BANKS, RUSSELL

born March 28, 1940, Newton, Mass., U.S. American novelist known for his portrayals of the interior lives of characters at odds with economic and social forces. Banks was educated at Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y., and the University of North Carolina. From 1966 he was associated with Lillabulero Press, initially as editor and publisher. The press issued his first novel, Waiting to Freeze, in 1967. Other early works include Snow (1975), Family Life (1975), and a collection of stories entitled The New World (1978). The novel Hamilton Stark (1978) is notable for its vividly rendered hardscrabble New Hampshire setting. The story collection Trailerpark (1981) explores the same locale. An experimental novel, The Relation of My Imprisonment (1984), set in 17th-century New England, was regarded by most reviewers as conceptually and stylistically flawed. Banks's interest in the Caribbean, which led to his residence in Jamaica for an interval, shaped two of his novels, The Book of Jamaica (1980) and Continental Drift (1985), the latter being generally considered his best work. Later novels include Affliction (1989), The Sweet Hereafter (1991), and Rule of the Bone: A Novel (1995).