PERCIVAL EVERETT, NOVELIST

“Percival's talent is multifaceted, sparked by a satiric brilliance that could place him alongside Wright and Ellison.” — Publisher's Weekly

Percival Everett is the author of fifteen novels, three collections of short fiction, and one volume of poetry. Among his novels are Wounded, Glyph, Erasure, American Desert, For Her Dark Skin, Zulus, The Weather and The Women Treat Me Fair, Cutting Lisa, Walk Me to the Distance, Suder, The One That Got Away, Watershed, God's Country, his short story collection is Big Picture, and his poetry book is re:f (gesture). He is the recipient of the Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the PEN/Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature (for his 1996 story collection Big Picture) and a New American Writing Award (for his 1990 novel Zulus). His stories have been included in the Pushcart Prize Anthology and Best American Short Stories. He has served as a judge for, among others, the 1997 National Book Award for fiction and the PEN/ Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1991. He teaches fiction writing, American Studies and critical theory and he has taught at Bennington College, The University of Wyoming and the University of California at Riverside. He is currently at the University of Southern California.

With these novels and collections of stories to his credit, Everett has developed a reputation as a wordsmith. One critic describes him as a lyrical writer, whose “stark and sometimes powerful prose” leaves a lasting impression. His 1994 book God’s Country drew measured praise from the New York Times: “[The novel] starts sour, then abruptly turns into Cowpoke Absurdism, ending with an acute hallucination of blood, hate and magic. It’s worth the wait. The novel sears.”

Born and raised in Columbia, S.C., Everett spent a childhood “filled with books,” he says. As an undergraduate at the University of Miami, majoring in philosophy and biochemistry, he discovered the writings of early 20th-century analytic philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein held that most philosophical problems were semantic— misunderstandings caused by imprecise language. “I was seduced completely by Wittgenstein,” Everett says. “He still informs my way of thinking. The root for me is matters of language.”

He has worked as a musician, a ranch hand and a high school teacher. In addition to writing Everett is a painter, a woodworker and a flyfisherman. He trains mules on his ranch outside of Los Angeles.

ABOUT The Water Cure (Graywolf)

 “While The Water Cure is most decidedly a novel, it is also a meditation on what it means to be a victim and a torturer at the same time. [Everett’s] finest book to date.”—The Washington Post

The Water Cure is the chilling confession of a victim turned villain. Ishmael Kidder is a successful romance novelist.  His agent is coming to visit her usually productive client. But Kidder’s eleven-year-old daughter has been brutally murdered, and it stands to reason that he must take revenge by any means necessary. The punishment is carried out without guilt, and with the usual equipment—duct tape, rope, and super glue. But how will he explain the noises in the basement to his agent?  How does he know he has the right man? Percival Everett combines his prodigious gifts for gripping storytelling and lacerating satire as he explores the impact of national excess on individual consciousness. He brings together disparate elements of Western philosophy, language theory, and military intelligence as he asks his most provocative question of all: What are we to think in today’s America, when society seems to be rewriting all the rules? 

“If part of the mission of the artist is to expand the thinking of the culture in which he exists, I have my work cut out for me.” —Percival Everrett