About the Author
Award-winning writer, English professor, and nature photographer, Stephen Gilbert Brown is the author of numerous works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and literary criticism—much of it highly acclaimed. In 2000, he received the prestigious W. Ross Winterod National Book Award for his first book, Words in the Wilderness, based on his experience teaching on an Athabasca reservation in Alaska. In 2007, he received the prestigious Barrick Scholar Award for outstanding scholarship over a ten year period. He received his B.A, in English from U.C.S.B, and M.A. and Ph.D in English from University of South Florida (1997). He is currently Barrick Scholar, Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Hemingway, Proust, and Joyce, Nature Writing and Rhetoric/ Writing.
His nine published books works are available on Amazon.com through the “buy” link on this website, including the four-volume saga of Alaska (Kristine Killdeer)—based on his experience teaching on an Athabasca Indian Reservation in Alaska. The story cross-cuts between the “fire and ice” romance of a bush teacher and a logger’s daughter, and the violent eco-wars waged between the People of the Moose and a consortium of Bit Oil, Big Mining, and Big Timber—into which the lovers are drawn on opposite sides. Brown’s award-winning first book, Words in the Wilderness (SUNY P, 2000) is a non-fiction account of his bush teaching experience, which has been highly praised by educators for its focus on the dynamics of the cross-cultural classroom.
Brown’s first work of literary criticism, The Gardens of Desire: Marcel Proust and the Fugitive Sublime (SUNY 2004) was also highly acclaimed, having been reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement (London). To anyone interested in exploring the intersection between the life and art of Marcel Proust, this psycho-critical biography is a must read.
Brown’s next work of literary criticism Plato and Freire: Ancient Rhetoric/ Radical Praxis (Routledge 2011), was described by one critic as a “tour de force.” Educators seeking to enliven and enrich classroom practice will find much to reward their interest in this radical inquiry into the intersection between Ancient Rhetoric and Contemporary Praxis, embodied in these two influential dissident scholars, whose life and work, though separated by 2,500 years, have much to say to one another.
Brown’s most recent work of literary criticism: Hemingway, Trauma, and Masculinity: In The Garden of the Uncanny (Palgrave Macmillan July 2019), has also received much critical acclaim (see “Critical Praise”). Readers seeking a fresh light on the life and work of Hemingway will find all they hoped for and more, in this psycho-critical biography that explores the relationship between trauma, identity-formation, and the creative urge, reading largely through the lens of his posthumous works.
Finally, Brown’s primer on the art of critical writing and critical reading, Writing in the Margins, is a must for any student seeking to improve his or her writing, as well as for any teacher seeking fresh ways and sources for improving their classroom practice. Parents of students struggling to master the complex art of critical writing will find in this affordable, concise, “how to” guide the means for realizing the academic and professional goals harbored by parent and student.
In Progress or Under Submission
Also available on this site are sample writings from current works either in progress or under submission. The Breath of Wings: A Wetland Confidential (Illustrated) has been
compared by reviewers to the works of Edward Abbey and Aldo Leopold (see “Critical Praise”) The story is a vibrant exploration of the self, of the wetland web of life, and of the impacts threatening it with extinction: It is not only a cautionary tale that educates as it evokes, but a call to arms to reclaim, re-flood, and restore these singular American landscapes in order to be restored by them. (Under Submission)
Butterflies in the Rain is a Hollywood “memoir,” inspired by the tragic, true, and untold story of silent film actress, Regina Doyle (my grandmother) (see photos). The narration cross-cuts between the story of her life and art, and the epic search of her descendents (my brothers and I) to recover that story from the silt of Time. It is a saga that begins in 1930s Hollywood, travels backward and forward in time to Chicago and Ireland, before culminating in the recent red-carpet event, honoring her career, in the Stephen Spielberg Theatre during the Cinecom 54 Hollywood Silent Film Festival (2018).
(Work-in Progress)
In a The Stolen Wood: Poetry 1980-2019, includes selections of my poems, posted on this link for the reader’s enjoyment—many of them focusing on the exotic places I have lived: Yosemite, The Tetons, Alaska, Florida, The Painted Desert, Hawaii et al.
I Follow the Forest Flame-Bird (literary non-ficiton) is a tropical birding adventure that narrates the year I spent in the New World rainforests of Costa Rica searching for close encounters with its most vibrant birds: Rufous Mot Mot, Aricari, Squirrel Cuckoo, Toucanet, and the elusive Resplendent Quetzal. It narrates as well my close encounters with the ocelot-like, marquay, the Tapir, the cayman, and the deadly eyelash viper—against a backdrop of the rainforest eco-wars being waged between conservationists, eco-activists, poachers, shrimpers, commercial fishermen, loggers, and an eco-tourism boom in danger of loving the rainforest to death. Exotic species and colorful locals enliven this narrative “peephole on the jungle.” (100 % complete).