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Andre Dubus

Andre Dubus (August 11, 1936 - February 24, 1999) was an American writer. Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Dubus attended McNeese State College there before joining the Marines and studying at the Iowa Writer's Workshop . From 1966 to 1984, Dubus taught at Bradford College in Massachusetts. Dubus was mainly known as a writer of short fiction and novellas. His collections include: Dancing After Hours: Stories, Adultery & Other Choices, and Finding a Girl in America: A Novella and Ten Short Stories. His writing awards included the PEN/Malamud Award and NEA and MacArthur Foundation Fellowships. There are several writing awards named after him.

Andre Dubus's life was marked by tragedies. His sister was raped as a young woman, leading Dubus to many years of fear for his loved ones' safety. He carried personal firearms to protect himself and those around him until the night in the late 1980s that he almost shot a man in a drunken argument outside The Chukker, a bar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In his New Yorker essay "Giving up the Gun," he describes that night as the point at which he decided to stop arming himself.

Dubus also struggled with physical disability after a 1986 traffic accident, which cost him one leg and the use of the other. Dubus had stopped to help another driver on the side of the highway, but was hit himself by another passing car. He was confined to a wheelchair and was at first beset by depression.

After the accident, however, he eventually enjoyed something of a career invigoration. He was invited to be a guest lecturer or professor at many universities, and his stories began to be standard assignments in writing classes in high schools and colleges across the country.

Dubus died on February 24, 1999, of a heart attack that was probably hastened by complications from his amputation-related infections. After his death, his story "In the Bedroom" was adapted into an eponymous movie starring Sissy Spacek; it was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Published . One of his children, Andre Dubus III , is also an author.

His name is pronounced Duh-BYOOSE.



Last updated: 02-09-2005 20:22:30
Last updated: 04-25-2005 03:06:01