Donald Westlake

All you want to know about Donald Westlake

Donald E. Westlake

Born July 12, 1933 (1933-07-12) (age 75)
Brooklyn, New York
Pen name John B. Allan, Judson Jack Carmichael, Curt Clark, Timothy J. Culver, J. Morgan Cunningham, Richard Stark, Edwin West, among others
Occupation novelist
Nationality U.S.
Genres crime fiction
Notable work(s) The Hunter
One of Westlake's earliest novels, reissued by Hard Case Crime
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Donald Edwin Westlake (born July 12, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York) is a prolific American novelist, with over a hundred books to his credit. He specializes in crime fiction, especially comic capers with an occasional foray into science fiction. He is a three-time Edgar Award winner, one of only two writers (the other is Joe Gores) to win Edgars in three different categories (1968, Best Novel, God Save the Mark; 1990, Best Short Story, "Too Many Crooks"; 1991, Best Motion Picture Screenplay, The Grifters). In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America named Westlake a Grand Master, the highest honor bestowed by the society.

He has also been an occasional contributor to science fiction fanzines such as Xero.

Contents

Personal life

Westlake attended Champlain College and Harpur College in Binghamton, New York. He spent two years in the United States Air Force, an experience that would later influence his fiction (several of his novels' protagonists, notably John Dortmunder and the protagonist of 361, are ex-military men). He is married to Abigail Westlake (also known as Abby Adams Westlake and Abby Adams), a writer of nonfiction (her two published books are An Uncommon Scold and The Gardener's Gripe Book). The couple lives in upstate New York. Abby Westlake is a well-regarded gardener and the Westlake garden is frequently opened for public viewing in the summer [1].

Pseudonyms

In addition to writing consistently under his own name, Westlake has published under several pseudonyms[1].The best known continuing pseudonym is that of Richard Stark. From 1962-1974, 20 novels about the relentless and remorseless professional thief Parker and his accomplices appeared and were credited to Richard Stark. "Stark" was then inactive until 1997, when Westlake once again began writing and publishing Parker novels under Stark's name.

Other Westlake pseudonyms:

  • John B. Allan (Elizabeth Taylor: A Fascinating Story of America's Most Talented Actress and the World's Most Beautiful Woman, 1961, biography);[2]
  • Judson Jack Carmichael (The Scared Stiff, 2002, mystery; U.K. editions dropped the pseudonym);
  • Curt Clark (Anarchaos, 1967, science fiction);[3]
  • Tucker Coe (mysteries featuring the character of Mitch Tobin: Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death, 1966; Murder Among Children, 1967; Wax Apple and A Jade in Aries, both 1970; Don't Lie to Me, 1972);[4]
  • Timothy J. Culver (Ex Officio, 1970, thriller);[5]
  • J. Morgan Cunningham (Comfort Station, 1971, humor);[6]
  • Samuel Holt (mysteries featuring the character of Sam Holt: One of Us is Wrong and I Know a Trick Worth Two of That, both 1986; What I Tell You Three Times is False, 1987; The Fourth Dimension is Death, 1989);[7] and
  • Sheldon Lord (paperback porn; two novels published in 1960 were co-authored by Lawrence Block and credited to Sheldon Lord and Alan Marshall: A Girl Called Honey, dedicated to Westlake and Block, and So Willing, dedicated to "Nedra and Loretta," Westlake and Block's wives)[8];
  • Alan Marshall (or Alan Marsh) (paperback porn from 1959-64; titles include All My Lovers, Man Hungry, All About Annette, Sally, Virgin's Summer, Call Me Sinner, Off Limits, Man Hungry, and three featuring the character of Phil Crawford: Apprentice Virgin, All the Girls Were Willing, and Sin Prowl [9];
  • Edwin West (Brother and Sister, Campus Doll, Young and Innocent, all 1961; Strange Affair, 1962) [10]

Currently, Westlake publishes both serious and comic novels under his own name, and Parker novels under Stark's name.

Writing style

Donald Westlake is known for the great ingenuity of his plots and the audacity of his gimmicks. His writing and dialogue are lively. His main characters are fully rounded, believable, and clever. Westlake's most famous characters include the hard-boiled criminal Parker (appearing in fiction under the Richard Stark pseudonym) and Parker's comic flip-side John Dortmunder, the hard-luck criminal genius who originally began as Parker getting caught in a comic situation in the 1970 novel The Hot Rock.

Most of Donald Westlake's novels are set in New York City. In each of the Dortmunder novels, there is typically a detailed shortcut somewhere through the city.

Motion pictures

Several of Westlake's novels have been made into motion pictures, including Point Blank in 1967 with Lee Marvin, The Hot Rock in 1972 with Robert Redford, Cops and Robbers (1973), The Outfit with Robert Duvall (1973), Bank Shot (1974) with George C. Scott, Why Me? (1990), Payback (1999), a second film made from the first Parker novel, with Mel Gibson, and What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001) with Martin Lawrence. Costa-Gavras adapted The Ax for the European screen in 2005, to great critical and public acclaim. Entitled Le Couperet, the film takes place in France and Belgium rather than the novel's setting of New England.

The novel Jimmy the Kid has been adapted three times: in Italy as Come ti rapisco il pupo (1976), in the U.S. as Jimmy the Kid (1983), and in Germany as Jimmy the Kid (1999).

Jean-Luc Godard's Made in USA (1966) was an extremely loose adaptation of "The Jugger." Neither the film's producer nor Godard purchased the rights to the novel, so Westlake successfully sued to prevent the film's commercial distribution in the United States.

Westlake is himself a screenwriter. His script for the 1990 film The Grifters, adapted from the novel by Jim Thompson, was nominated for an Academy Award. (Westlake the screenwriter adapted Jim Thompson's work in a straightforward manner, but Westlake the humourist satirized Thompson later that year in the Dortmunder novel Drowned Hopes, which features a character named "Tom Jimson" who is hard-boiled to the point of absurdity.) Westlake also wrote the original screenplay The Stepfather, the film of which was sufficiently popular to receive two sequels and a forthcoming remake (projects in which Westlake was not involved).

Westlake also wrote a treatment for the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, which was adapted later by several screenwriters. How much of Westlake's story ended up in the screenplay is unknown.[11]

Parker and/or Grofield Novels

Westlake writing under Richard Stark pseudonym

  • The Hunter
  • The Man With the Getaway Face
  • The Outfit
  • The Mourner
  • The Score (Parker and Grofield)
  • The Jugger
  • The Seventh
  • The Handle (Parker and Grofield)
  • The Damsel (Grofield)
  • The Rare Coin Score
  • The Green Eagle Score
  • The Dame (Grofield)
  • The Black Ice Score
  • The Sour Lemon Score
  • Deadly Edge
  • The Blackbird (Grofield)
  • Slayground
  • Lemons Never Lie (Grofield)
  • Plunder Squad
  • Butcher's Moon (Parker and Grofield)
  • Comeback
  • Backflash
  • Flashfire
  • Firebreak
  • Breakout
  • Nobody Runs Forever
  • Ask the Parrot
  • Dirty Money

External links

Sister project Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Donald E. Westlake
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E._Westlake"

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