and was a participant in the Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Duke University and in The School of Criticism and Theory at Northwestern University.
As one of three editors of New Orleans Review (including poet John Biguenet
and fellow English professor John Mosier
), Henricksen helped turn the regional magazine into a major organ of critical discussion, bringing such theorists as Frederic Jameson, Jean-Francois Lyotard and others to the pages of the journal. His academic books include Murray Krieger and Contemporary Critical Theory, Reorientations: Critical Theories and Pedagogies, with Thais Morgan, and a widely referenced study of novelist Joseph Conrad
entitled Nomadic Voices: Conrad and the Subject of Narrative.
After surgery for throat cancer in 1996, Henricksen returned to Minnesota to live with his new wife, Victoria. There, what had previously been a secondary endeavor, writing fiction, became the primary one. His short stories appeared in numerous magazines, and in 2005 his story collection, Ticket to a Lonely Town, was the only named finalist in the national competition for the Grace Paley Prize. It was published the following year by Atomic Quill Press. Stories in this book are connected by recurrent characters and places, as the collection dramatizes various causes and forms of loneliness. In 2008 his novel, After the Floods (Lost Hills Books) appeared. Praised by the New Orleans Times-Picayune as a "thoroughly enjoyable flight of fancy" and "a spiritual comedy," the novel, set partially in post-Katrina New Orleans, combines magical realism and deconstruction in a manner at once imaginative and excessible. Also in 2008, Henricksen co-edited a volume in honor of a former mentor, From the Other World: Poems in Memory of James Wright (Lost hills Books), to which many of our best-known poets contributed.
As of 2008, Bruce Henricksen lives in Duluth Minnesota. During that year, he spoke on James Wright in libraries in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota. He and a few contributors to the From the Other World also participated in a memorial event for James Wright at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he and Wright first met.
Wanamingo, Minnesota
Wanamingo is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, along the North Fork of the Zumbro River. The population was 1,086 at the 2010 census.The ethanol company POET LLC started on the farm of Lowell and Jeff Broin in 1983 near the community....
and the city of Minneapolis.
Life
He graduated from the University of MinnesotaUniversity of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in 1963 with a degree in English, having studied under poets Alan Tate
Alan Tate
Alan Tate is an English professional footballer, currently playing for Swansea City in the Barclays Premier League.-Career:...
and James Wright. In 1970, he received a Ph.D. from the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
and began a career at Loyola University New Orleans
Loyola University New Orleans
Loyola University New Orleans is a private, co-educational and Jesuit university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the name of the Jesuit patron, Saint Ignatius of Loyola...
, where he chaired the English Department and edited New Orleans Review. While at Loyola, he received an NEH summer fellowship to Princeton University and was a participant in the Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Duke University and in The School of Criticism and Theory at Northwestern University.
As one of three editors of New Orleans Review (including poet John Biguenet
John Biguenet
John Biguenet has published six books, including Oyster, a novel, and The Torturer's Apprentice: Stories, released in the U.S. by Ecco/HarperCollins and widely translated. His work has received an O...
and fellow English professor John Mosier
John Mosier
John Mosier is an American academic known for his work in English, film, and history.Mosier received his Ph.D. in 1968, from Tulane University. He completed his dissertation on the links between poetry and historiography....
), Henricksen helped turn the regional magazine into a major organ of critical discussion, bringing such theorists as Frederic Jameson, Jean-Francois Lyotard and others to the pages of the journal. His academic books include Murray Krieger and Contemporary Critical Theory, Reorientations: Critical Theories and Pedagogies, with Thais Morgan, and a widely referenced study of novelist Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
entitled Nomadic Voices: Conrad and the Subject of Narrative.
After surgery for throat cancer in 1996, Henricksen returned to Minnesota to live with his new wife, Victoria. There, what had previously been a secondary endeavor, writing fiction, became the primary one. His short stories appeared in numerous magazines, and in 2005 his story collection, Ticket to a Lonely Town, was the only named finalist in the national competition for the Grace Paley Prize. It was published the following year by Atomic Quill Press. Stories in this book are connected by recurrent characters and places, as the collection dramatizes various causes and forms of loneliness. In 2008 his novel, After the Floods (Lost Hills Books) appeared. Praised by the New Orleans Times-Picayune as a "thoroughly enjoyable flight of fancy" and "a spiritual comedy," the novel, set partially in post-Katrina New Orleans, combines magical realism and deconstruction in a manner at once imaginative and excessible. Also in 2008, Henricksen co-edited a volume in honor of a former mentor, From the Other World: Poems in Memory of James Wright (Lost hills Books), to which many of our best-known poets contributed.
As of 2008, Bruce Henricksen lives in Duluth Minnesota. During that year, he spoke on James Wright in libraries in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota. He and a few contributors to the From the Other World also participated in a memorial event for James Wright at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he and Wright first met.
Selected works
- Murray Krieger and Contemporary Literary Theory (Columbia University Press, 1986)
- Reorientations: Critical Theories and Pedagogies (University of Illinor Press, 1990)
- Nomadic Voices: Conrad and the Subject of Narrative (University of Illinois Press, 1992)
- The Zero Club Papers (Digital. 2006)
- Children of the Storm (Digital. 2007)
- After the Floods (Lost Hills Books, 2008)
- From the Other World: Poems in Memory of James Wright (with Robert Johnson. Lost Hills Books, 2008)