Editing Arthur Phillips

{{short description|American novelist}}
{{About|the American novelist|the Canadian politician|Art Phillips|the 17th-century English musician|Arthur Phillips (musician)}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| image       = ArthurPhillips.JPG
| name        = Arthur Phillips
| caption     =
| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|1969|4|23|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]], U.S.
| death_date  =
| death_place =
| occupation  = [[Novelist]]
| language    = English
| education   = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Berklee College of Music]]
| genre       = [[Literary fiction]]
| notableworks = ''[[Prague (novel)|Prague]]'', ''The Egyptologist'', ''Angelica'', ''The Song Is You'', ''[[The Tragedy of Arthur]]'', ''The King at the Edge of the World''
| awards = [[Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction]] (2003), [[New York Times Notable Book of the Year|''New York Times'' Notable Book of the Year]] (2007 and 2009), ''Washington Post'' Best Fiction (2007)
| spouse      = [[Barbara Muschietti]]
| website     = {{URL|http://www.arthurphillips.info}}}}
'''Arthur Phillips''' (born April 23, 1969) is an American [[novelist]]. His books include ''[[Prague (novel)|Prague]]'' (2002), ''The Egyptologist'' (2004), ''Angelica'' (2007), ''The Song Is You'' (2009), ''[[The Tragedy of Arthur]]'' (2011), and ''The King at the Edge of the World'' (2020).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/232171/the-king-at-the-edge-of-the-world-by-arthur-phillips/|title=The King at the Edge of the World by Arthur Phillips: 9780812995480 &#124; PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books|website=PenguinRandomhouse.com|access-date=Mar 5, 2020}}</ref>

==Life==
Arthur Peter Monroe Phillips was born in [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]]. He is Jewish. He received a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in history from [[Harvard University]] in 1990. After spending two years in Budapest (1990–1992),<ref name="Identityweb">{{cite web|url=http://www.identitytheory.com/people/birnbaum55.html|title=Arthur Phillips|work=Identity Theory|date=July 28, 2002|access-date=March 24, 2012|author=Birnbaum, Robert}}</ref> he then studied jazz saxophone for four semesters at [[Berklee College of Music]] (1992–93).<ref name="Berkleeedu">{{cite web|url=http://www.berklee.edu/bt/192/other_paths.html|title=Other Paths|publisher=Berklee College of Music|access-date=March 24, 2012|author=Small, Mark}}</ref>

In several interviews, Phillips has stated he has been a child actor,<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3373946 IMDb profile]; accessed April 4, 2014.</ref> a jazz musician,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bookslut.com/features/2009_05_014440.php|title=An Interview with Arthur Phillips|work=Bookslut}}</ref> a speechwriter, an advertising copywriter for medical devices, and a "dismally failed entrepreneur."<ref name="Powells Interview">{{cite web|url=http://www.powells.com/blog/interviews/who-is-arthur-phillips-by-dave|title=Who is Arthur Phillips?|publisher=Powells.com|work=PowellsBooks.Blog|date=October 10, 2006|access-date=March 24, 2012|author=Weich, Dave}}</ref>

Phillips lived in [[Budapest]] from 1990 to 1992 and in [[Paris]] from 2001 to 2003, and now lives in [[New York City|New York]]. He was featured on the July 27, 2007, episode of ''[[This American Life]]'', reading his short story "Wenceslas Square." The story is being produced for film by Amazon Studios, with a script by Phillips, to be directed by [[Sophia Takal]].

Phillips was a five-time champion on ''[[Jeopardy!]]'' in 1997.<ref name="HCrimson">{{cite news|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1997/12/16/no-question-students-win-big-on|title=No Question: Students Win Big on 'Jeopardy!'|work=The Harvard Crimson|date=December 16, 1997|access-date=March 24, 2012|author=Chung, Theresa J.|location=Cambridge, MA}}</ref> In 2005, he competed in the [[Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions|''Jeopardy!'' Ultimate Tournament of Champions]]. He won his opening-round game but lost in the second round.

Phillips is married to film producer [[Barbara Muschietti]].

==Works==

===[[Prague (novel)|''Prague'']] (2002)===
''Prague'', despite its title, is set almost entirely in [[Budapest]], [[Hungary]], primarily in 1990, with an interlude detailing several previous generations of Hungarian history, from the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian monarchy]] through the First and Second World Wars.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/mar/25/featuresreviews.guardianreview15 |title=Putting the Pest in Buda|work=The Guardian|author=Lasdun, James|location=London|date=March 28, 2006}}</ref>

The main line of the novel follows a group of young Western expatriates through their lives in Budapest. The structure of the novel allows for various tales to be interwoven, producing an ensemble portrait of them and their adopted city, just recovering from decades of Communism, fascism, and war. The novel's recurring themes include nostalgia, sincerity and authenticity, and young people's first search for meaning in life. The novel was well received commercially and critically, winning Phillips a 2003 '''Los Angeles Times/Art Seidenbaum Award''' for Best First Fiction,<ref>{{Cite news|date=March 10, 2003|title=Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalists Announced|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/la-mediacenter-2003-01-story.html|access-date=June 1, 2021}}</ref> as well as other honors. {{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

===''The Egyptologist'' (2004)===
''The Egyptologist'' is structured as journals, letters, telegrams, and drawings, from several different points of view. The main story is set in 1922 and follows a hopeful explorer who, working near [[Howard Carter]] (the man who discovered the tomb of [[King Tutankhamun]]), risks more and more of his life and savings on an apparently quixotic effort to find the tomb of an apocryphal Egyptian king.<ref>{{ cite web |url=http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/egyptologist.html |title=The Egyptologist Who Would Be Pharaoh |work=Archeology.org |publisher=the Archaeological Institute of America |author=Pinkowski, Jennifer }}</ref>

The book was an international bestseller and critical success in more than two dozen countries. US critics noted Phillips's versatility in producing a book so different from his first, and fans of the book included [[Gary Shteyngart]], [[George Saunders]], [[Elizabeth Peters]], and [[Stephen King]]. Others, however, most notably [[Michiko Kakutani]] of ''The New York Times'', found the book overlong and confusing.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/24/books/books-of-the-times-archaeology-with-brio-if-no-mummy.html?scp=10&sq=%22arthur+phillips%22&st=nyt|work=The New York Times|title=Archaeology With Brio, If No Mummy|author=Kakutani, Michiko|date=August 24, 2004}}</ref>

===''Angelica'' (2007)===
''Angelica'' is superficially a Victorian [[ghost story]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/books/review/Greer-t.html|title=Antique Horror Show|work=The New York Times|author=Greer, Andrew Sean|date=May 13, 2007}}</ref> and won Phillips comparisons to [[Henry James]], [[Vladimir Nabokov]], and [[Stephen King]]. ''[[The Washington Post]]'''' opined that the novel cemented Phillips' reputation as "one of the best writers in America".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/29/AR2007032902525.html|title=The Haunting|newspaper=The Washington Post }}</ref>

In the novel, the same events are retold four times from four different perspectives, each section casting doubt on the version that came before, until the reader is left to sort truth from fantasy on his or her own.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thedivareview.com/Happy_Tears_MLichtenstein_Interview.htm|title=Happy Tears|work=The Diva Review }}</ref>  The novel has been made into a film by [[Mitchell Lichtenstein]] with a release date in late 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/87812/efm-2015-first-look-angelica/|title=Mitchell Lichtenstein: Angelica|work=The Diva Review |date=30 January 2015 }}</ref>

===''The Song Is You'' (2009)===
Phillips' fourth novel tells the story of a middle-aged man's pursuit of a young woman, an Irish pop singer performing in a bar.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/books/07kaku.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22arthur+phillips%22&st=nyt|title=When Admiration Turns Into Obsession|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Kakutani, Michiko|date=April 7, 2009}}</ref> According to a review at ''Bookpage''<blockquote>"Set in New York, the story follows Julian Donahue as he navigates the shadowy, grief-filled world of a parent who has lost a child [...] He's consumed by [the singer], but rather than introducing himself as another disposable fan, he becomes a faraway mentor and muse, setting himself on a course that will lead him from New York to Europe."</blockquote>

The novel was published on April 7, 2009. Preliminary reviews included a blurb from [[Kurt Andersen]] and this notice from ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'': "Phillips still looks like the best American novelist to have emerged during the present decade."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/fiction/arthur-phillips/the-song-is-you-2|title=The Song is You |work=Kirkus Review }}</ref>

===''[[The Tragedy of Arthur]]'' (2011)===

===''The King at the Edge of the World'' (2020)===

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.arthurphillips.info Official website]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110713030102/http://indigestmag.com/blog/?p=5297 Arthur Phillips discusses ''The Tragedy of Arthur''], indigestmag.com; accessed April 4, 2014
*[http://radiohappyhour.com/blog/episode-7-w-cursive-arthur-phillips-and-john-molly-knefel-is-up-now Arthur Phillips], Radio Happy Hour w/ Cursive (2010); accessed April 4, 2014 
*[http://radiohappyhour.com/blog/ep-17-w-elizabeth-the-catapult-dave-hill-and-arthur-phillips Arthur Phillips on Radio Happy Hour (2011)], radiohappyhour.com; accessed April 4, 2014. 
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110721165139/http://indigestmag.com/blog/?p=8187 An interview with Arthur Phillips and John Reed on writing about Shakespeare], indigestmag.com; accessed April 4, 2014

{{Jeopardy!|state=collapsed}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Arthur}}
[[Category:1969 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Berklee College of Music alumni]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:Jewish American novelists]]
[[Category:Contestants on American game shows]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Minneapolis]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Hungary]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from Minnesota]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]