PROULX, E. ANNIE

born Aug. 22, 1935, Norwich, Conn., U.S. in full Edna Annie Proulx American writer whose darkly comic yet sad fiction is peopled with quirky, memorable individuals and unconventional families. Proulx traveled widely, extensively researching physical backgrounds and locales. She frequently used regional speech patterns, surprising and scathing language, and unusual plot twists in her novels and short stories about disintegrating families who maintain attachments to the land. Educated at the University of Vermont (B.A., 1969) and Sir George Williams University, Montreal, Canada (M.A., 1973), Proulx settled in northern Vermont and later in Wyoming. She lived close to the land, about which she wrote frequently in freelance articles for such magazines as Gourmet. After publication of her first short-story collection, Heart Songs and Other Stories (1988), Proulx turned to writing novels, which better accommodated her dense plots and complex characterizations. Postcards (1992), her first novel, uses the device of picture postcards mailed from the road over 40 years' time to illustrate changes in American life. The postcards are sent by Loyal Blood, who accidentally kills his girlfriend and abandons his family and their meager Vermont farm, escaping to a life of picaresque adventures. In The Shipping News (1993), the protagonist Quoyle and his family, consisting of two young daughters and his aunt, leave the United States and settle in Newfoundland, Canada, after the accidental death of his unfaithful wife. The Shipping News was awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Proulx's next novel was Accordion Crimes (1996), which examines the immigrant experience by tracing the life of an Old World accordion in the United States.