Name Evan Dara Role Novelist | Books The Lost Scrapbook | |
 | ||
Evan dara book ramble
Evan Dara is an American postmodern novelist. In 1995, his first novel, The Lost Scrapbook, won the 12th Annual FC2 Illinois State University National Fiction Competition judged by William T. Vollmann. Dara's second novel, The Easy Chain, was published by Aurora Publishers in 2008. A third novel, Flee, was published by Aurora in 2013.
Contents
- Evan dara book ramble
- Evan Dara Flee Book Review Fail
- Anonymity
- Writing
- Translations
- Works
- Awards
- References
According to the copyright page of his second novel, The Easy Chain, Dara lives in France.
Evan Dara - Flee - Book Review Fail
Anonymity
As opposed to other reclusive American writers such as J.D. Salinger, Thomas Pynchon, and Harper Lee, nothing is known about Dara's background or the reasons why he writes under a pseudonym. And unlike the pseudonymous Elena Ferrante, Dara has never given an interview or commented on his books. However, he has responded on separate occasions about the influence of William Gaddis on his style. In an indirect reply to a query from the critic Tom LeClair—in which he confirmed that he uses a pseudonym—Dara denied having read either The Recognitions or J R. In 2014, the critic Steven Moore followed up on this question:
“Asked about Gaddis’s possible influence, Dara told me that while working on The Lost Scrapbook he head that J R was a novel in dialogue and checked it out from The American Library in Paris: ‘Took the novel home, plunked it open, tapped it shut — didn’t want the influence’ (email January 19, 2014).”
Writing
The first edition of The Lost Scrapbook was published in 1995 by Fiction Collective Two, or FC2, which was then based at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. The manuscript was originally brought to the publisher's attention by novelist Richard Powers, who described how he received it:
“Several kilos of transatlantic, boat-rate typescript arrived on my stoop without prior warning of contents, and I’ve been grateful ever since. Dara shows how a novel can be experimental, yet moral, rule breaking but emotional, and post-humanist while still remaining deeply human. This scrapbook builds in stretches until the whole police blotter cum family album lies open in aerial view. Monumental, unforgiving, cunning and heartfelt, it lets no one off the hook, least of all the reader.”
The mystery surrounding Dara combined with the fact that Powers very rarely provides blurbs led some to speculate that Powers might be the man behind the nom de plume. Nonetheless, despite very little press coverage and limited publicity, the book has been taught at over 25 universities and been the subject of significant scholarly inquiry.
In 2008, Dara released The Easy Chain through Aurora Publishers, a venture he founded along with another partner. He followed this up with Flee, which was published by Aurora in 2013.
Translations
A Spanish translation of Dara's The Lost Scrapbook was published by Pálido Fuego in 2015, entitled El Cuaderno Perdido. Estado Critico recognized it with the Best Translation Award of 2015.
The translator of the novel, José Luis Amores, noted in a 2017 interview that he is at work on translations of The Easy Chain and Flee.