Mitchell, David 1969–

PERSONAL: Born January, 1969, in Southport, Lancashire, England; married. Education: University of Kent, B.A., 1990, also received M.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—Ireland.

CAREER: Writer and teacher. Taught English at Hiroshima Kokusai University for four years.

AWARDS, HONORS: Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys prize, and Guardian First Book Award shortlist, both 1999, both for Ghostwritten; Booker Prize shortlist, and James Tait Black Memorial Prize shortlist, 2001, for Number9dream; Man Booker Prize finalist; National Book Critics Circle Award nomination, 2004, Nebula Award nomination for best novel, 2005, Arthur C. Clarke shortlist, 2005, and British Book Awards "best read," 2005, all for Cloud Atlas.

WRITINGS:

Ghostwritten, Random House (New York, NY), 1999.

Number9dream, Random House (New York, NY), 2001.

Cloud Atlas, Random House (New York, NY), 2004.

Black Swan Green: A Novel, Random House (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Having spent his childhood in England, writer David Mitchell moved to Hiroshima, Japan, where he lived and worked as an English teacher for eight years. In 2001, he returned to his homeland. During his stay in Japan, he wrote two novels. The first was Ghostwritten, a collection of nine separate but interrelated tales that take place all over the world. Each has its own distinct narrative voice, but each voice is somehow connected to and has influence on the other eight tales. Each chapter, or tale, is named after a different physical place, beginning in the East and traveling westward. As the reader becomes involved in the stories, an underlying thread emerges, one involving a manmade-yet-uncontrollable superintelligence grappling with humanity's tendency toward self-destruction.

Critics have commented on the debut novel's episodic structure. In her review for Salon.com, Laura Miller observed that "some of the chapters in Ghostwritten do work on their own, for Mitchell has a genuine aptitude for storytelling. Too often, though, even the enjoyable segments of Ghostwritten bring to mind other writers who tend to be more accomplished with the sort of writing at hand…. The result is often readable, but never inspired, a peculiar effect considering the project is the kind of thing usually only attempted by eccentric geniuses following fiercely individual visions." Brian Kenney, in his review for Booklist, was effusive in his praise. "It is a thrill to read a piece of fiction this engrossing, challenging, urgent, and, ultimately, so very new." The critic compared Mitchell's writing to that of American novelist Don DeLillo and Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, and noted its science fiction influences: "Especially in its continual probing of what is real and what is not, this book remains very much its own thing: a novel of the twenty-first century." As a Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded: "Mitchell's wildly variegated story can be abstruse and elusive in its larger themes, but the gorgeous prose and vibrant, original construction make this an accomplishment not to be missed."

Mitchell's second novel, Number9dream, is the story of twenty-year-old Eiji Miyake and his search for the father he never knew. It takes place in modern day Tokyo, and Eiji's search takes him far from home, where he encounters nothing less than the god of thunder, John Lennon, and organ harvesters. The book is a surreal treatment of a very realistic event—the search for identity. It begins with multiple openings and ends with a missing dream. Critics in general gave a warmer welcome to Mitchell's second novel, which was shortlisted for Britain's prestigious Booker Prize. Calling Number9dream a "terrific book," Booklist contributor Keir Graff added: "Flexing his considerable stylistic muscle, [Mitchell] plays with form while hewing true to a tightly plotted tale that pulls you along." In Time International, reviewer Neil Gough observed that "Unlike Mitchell's first book, a loosely connected collection of stories, Number9dream is a more fully fleshed-out tale, and reaffirms what many had already suspected: the arrival of a vastly talented and imaginative novelist." Newsweek critic Malcolm Jones likewise remarked that "Mitchell has produced a novel as accomplished as anything being written. Funny, tenderhearted and horrifying, often all at once, it refashions the rudiments of the coming-of-age novel into something completely original."

James Urquhart of the Independent interviewed Mitchell just after Number9dream was published. When asked about the similar structures of his two novels, Mitchell admitted, "I didn't really plan the recurrent theme of power and control in Ghostwritten, but it does seem to be there. Throughout the novel, events happen because of different levels of power, rather like the inevitable effect of different levels of water in a lock." He further explained how his writing process changed as the manuscript for Ghostwritten progressed. "The first two or three chapters began as discrete stories until I had the idea of linking them together. From then on there was more of a master plan. Each chapter addresses why things happen, and how different forces—from surrender, greed, and love to history and quantum physics—shape the course of events." Similarly, in Number9dream, "each chapter is about a different mode of the mind, and it is written as far as I could in that mode." Even if the reader does not notice the structure, Mitchell told Urquhart, "it provides a strong force that helps to stop the book from flying off in all directions."

In 2004, Mitchell brought out his third novel, Cloud Atlas, which was nominated for numerous awards and was a finalist for the prestigious Man Booker Prize. Writing in the Library Journal, Jim Coan called that novel a "postmodern visionary … epic." In 2006, Mitchell brought out his fourth novel, Black Swan Green, the tale of a year in the difficult life of teenager Jason Taylor in a small English town during the early 1980s. Jason suffers from a stutter and must do his best to make his way at school and at home, where his parents' marriage appears to be falling apart. Written in episodic, diary form, the book's thirteen chapters take the reader into Jason's mind and world, as he "relates his story in a voice that is achingly true to life," according to School Library Journal critic Kim Dare. This coming-of-age story is in fact not intended for adults at all, thought Spectator critic Sebastian Smee. Rather, it is "a brilliantly handled novel for young adults." Coan also had praise for Black Swan Green, commending the "virtuoso ventriloquism of multiple voices and settings."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Book, September, 2000, Tom LeClair, review of Ghostwritten, p. 69.

Booklist, August, 2000, Brian Kenney, review of Ghostwritten, p. 2112; November 15, 2000, Bonnie Smothers, review of Ghostwritten, p. 615; March 1, 2002, Keir Graff, review of Number9dream, p. 1093.

Guardian (London, England), August 21, 1999, Nicholas Blincoe, "Spirit That Speaks"; March 10, 2001, Steven Poole, "I Think I'm Turning Japanese"; April 6, 2002, Carrie O'Grady and Veronica Horwell, "Stories from the City."

Independent, March 24, 2001, James Urquhart, "David Mitchell: You May Say He's a Dreamer," p. WR11.

Library Journal, August, 2000, Ann Kim, review of Ghostwritten, p. 160; February 1, 2006, Jim Coan, review of Black Swan Green, p. 73.

New Statesman, March 12, 2001, Hugo Barnacle, "Novel of the Week," p. 55.

Newsweek, September 18, 2000, p. 82; March 25, 2002, Malcolm Jones, "A Samurai in Sneakers: English Novelist David Mitchell Delivers a Deft, Scary and Often Funny Adventure—about Modern Japan," p. 58.

New Yorker, March 18, 2002, review of Number9dream, p. 145.

New York Times, September 12, 2000, Michiko Kakutani, "When Lives, and Worlds, Converge," p. B8; March 15, 2002, Kakutani, "Wandering along the Border between Reality and Fantasy," p. B40.

New York Times Book Review, September 17, 2000, Richard Eder, "Caller No. 1: These Linked Tales Feature a Deity That Phones a Radio Show for Advice," p. 18; March 24, 2002, Daniel Zalewski, "Zombie Spawn Descend to Earth: In This Novel, a Japanese Youth's Surreal Fantasies Are Inspired by Pop Culture," p. 7.

Observer (London, England), March 11, 2001, Robert MacFarlane, "When Blade Runner Meets Jack Kerouac."

Publishers Weekly, July 3, 2000, review of Ghostwritten, p. 46; January 28, 2002, review of Number9dream, p. 268.

Review of Contemporary Fiction, spring, 2001, Jason Picone, review of Ghostwritten, p. 193; summer, 2002, Jason Picone, review of Number9dream, p. 226.

San Francisco Chronicle, February 17, 2002, Andrew Roe, "Daydreaming in Tokyo: David Mitchell's Surrealistic Coming-of-Age Novel Was a Finalist for the Booker Prize."

School Library Journal, July, 2006, Kim Dare, review of Black Swan Green, p. 133.

Spectator, July 24, 2002, Robert Edric, "One Hand Clapping"; May 13, 2006, Sebastian Smee, "Missing the Middle Path," review of Black Swan Green.

Time International, April 1, 2002, Neil Gough, "Looking for Reality: David Mitchell's Second Book Is a Dreamy Journey," p. 54.

Times Literary Supplement, March 2, 2001, Shomit Dutta, review of Number9dream, p. 22.

Village Voice, February 25, 2002, Joy Press, "The Literary Show-Off."

Yale Review, July, 2002, Meghan O'Rourke, "Fiction in Review," p. 159.

ONLINE

BBC Arts, http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/ (September 19, 2001), "David Mitchell: Dream Weaver"; (October 12, 2001), Darren Waters, review of Number9dream.

Beatrice, http://www.beatrice.com/ (September 29, 2006), Ron Hogan, "David Mitchell" (interview).

Bold Type, http://www.randomhouse.com/ (September 29, 2006), synopsis and reviews of Number9dream and Ghostwritten; Catherine McWeeney, "Interview with David Mitchell."

Bookpage, http://www.bookpage.com/ (September 29, 2006), Lynn Hamilton, "Not All Dreams Are Sweet."

Bookreporter, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (October 20, 2000), interview with author.

Get Hiroshima, http://www.gethiroshima.com/ (September 29, 2006), Nihongo, interview with author.

Hackwriters, http://www.hackwriters.com/ (September 29, 2006), review of Number9dream.

Random House Web site, http://www.randomhouse.com/ (September 29, 2006), "About the Author: David Mitchell."

Salon.com, http://www.salon.com/ (October 10, 2000), Laura Miller, review of "Ghostwritten."