Chandler Brossard
Chandler Brossard was an influential American novelist and educator, born in 1922 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, into a financially struggling Mormon family. He experienced a nontraditional education, dropping out of school at just eleven years old. Despite this, he launched his career as a reporter for the Washington Post in the early 1940s and went on to edit prestigious magazines like The New Yorker, Time, and Coronet in New York City. Brossard's literary contributions, often associated with the Beat Generation, include his first novel, *Who Walk in Darkness* (1952), and the more recognized *The Bold Saboteurs* (1953), both of which contain semiautobiographical elements. While his work gained limited popularity in the United States, it found a more appreciative audience in France. Later in his career, Brossard transitioned to academia, teaching at Old Westbury College in Long Island and lecturing extensively. He passed away in 1993, leaving behind a legacy as a significant, though sometimes overlooked, figure in American literature.
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Chandler Brossard
Writer
- Born: July 18, 1922
- Birthplace: Idaho Falls, Idaho
- Died: August 28, 1993
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Chandler Brossard was born to an abjectly poor Mormon family in Idaho Falls, Idaho, in 1922. He was almost entirely self- educated and dropped out of school at age eleven for financial reasons. His nontraditional education was comprehensive enough for him to start his professional life without a college diploma by working as a reporter for the Washington Post in the early 1940’s. He later edited magazines in New York City, such as the The New Yorker, Time, and Coronet. By the late 1960’s, he moved into academia as a professor at Old Westbury College in Long Island, New York. As an educator, he traveled extensively throughout the United States, England, and France, lecturing on a variety of topics.
An often misunderstood novelist associated with the Beat Generation, Brossard wrote many lesser known plays in addition to his more famous novels. He published his first novel, Who Walk in Darkness, in 1952, after waiting years for a publisher to produce it. A semiautobiographical odyssey, Who Walk in Darkness was considered by literary critics to be an early Beat novel but was tremendously overshadowed by the writings of Jack Kerouac and John Holmes. His most widely recognized work The Bold Saboteurs, published in 1953, was another dark semiautobiographical tale. The true testament to Brossard’s greatness was not his popularity in the United States but in France, where his books were especially well-received. Brossard died in 1993 at age seventy-one, leaving behind three children from his two marriages.