Yates, Richard, 1926–92, American fiction writer, b. Yonkers, N.Y. A subtle and painstaking literary craftsman who has often been considered a “writers' writer,” Yates frequently chronicles the dissatisfactions, deceptions, and disappointments of mid-20th-century American life. He was unable, however, to support himself with his fiction, which failed to win wide public acclaim, and worked as a publicity writer, journalist, ghost writer, speechwriter, screenwriter, and creative-writing teacher. Yates is best known for his first novel, Revolutionary Road (1961), the tale of a suburban Connecticut couple going to pieces in the 1950s. Altogether, he wrote seven novels, including A Special Providence (1969), Disturbing the Peace (1975), The Easter Parade (1976), and Cold Spring Harbor (1986) and published two short-story collections, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness (1962) and Liars in Love (1981). His Collected Stories was published in 2001.
See biography by B. Bailey (2003); study by D. Castronovo and S. Goldleaf (1996).
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