Stephen Dobyns’s Followers (204)

Stephen Dobyns

Born

in Orange, NJ, The United States

February 19, 1941

Genre

Poetry, Literature & Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers

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Dobyns was raised in New Jersey, Michigan, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He was educated at Shimer College, graduated from Wayne State University, and received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1967. He has worked as a reporter for the Detroit News.

He has taught at various academic institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, the University of Iowa, Syracuse University, and Boston University.

In much of his poetry and some works of non-genre fiction, Dobyns employs extended tropes, using the ridiculous and the absurd as vehicles to introduce more profound meditations on life, love, and art. He shies neither from the low nor from the sublime, and all in a st ...more

Combine Editions
Stephen Dobyns’s books

Average rating: 3.76 · 12,809 ratings · 1,626 reviews · 81 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Church of Dead Girls 3.62 avg rating — 3,132 ratings — published 1997 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Burn Palace 3.53 avg rating — 1,502 ratings — published 2013 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Boy in the Water 3.38 avg rating — 803 ratings — published 1999 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? 3.20 avg rating — 691 ratings — published 2015 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Best Words, Best Order: Essays on Poetry 4.07 avg rating — 392 ratings — published 1996 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wrestler's Cruel Study 3.81 avg rating — 353 ratings — published 1993 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cemetery Nights 4.36 avg rating — 256 ratings — published 1987 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Eating Naked 3.59 avg rating — 234 ratings — published 2000 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cold Dog Soup 3.87 avg rating — 172 ratings — published 1985 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Saratoga Payback 3.36 avg rating — 188 ratings — published 2017 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Series by Stephen Dobyns

Charlie Bradshaw (11 books)
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Stephen Dobyns

3.59 avg rating — 1,036 ratings

Quotes by Stephen Dobyns (?)

“Each thing I do, I rush through so I can do something else. In such a way do the days pass---a blend of stock car racing and the never ending building of a gothic cathedral. Through the windows of my speeding car I see all that I love falling away: books unread, jokes untold, landscapes unvisited...”
― Stephen Dobyns

80 likes

“These people you used to see every day, friends or acquaintances, after a while they become as distant as any stranger, people you suddenly recall late at night--you remember something they said or something silly that someone once did. For a few moments they completely occupy your mind; then you forget them again.”
― Stephen Dobyns, Eating Naked

29 likes

“Let's say someone has experienced a violent trauma or betrayal: a child has been raped by a parent or has witnessed the destruction of someone he loves or has been so traumatized by the possibility of beatings and punishments that he's afraid to act. If the trauma is great enough, that person's life may become frozen, emotionally frozen even though he still gets up in the morning, is busy all day, and goes to bed at night. But there's this empty space that begins to fill with rage, rage toward everyone - the perpetrator, the people in the world who haven't suffered, even toward himself. (174)”
― Stephen Dobyns, Boy in the Water

23 likes

See all Stephen Dobyns's quotes »

Polls

Time to vote for what book we will read for March-April 2015.

City of Women by David R. Gillham

9 votes 24.3%

The Burn Palace by Stephen Dobyns

7 votes 18.9%

The Shadow Tracer by Meg Gardiner

6 votes 16.2%

Dominion by C.J. Sansom

4 votes 10.8%

Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce

4 votes 10.8%

You: A Novel by Caroline Kepnes

4 votes 10.8%

The Turnaround by George Pelecanos

3 votes 8.1%

37 total votes

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Stephen Dobyns’s Followers (204)

Stephen Dobyns

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Stephen Dobyns’s books