Dexter Palmer is an American novelist and short story writer. His novels are notable for bringing a literary, character-driven sensibility to genres like steampunk, speculative fiction, and historical fiction, and to themes like time travel.
Biography
editPalmer lives in Princeton, New Jersey. He attended Stetson University as an undergraduate.[1] He holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton University.[2] In 2012, he participated in the Key West Literary Seminar: "Yet Another World: Literature of the Future".[3]
Writing
editPalmer has published three books. His first novel, The Dream of Perpetual Motion (2010), was inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest. Writing in The New York Times, novelist Jeff VanderMeer called it "a singular riff on steampunk — sophisticated, subversive entertainment that never settles for escapism."[4] Fiction-writer Elizabeth Hand, reviewing The Dream of Perpetual Motion for The Washington Post, called it "an extravagantly wondrous and admirable first novel," noting a resemblance to the work of Angela Carter.[5]
Palmer's second book, Version Control, appeared in 2016 to wide acclaim. In a review for NPR, Jason Heller described the novel as "a thoughtful, powerful overhaul of the age-old time travel tale, one that doesn't radically deconstruct the genre so much as explore it more broadly and deeply."[6] The book received a starred review in Kirkus Reviews, where it was compared to the novels of Jonathan Franzen, though its speculative elements were also noted.[7] It was included on The Washington Post's list of "The Best Fantasy and Science Fiction of 2016;"[8] as well as "Best of 2016" lists by GQ[9] and BuzzFeed.[10]
Palmer's third book, Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queene, was a work of historical fiction about Mary Toft, an eighteenth-century Englishwoman who perpetrated a medical hoax, claiming to give birth to dead rabbits. The book was widely praised by critics for its "impeccable research"[11] and "deft, droll, and provocatively philosophical" writing.[12] In The New York Times Book Review, Katherine Grant wrote of the novel: "it’s neither philosophy posing as a story nor a patronizing sneer at those gullible folk of yesteryear. Rather, taking literary license with the title character’s documented history, Palmer spins a cracking tale that, despite its disconcerting subject, is piquantly cheerful and compassionate."[13] Writing in The Atlantic, Lily Meyer explored the novel's connection with other works of "scam fiction," including Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley and Philip Roth's Operation Shylock.[14]
Bibliography
edit- The Dream of Perpetual Motion (2010)
- Version Control (2016)
- Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen (2019)
References
edit- ^ "1995 Stetson yearbook photo of Dexter Palmer". Stetson University. 1995. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
- ^ "Dexter Palmer". Retrieved February 10, 2018.
- ^ "2012-Key West Literary Seminar". Retrieved February 10, 2018.
- ^ Vandermeer, Jeff (14 May 2010). "Malevolent Design". The New York Times.
- ^ Hand, Elizabeth. "Book review: Elizabeth Hand reviews 'The Dream of Perpetual Motion' by Dexter Palmer". The Washington Post.
- ^ Heller, Jason. "'Version Control' Is A Dizzying Elevation Of The Time-Travel Tale". NPR.
- ^ "Version Control". Kirkus.
- ^ Hightower, Nancy. "Best science fiction and fantasy of 2016". The Washington Post.
- ^ Nguyen, Kevin (23 November 2016). "These Are the Best Books of 2016". GQ.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Isaac. "The 24 Best Fiction Books Of 2016". Buzzfeed.
- ^ Heller, Jason (2019). ""'Mary Toft; Or, The Rabbit Queen' Asks Big Questions About Small Animals"". NPR.
- ^ "MARY TOFT; OR, THE RABBIT QUEEN". Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ Grant, Katharine (2019-11-19). "Birthing Bunnies: An 18th-Century Woman's Bizarre Medical Hoax". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
- ^ Meyer, Lily (2019-11-27). "An 18th-Century Birthing Scam". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-01-16.