Jay Parini (Jay Lee Parini) Biography

American poet, novelist, and biographer, born in Pittston, Pennsylvania, educated at Lafayette College and the University of St Andrews. After teaching at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, he became Professor of English at Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1982. Singing in Time (1972), Anthracite Country (1982), and Town Life (1988) are collections of his poetry, which is highly regarded for its classical poise and emotional directness. His verse draws recurrently on the Pennsylvania mining country where he grew up; his novel The Patch Boys (1988) is set in the area in the 1920s. The Last Station (1990), his widely acclaimed novel, portrays Tolstoy during the last year of his life. The first of his works as a literary biographer is Theodore Roethke: An American Romantic (1979), which was followed by John Steinbeck (1994), the fullest account of its subject available. His other publications include The Love Run (1980), his first novel, and the textbook An Invitation to Poetry (1987).