The Modern Novel

Biography

Marilynne Robinson was born Marilynne Summers in 1943 in Sandpoint, Idaho. Her father was a timber harvester. She was an undergraduate at Pembroke College (part of Brown University), taking a B.A. in American literature, and took a Ph. D. on Shakespeare from the University of Washington. Her reading of 19th century US literature had a profound influence on her writing. She started writing her first novel while a visiting professor at the Université de Haute Bretagne, Rennes. Despite the success of Housekeeping, she did not publish another novel for twenty-four years, focusing on teaching and, while teaching at the University of Kent in England, on environmental politics. Her second novel, Gilead, was about religion and, like her other two novels, was published to great acclaim. She has continued to teach.

Other links

Marilynne Robinson
Marilynne Robinson 1943 –
Marilynne Robinson, “My Western Roots”
A life in writing: Marilynne Robinson
The First Church of Marilynne Robinson
Connie Bronson (story by Robinson)
Interview (scroll down)
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