Olivia Carr Edenfield 
Conversations with Andre Dubus 

Over three decades, celebrated fiction writer Andre Dubus (1936–1999) published seven collections of short stories, two collections of essays, two collections of previously published stories, two novels, and a novella. While this is an impressive publishing record for any writer, for Dubus, who suffered a near-fatal accident mid-career, it is near miraculous. Just after midnight on July 23, 1986, after stopping to assist two stranded motorists, Dubus was struck by a car. His right leg was crushed, and his left leg had to be amputated above the knee. After months of hospital stays and surgeries, he would suffer chronic pain for the rest of his life. However, when he gave his first interview after the accident, his deepest fear was that he would never write again.


This collection of interviews traces his career beginning in 1967 with the publication of his novel
The Lieutenant, to his final interview given right before his death February 24, 1999. In between are conversations that focus on his shift to essay writing during his long recovery period as well as those that celebrate his return to fiction with the publication of “The Colonel’s Wife, ” in 1993. Dubus would also share stories surrounding his Louisiana childhood, his three marriages, the writers who influenced him, and his deep Catholic faith.

About the author

Olivia Carr Edenfield is a professor of literature at Georgia Southern University. Her work has been published in Hemingway Review, Southern Literary Journal, Resources for American Literary Studies, and Explicator.