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Raymond FedermanFrench-American writer, poet, essayist, translator and critic
Date of Birth: 15.05.1928
Country:  USA |
Content:
Raymond Federman: A Franco-American Pioneer of Experimental Literature
Raymond Federman, a French-American writer, poet, essayist, translator, and critic, embraced an experimental style that challenged traditional notions of prose. His boldest departure came with "Double or Nothing," a novel where linear narrative is dismembered into a nearly incoherent sequence. Words are often arranged on the page to form visual images or reveal recurring themes.
Early Life and Education
Federman was born on May 15, 1928, in Montrouge, France. He immigrated to the United States in 1947. After serving in the US Army in Korea and Japan from 1951 to 1954, Federman attended Columbia University, graduating in 1957. He earned his master's degree from UCLA the following year and his doctorate in 1963.
Academic Career
Federman taught French at the University of California, Santa Barbara, from 1959 to 1964 and at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1964 to 1973. At the latter institution, he moved to the English department, where he remained until his retirement in 1999. Federman was named a Distinguished Professor in 1990 and Distinguished Emeritus Professor in 1992.
Publishing and Literary Leadership
Federman served on the board of the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines from 1973 to 1976. He co-directed Fiction Collective, a publisher of innovative fiction and writers, from 1979 to 1982. Later, he served on the board of directors for Fiction Collective Two.
Later Years and Legacy
Federman died from cancer at the age of 82 on October 6, 2009, in San Diego, California. His final novel written in English, "SHHH: The Story of a Childhood," was published posthumously in May 2010.
During his lifetime, Federman gave readings at major American universities and lectured in at least 18 foreign countries. His novels have been translated into over a dozen languages. His entire novellas have been produced as radio plays in Germany.
Several full-length books have been devoted to Federman's work, including the 400-page "Federman From A to X-X-X-X" by Larry McCaffery, Thomas Hartl, and Doug Rice. SUNY Press published the essay collection "Federman's Fiction's: Innovation, Theory, and the Holocaust" in 2010, edited by Jeffrey R. DiLeo. The collection showcased Federman's writing beyond his contemporary and experimental fiction.
A collection of Federman's plays was published bilingually (English and German) in Austria under the title "The Precipice & Other Catastrophes." In 2002, the "Journal of Experimental Fiction" dedicated a 510-page special issue to his work. An excerpt from Federman's novel "Return to Manure" was included in "The & NOW Awards: The Best Innovative Writing" in 2009.
