David James Duncan: Difference between revisions

'''David James Duncan''' (born 1952)<ref name="utexas">[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tturb/00153/trb-00153.html David James Duncan: An Inventory of His Papers, (1959-2002)] at Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, [[Texas Tech University]]</ref> is an American novelist and essayist, best known for his two [[bestseller|bestselling novels]], ''[[The River Why]]'' (1983) and ''[[The Brothers K]]'' (1992). Both novels received the Pacific Northwest Booksellers award; ''The Brothers K'' was a [[New York Times Notable Book]] in 1992 and won a Best Books Award from the [[American Library Association]].<ref name="utexas"/> His third novel, Sun House, was released by Little, Brown and Company on August 8, 2023.<ref>https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/david-james-duncan/sun-house/9780316129374/</ref>

In 2008, ''The River Why'' was adapted into a "low-budget film" of [[The River Why (film)|the same name]]<ref>{{IMDb title|1241329qid=Q3794003|title=The River Why}}</ref> starring [[William Hurt]] and [[Amber Heard]].<ref>[https://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988389.html Ambush, Hurt jump into ''River Why''] from a July 1, 2008 article from ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine</ref> On April 30, 2008, the film rights to ''The River Why'' became the subject of a lawsuit by Duncan alleging [[copyright infringement]], among other issues.<ref>[http://reporter.blogs.com/thresq/2008/05/posted-by-mat-3.html Hollywood Docket: ''River Why'' Author Claims Producers Infringed on Film Rights] from "[[The Hollywood Reporter]], Esq." blog</ref><ref name="lawsuit">[http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/05/01/RiverWhy.pdf Duncan v. Cohen, Case No. 08-CV-2243] ([[United States District Court for the Northern District of California|USDC, N. Calif.]] filed April 30, 2008) from courthousenews.com</ref> The lawsuit has been settled and Duncan has said, "I engaged in a three-year legal battle against the producers of the film over their handling of my film rights. That battle was settled last fall. My name is off the film, Sierra Club’sClub's name is off the film, and the rights have returned to me. I tried to remove my title from their film, too, but the federal magistrate in San Francisco let them keep it".<ref>[http://www.1859oregonmagazine.com/1859-Magazine/Fall-2009/The-River-Why-039s-David-James-Duncan-on-water-salmon-and-the-policies-that-are-killing-them/ Interview: David James Duncan: Author of "The River Why" on water, salmon and the policies that are killing them] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707060307/http://www.1859oregonmagazine.com/1859-Magazine/Fall-2009/The-River-Why-039s-David-James-Duncan-on-water-salmon-and-the-policies-that-are-killing-them/ |date=2011-07-07 }} from 1859 Oregon's Magazine</ref>

Duncan has written a collection of short stories, ''River Teeth'' (1996, {{ISBN|0-553-37827-9}}), and a memoir of sorts, ''[[My Story As Told By Water]]'' (2001, {{ISBN|1-57805-083-9}}). His latest work is ''[[God Laughs and Plays]]: Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right'', was published in 20062001. An essay, "Bird Watching as a Blood Sport," appeared in ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'' in 1998; Duncan wrote the foreword to ''Thoreau on Water: Reflecting Heaven'' ({{ISBN|0977717003}}2001). An essay, "A Mickey Mantle Koan: The Obstinate Grip of an Autographed Baseball," appeared in ''Harper's Magazine'' in 1992.

Duncan was born in [[Portland, Oregon]]<ref name="utexas"/> and lives in [[Lolo, Montana|Lolo]]<ref name="WWwhere">{{cite web |url=http://wweek.com/html/25-what.html |title=Willamette Week &#124; 25th Anniversary Issue &#124; Whatever Happened To...? |accessdate=2013-09-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223064536/http://wweek.com/html/25-what.html |archivedate=2010-12-23 }}</ref> in [[Missoula County, Montana]].<ref name="lawsuit"/> He has written op-ed pieces in support of preservation of Montana's [[Blackfoot River (Montana)|Blackfoot River]].<ref name=WWwhere/> His papers are held in the [[The Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community, and the Natural World|Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community, and the Natural World]], part of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at [[Texas Tech University]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Texas Archival Resources Online|url=https://txarchives.org/ttusw/finding_aids/60153.xml|access-date=2021-12-13|website=txarchives.org}}</ref>