J. F. Powers
Selected Bibliography
Prince of Darkness and Other Stories (1947)
Cross Country. St. Paul, Home of the Saints (1949)
The Presence of Grace (1956)
Morte d’Urban (1962)
Lions, Harts, Leaping Does, and Other Stories (1963)
Look How the Fish Live (1975)
Wheat That Springeth Green (1988)
The Old Bird, A Love Story (1991)
The Stories of J. F. Powers (1999)
Suitable Accommodations: An Autobiographical Story of Family Life: The Letters of J.F. Powers, 1942-1963 (edited by Katherine A. Powers, 2013).
J.F. Powers (July 8, 1917-June 12, 1999) was born in Jacksonville, Illinois in 1917. He studied at Quincy College, Wright Junior College, and Northwestern University in Chicago from 1935-1941, but he was too poor to attain a degree. After school, Powers worked a variety of odd jobs, including as a book salesman. A devout Catholic, Powers attended religious retreats that fortified his belief in pacifism. This belief eventually landed him in Minnesota’s Sandstone Prison for thirteen months as a conscientious objector to World War II. After release, Powers worked in a hospital and later taught creative writing at various universities, living in both Minnesota and Ireland.
Powers’ fiction is memorable for its satirical and humorous style, its artfulness, and its focus on Catholic priests. His first novel, Morte d’Urban, won the National Book Award in 1963. He wrote only one other novel in his lifetime, Wheat That Springeth Green, otherwise focusing on short story writing, his wife, and his children. Powers was influential in the Catholic literary revival during the mid-twentieth century, and his works are considered comparable to those of Flannery O’Connor.
More information on J. F. Powers from the Minnesota Historical Society.