Jonathan Yardley
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Jonathan Yardley is a book critic for the The Washington Post, and at one time for the Washington Star. In 1981 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. He has written several books, among them biographies of Frederick Exley and Ring Lardner. His book about his family, Our Kind of People, describes his parents' 50-year marriage and turns a wry eye on the American WASP experience. He edited H.L. Mencken's posthumous literary and journalistic memoir, My Life as Author and Editor.
Yardley is known simultaneously as a scathingly frank critic and a starmaker. Among the talents he has brought to public light and championed: Michael Chabon, Edward P. Jones, Anne Tyler and John Berendt. In his highly popular series in The Washington Post, "Second Readings," he reconsiders books he admired in the past and asks whether they hold up in the present. It was in this series (in 2004) that he gained attention for his highly critical look at The Catcher in the Rye.[1]
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[edit] Family
Yardley was born in Pittsburgh in 1939. His father was a teacher of English and the classics as well as an Episcopal priest and a headmaster at numerous East Coast private schools.
His sons, Jim Yardley and William Yardley are New York Times reporters. He and his son Jim are one of two father-son winners of the Pulitzer Prize.
Yardley is married to Marie Arana, the editor of Washington Post Book World[2].
[edit] Bibliography
- Monday Morning Quarterback. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1998. ISBN 0847692043 ISBN 978-0847692040
- Misfit: The Strange Life of Frederick Exley. New York: Random House, 1997. ISBN 0679439498 ISBN 978-0679439493
- Out of Step: Notes From a Purple Decade. New York: Random House, 1993. ISBN 0517106280 ISBN 978-0517106280
- States of Mind: A Personal Journey Through the Mid-Atlantic. Villard, 1993. ISBN 0394589114 ISBN 978-0394589114
- Our Kind of People: The Story of an American Family. New York: Grove Press, 1989. ISBN 1555841740 ISBN 978-1555841744
- Ring: A Biography of Ring Lardner. New York: Random House, 1977. ISBN 0394498119 ISBN 978-0394498119
[edit] As Editor
- H.L. Mencken, My Life as Author and Editor. New York: Knopf, 1993. ISBN 0679413154 ISBN 978-0679413158
[edit] Trivia
- Yardley is referenced in the Pavement song "Fight this Generation".
[edit] Notes
- ^ "J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Aging Gracelessly." Washington Post October 19, 2006: C1+.
- ^ Offman, Craig. "Washington Post Book World editor steps down." Salon.com, 15 July 1999 Accessed 27 February 2007.
[edit] External links
- IMDB.com entry on Jonathan Yardley
- Interview at Washington Technology
