Ready Reference Treatise: This Boy's Life

By Raja Sharma

During adolescence, Wolff was involved in several fistfights and drinking sprees. He often got very poor grades at school. He was a frequent liar during his adolescence. He lied to both himself and others. By lying, he tried to seek a kind of escape from his miserable circumstances.

Wolff spent most of his youth in the industrial town of Chinook, Washington. While living there, he would often get into trouble because he did not have much to do in that town.

Ready Reference Treatise: This Boy's Life
Copyright
Chapter One: About the Author & Introduction to the Novel
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Major Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Dec 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311025586

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: This Boy's Life

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: This Boy's Life

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: About the Author & Introduction to the Novel

Tobias Wolff was born on 19th of June 1945 in Birmingham, Alabama. He had a very difficult boyhood owing to dysfunction and hardship. When he was still very young, his parents got divorced. Wolff remained with his mother, and they moved from state to state.

Geoffrey was Wolff’s older brother. He remained with their father. The brothers were reunited after about six years. His brother was raised in comparative prosperity whereas Wolff grew up in poverty, living with his mother.

Both the brothers had to face domestic neglect and abuse. It is obvious that their childhood was definitely not very pleasant.

During adolescence, Wolff was involved in several fistfights and drinking sprees. He often got very poor grades at school. He was a frequent liar during his adolescence. He lied to both himself and others. By lying, he tried to seek a kind of escape from his miserable circumstances.

Wolff used to imagine that he was an athlete, a scholar, and a merit winning Eagle Scout. He continued to convince himself that he was an upright citizen. His father also lived with self-deception. He was eventually sent to a sanitarium after a terrible mental breakdown.

Wolff spent most of his youth in the industrial town of Chinook, Washington. While living there, he would often get into trouble because he did not have much to do in that town.

One day, he sent a falsified application to Hill Preparatory School on the east coast. He was accepted there. It was an elite school, but he was expelled only after two schools because he had failed grades. He did not get disheartened, although he was very much disappointed.

Having been expelled from the school, he joined the army. He served the army for four years. During his service, he was made an advisor to the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War.

When the Vietnam War was over, he was accepted at prestigious Oxford University in London. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Oxford University in 1972. Then he got his Master’s degree in English Language and Literature in 1975.

Having received his Master’s degree, Wolff began to work as a reporter for the Washington Post. After a short period, he received the Stegner Fellowship to Stanford University. He earned a Master’s degree in English in 1978 from Stanford University.

While studying there, he came across Raymond Carver, a well-known writer. They became friends. He continued to encourage and help Wolff throughout his initial years as a struggling writer.

Wolff began to take his writing seriously. Ugly Rumors was his first published novel. It was published in 1975, after his graduation from Oxford. He wrote several short stories and a collection of short stories titled The Garden of the North American Martyrs.

His creativity got recognized when he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in creative writing. He was given the St. Lawrence Award for fiction. He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction.

His later novels and memoirs were also recognized and he received several awards. His books The Barracks Thief and The Night in Question won him awards.

His brother Geoffrey also became a writer, a novelist. Besides writing literature, Wolff also teaches literature at college.

He was the Director of Syracuse University’s Creative Writing Program for seventeen years. Later on, he accepted the same position at Stanford University. He has been teaching at Stanford University since 2000.

The present book This Boy’s Life was first published in 1989. The book details the author’s