Marilynne Robinson 1939-
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Her Life  Her Works
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Her Life
¡@	Born in Sandpoint, Idaho, Marilynne Robinson is the second child to Ellen Harris Summers and John J. Summers on November 26, 1943.  Growing up in the northwest of United States, Robinson remains close with her family from which she is much influenced by religious belief taught in the family.  After she graduated from Coeur d'Alene High School in 1962, she was accepted by the Brown University where she finished her undergraduate years, receiving her bachelor degree.  Robinson was granted a chance of teaching at the Univesite d Haute Bretagne in Rennes, France, for a year.  After returning from France, she continued her study in English in University of Washington, where she got married, gave birth to two children and earned a doctorate in 1977.  Robinson is deeply influenced by her childhood life in the west.  She is currently living in Iowa, with her active career of teaching and writing.  TOP
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Her Works
¡@	RobinsonÕs first novel Housekeeping was published in 1981.  The novelist herself did not expect this novel to be published originally, but once it was published, it has become highly-praised in the literary field as well as harsh criticism for its setting and characterization.  Some critics label her as one of the contemporary feminist writers, for her all-female-characterization in Housekeeping in which the protagonists live in a very much maternal environment.  Despite the criticism, this novel altogether received Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award, the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and P.E.N./Faulkner fiction award nomination in the same year of 1982 after the publication.  Since 1991, Robinson has been a member of the faculty of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, and has won numerous awards on her essays and other non-fiction works.  She is recently engaged in a soon-to-be released novel called Gilead. TOP
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