The author of over twenty volumes, which include poetry, short
story collections, and novels, John L'Heureux is a highly
distinguished writer. He has taught at Georgetown University,
Tufts, Harvard, and for over 35 years in the English Department of
Stanford University, where he was the Lane Professor of
Humanities.
L’Heureux’s father was an engineer and carpenter, and his mother a
pianist, whilst they both painted. He explains that he can’t build
things, can’t really paint particularly well, and cannot sing, or
dance.
That said, he is clearly very creative as an accomplished
wordsmith.
Born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1934 John L'Heureux
attended public schools, before training as actor, and going on to
perform briefly on stage and television. He then attended Holy
Cross College, and entered the Jesuits because `I felt it was the
best and most generous thing I could do with my life and so I did
it’. He remained with the Order for seventeen years before gaining
laicization in 1971. Whilst a Jesuit he received a classical
education and later worked as an editor on `The Atlantic’. His
writing, commencing with poetry, he explains `extended far back
into my Jesuit life’. Teaching and writing were then to be his new
calling.
Again, speaking of himself he states categorically that he doesn’t
write for money, or prizes, or indeed therapy, but for the pleasure
and satisfaction he gains from it: `I write for the satisfactions
provided by the process itself and because there’s a great pleasure
in seeing a piece of work that’s truly finished. Or as finished as
I can make it. A book that’s good in itself and good to read’.
Nonetheless, wider recognition from the public and the publishing
world has followed since L'Heureux first began writing poetry in
his early twenties. His works have appeared in the `Atlantic
Monthly’, `Esquire’, `Harper’s’, `The New Yorker’, and many other
journals, along with being included in dozens of anthologies
including `Best American Stories’, and `Prize Stories’.
He has received numerous favourable reviews in `The New York Times’
and elsewhere for his poetry and novels; writing Fellowships from
the `National Endowment for the Arts’ upon two occasions; and was
awarded a Guggenheim Grant to do research for his novel, `The
Medici Boy’. This is all in addition to having twice received the
Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and many other tributes to
his talent and developed skills.
His fiction has an underlying wit and seeks to pose philosophical
questions, not that he would claim to have answered many of them,
and is centred upon the resolution of conflict in which his
characters are placed. In his teaching he has been a major
influence on many now highly distinguished American writers,
although modestly claims they had the inherent talent to start with
and he simply posed questions such that they could examine their
work from different perspectives.
John L'Heureux is now retired and lives in California with his wife
Joan, also a teacher and writer.
Against the background of the witch hunt against gay men in 15th century Florence, John L'Heureux has built a gripping story of love, genius, and betrayal. -- JM Coetzee, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Booker Prize. A tremendous historical tale evoking the creativity and fervour of Renaissance Florence -- The Financial Times [L'Heureux's] luminous prose, swift narrative, love of art history, and cool eye for human weakness makes 'The Medici Boy' one pleasure to read. -- The Washington Post Intensely appealing, viscerally gripping, and unfailingly human in its characters. -- Booklist A novel bursting with love...John L'Heureux brings to life the bliss and treachery of the Italian Renaissance through prose as passionate as his characters. Deeply enjoyable, THE MEDICI BOY soars like an operatic aria, before breaking our hearts. -- David Henry Hwang There is no time and no place and no human transaction that L'Heureux can't plunder...luminous, intelligent, funny, shocking, and yes: revelatory. -- Kathryn Harrison
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