"In Kennedy’s Albany, everyone knows everyone else, even if they do not know themselves." — Thomas Flanagan

 

SELECTED RESOURCES:

Literary Criticism

  • Fanning, Charles.  The Irish Voice in America:  250 Years of Irish-American Fiction.  Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1990.
  • Flanagan, Thomas. O Albany! New York Review of Books. April 25, 2002.
  • Mallon, Thomas. William Kennedy’s Greatest Game. The Atlantic Monthly. February 2002.
  • Lynch, Vivian Valvano, Portraits of Artists: Warriors in the Novels of William Kennedy. Bethesda: International Scholars Publications, 1999.
  • Quinn, Peter.  “The Catholic Novel:  Fact or Fiction?”  Commonweal.  Vol. 129:19, November 8, 2002, pp.16-21.
  • Gillespie, Michael Patrick.  Reading William Kennedy.  Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2001.
  • Giamo, Benedict F.  The Homeless of Ironweed: Blossoms on the Crag.  Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1997.
  • Van Dover, J. K.  Understanding William Kennedy.  Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1991.
  • Michener, Christian.  From Then Into Now: William Kennedy’s Albany Novels.  University of Scranton Press, 1998.
  • Reilly, Edward C. Twayne’s United States Authors Series:  William Kennedy. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991.
  • Hume, Kathryn “The Semiotics of Fantasy in William Kennedy’s Fiction.” Philological Quarterly Vol. 79:4, Fall 2000, pp. 523-544.

Interviews and Profiles

  • Rachlis, Kit.  “It’s About Time.”  The Boston Phoenix, May 24 and 31, 1983, Arts & Entertainment section.  Article in two parts, continued on May 31, 1983.
  • Croyden, Margaret.  “The Sudden Fame of William Kennedy.” New York Times Magazine, August 26, 1984, pp. 33+.
  • Quinn, Peter.  “William Kennedy:  an interview.”  Recorder, New York:  American Irish Historical Society, Vol. 1:1, 1985.
  • Allen, Douglas R. and Mona Simpson.  In Writers at work: the Paris Review Interviews, New York:  Viking, 1992, pp. 154-173.
  • William Kennedy reads from his novel, Very Old Bones, interview with Tom Vitale.  Moveable Feast, 1992.
  • Bauer, Douglas.  “Talking With William Kennedy.” Washington Post Book World, Vol. 13:3, January 16, 1993, p. 6.
  • Smith, Tom and William Kennedy.  “Very Bountiful Bones:  An Interview with William Kennedy.”  Weber Studies, Vol. 10:1, Winter 1993, pp. 21-44.
  • Reilly, Edward.  “William Kennedy.” In Dictionary of Literary Biography, American Novelists since World War II: Third Series. Detroit: Gale Research Company, Vol. 143, 1994, pp. 71-91.
  • Contemporary writers on radio, University of Missouri, 1996. Originally broadcast on radio program “New letters on the air.”  Interview and reading of The Flaming Corsage by William Kennedy. Rebekah Presson, host.
  • Sheppard, R. Z.  “Stealing From Himself.”  TIME, Vol. 147, May 13, 1996, p. 92.
  • Seshachari, Neila C, ed., Conversations with William Kennedy. Jackson, Mississippi and London: University Press of Mississippi, 1997.
  • Baruth, Philip. “William Kennedy on the Surreal and the Unconscious, the Religious, the Sublime, and the Gonzo.” New England Review, Vol. 19:1, Winter 1998, pp. 116-26.
  • Shechner, Mark.  “William Kennedy Discusses His Characters, His Influences and His Albany.”  Buffalo News, September 14, 2003, p. F1.
  • Schwarzchild, Edward.  William Kennedy interview. The Believer, Vol. 4:2, October 2006, pp. 77-86.
  • Schwarzschild, Edward. “Out on His Town: William Kennedy.” Publishers Weekly, Vol. 258:38, September 19, 2011, pp. 31-32.
  • Brockes, Emma.  The Guardian, February 24, 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/24/william-kennedy-life-writing-interview

Video Recordings

  • “William Kennedy’s Albany.” (A film directed by Richard Rogers), [Alexandria, Va.]: MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, Distributed by PBS Video, 1992.
  • “Fortune Cookie” (A film directed by Catherine Berge), Paris: Julianne Films, 1993.
  • “William Kennedy’s Prohibition Story.”  (A film directed by Dan Swinton) Albany, N.Y.: WMHT Educational Telecommunications, 2011 [DVD]

Audio Recordings

  • Kennedy reads from his novels Legs, Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, Ironweed and The Ink Truck. American Audio Prose Library, 1984.
  • Legs. Books on Tape, 1987. [unabridged, read by Wolfram Kandinsky]
  • Legs. Media Books, 1988. [abridged by author, read by Jason Robards]
  • Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game. Books on Tape, 1987. [unabridged, read by Wolfram Kandinsky]
  • Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game. Media Books/Audio Partners, 1988. [abridged by author, read by Jason Robards]
  • Ironweed. Media Books/Audio Partners, 1986. [abridged by author, read by Jason Robards]
  • The Flaming Corsage. Penguin Audiobooks, 1996. [abridged and read by William Kennedy]
  • The Flaming Corsage. Books on Tape, 1996. [unabridged, read by Michael Prichard]
  • Very Old Bones. Newport Beach, CA: Books on Tape, 1996. [unabridged, read by Michael Prichard]
  • Changó’s Beads and Two-Tone Shoes.  Brilliance Audio, 2011. [unabridged, read by William Kennedy]

Bibliography

  • Reilly, Edward C.  “A William Kennedy Bibliography.” Bulletin of Bibliography, vol. 48, June 1991: 61-74.