Cannon, C. W. 1966-

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CANNON, C. W. 1966-

PERSONAL:

Born March 23, 1966, in Jackson, MS; son of Steven Foster (a waiter) and Lana Carol (a social worker; maiden name, Weeks) Cannon; married Laura Elizabeth Adelman, July 29, 2000; children: Russell Skipworth. Ethnicity: "White." Education: Northwestern University, B.A., 1989; University of Illinois—Chicago Circle, M.A., 1995, Ph.D., 2001. Politics: Green. Religion: "None." Hobbies and other interests: Music.

ADDRESSES:

Home—929 Port St., New Orleans, LA 70117. Office—Department of English, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA 70125-1098. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Willi-Graf Gymnasium, Berlin, Germany, teaching assistant, 1990-91; University of Illinois—Chicago Circle, Chicago, IL, instructor, 1994-99; Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA, assistant professor of English, 2000—. Krewedu Vieux (carnival parading organization), member, 2000—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fulbright scholar in Germany, 1990-91; Goodnow Award for short fiction, Chicago Bar Association, 1996.

WRITINGS:

Soul Resin (novel), FC2/Black Ice Books (Normal, IL), 2002.

Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Third Coast and Pulp. Contributing editor, Other Voices Journal, 1997—.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Sleepytime Down South, an adaptation of Death in Venice by Thomas Mann.

SIDELIGHTS:

C. W. Cannon told CA: "My first artistic efforts were in music. When I became frustrated with the inability of music to make concrete statements about concrete social and historical situations, I began to try my hand at writing words. Music remains important to me, however, both as a subject and as a guide to style and structure. I write out of the basic human urge to communicate and to create. I want to create highly fashioned and interestingly designed communications about historically and socially specific human moments. And I want these fabrications to be pretty, or handsome, or at least striking.

"As far as my literary influences are concerned, I believe in casting a wide net, one that contains works of antiquity as well as of the present, and from varying cultural traditions. I also read a lot of history, the official record of how human beings have actually behaved. Among my favorite influences from recent times and close places are William Faulkner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ishmael Reed, Michael Ondaatje, and Louise Erdrich.

"The overriding non-literary influence on my work is my overriding subject: New Orleans, then and now and in imagined futures, as a microcosm of human experience. Partly because I grew up in the city, and partly because of the city's fascinating history before my birth, I envision a series of works of fiction, which may vary widely in cast and style, yet share the same task: exploring the mystery of what the New Orleans experience says to and about human civilization generally. Some of the issues involved in this project are race, nostalgia, beauty, decay, and the triumph of sensuality over Puritanism."