A short life of the author
Patrick deWitt (b. 1975) was born on 13 August 1975 on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He dropped out of school at sixteen and worked various jobs before writing fiction. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Life and Career
Ablutions: Notes for a Novel (2009) — a fragmented, second-person novel about a bartender at a failing Hollywood bar — was his debut.
The Sisters Brothers (2011) — about Eli and Charlie Sisters, two hitmen in 1850s Oregon working for the Commodore, sent to kill a prospector who has invented a formula for detecting gold — was a breakthrough. It is a Western that is also a comedy of manners, a meditation on violence and fraternal loyalty, and a beautifully paced adventure. It won the Governor General’s Award and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and was adapted into a 2018 film by Jacques Audiard starring John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix.
Undermajordomo Minor (2015) was a fairy-tale novel set in a vaguely European castle. French Exit (2018) — about a New York socialite and her adult son who decamp to Paris with their cat as their fortune runs out — was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and adapted into a 2021 film starring Michelle Pfeiffer. The Librarianist (2023) was a quieter novel about an aging librarian.
Major Works and Themes
deWitt writes dark comedies in unexpected genres — Westerns, fairy tales, drawing-room satire — with a distinctive deadpan voice that never winks at the reader. His humor is rooted in character, not in jokes.
Key Works
- The Sisters Brothers (2011)
- French Exit (2018)
- Undermajordomo Minor (2015)
Collecting deWitt
The Sisters Brothers (2011, Ecco) brings $20–$60. Ablutions (2009, Houghton Mifflin) — his debut — brings $20–$50.