罗柏·寇米耶

罗柏·艾德蒙·寇米耶（英语：Robert Edmund Cormier，1925年1月17日－2000年11月2日，又译罗伯特·科米尔），美国作家、专栏作家及记者，以其深深悲观又无现实意义的文学闻名。他最受欢迎的作品包含《我是乳酪》（I Am the Cheese）、《将军与儿子》（After the First Death）、《We All Fall Down》及《巧克力战争》，全都获得许多奖赏。他的书通常包含许多主题，例如虐待、精神疾病、暴力、报仇、背叛和阴谋。在他大部分的小说中，主角都没有赢面。

生平

罗柏·寇米耶，路修斯·寇米耶、伊尔玛·寇米耶所生，出生于美国马萨诸塞州莱姆斯特一个叫作法国丘的法国-加拿大裔小镇。他是家中8个孩子的第2个。他的家庭因为付不起房租时常搬迁，但却从未离开家乡。即使他已经长大且拥有自己的小屋，也只距离莱明斯特19哩远。寇米耶就读于一所私立天主教学校，圣塞西莉亚的教会学校。他一年级就开始写作。他因为诗作而受到学校赞赏。在他六年级时，终于意识到自己想成为作家的愿望，在他被一名修女要求赋诗的时候。他随后进入莱明斯特高中，毕业时身份是班级代表。

Robert Edmund Cormier (January 17, 1925 – November 2, 2000) was an American writer and journalist, known for his deeply pessimistic novels, many of which were written for young adults. Recurring themes include abuse, mental illness, violence, revenge, betrayal, and conspiracy. In most of his novels, the protagonists do not win.

Cormier's more popular works include I Am the Cheese, After the First Death, We All Fall Down, and The Chocolate War, all of which have won awards. The Chocolate War has been challenged in multiple libraries.

Early life and education

Robert Cormier was born in 1925 in Leominster, Massachusetts in the French-Canadian section of the town called French Hill. He was the second of eight children. His family moved frequently to afford rent, but never left his hometown. Even when he was much older and owned a summer home, it was only 19 mi (31 km) away from Leominster. In a few of his books, Cormier's hometown of Leominster became the fictional town of Monument, and its village of French Hill became Frenchtown. The nearby city of Fitchburg, Massachusetts became Wickburg.

Cormier attended St. Cecilia's Parochial School, a private Catholic school. He began writing when he was in the first grade and was praised at school for his poetry. He first realized his aspiration to become a writer in 7th grade, when he was encouraged by a nun to write a poem. He attended Leominster High School, graduating as the president of his class.

As a freshman at Fitchburg State College, Cormier had his first short story published when a college professor, Florence Conlon, without his knowledge, sent one of his stories to a national Catholic magazine The Sign for $75.

Career

Cormier began his professional writing career scripting radio commercials. He quickly transitioned to newspaper journalism, working for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and the Fitchburg Sentinel from 1946 to 1978, eventually becoming an award-winning journalist. Even though he became widely known, he never stopped writing for the Fitchburg Sentinel.

Cormier became a full-time writer after the success of his first adult novel for teenagers, Now and at the Hour (1960); others followed, such as The Chocolate War and After the First Death. He was concerned with the problems facing young people in modern society, which was reflected in his novels. He soon established a reputation as a brilliant and uncompromising writer. His awards include the Margaret A. Edwards Award of the Young Adult Services Division of the American Library Association, a lifetime award that recognizes a particular body of work that provides young adults with a window through which they can view the world, and which will help them to grow and understand themselves and their role in society. Cormier won the annual award in 1991, citing The Chocolate War; I Am the Cheese; and After the First Death.

The Chocolate War has been challenged in various libraries and schools for its language and its depictions of sexual activity, secret societies, and anarchic students. Between 1990 and 2000 it was the fourth most frequently challenged book in the US, according to the American Library Association.

Awards

In 1991, The American Library Association bestowed its Margaret Edwards Award to I Am the Cheese, citing it as one of three 1974 to 1979 books "taken to heart by young adults over a period of years.” The ALA said that "Cormier's brilliantly crafted and troubling novels have achieved the status of classics in young adult literature."

I Am the Cheese won the 1997 Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association. Named for the mythical bird, the Phoenix Award recognizes the best English language children's book that did not win a major award when it was originally published twenty years earlier.

Personal life

Cormier's son Peter was involved in a situation that was the inspiration for the plot of The Chocolate War. Robert Cormier died on November 2, 2000, due to complications from a blood clot.

Published works

Non-Fiction