Arts & Entertainment, Literature
American writer Brendon Sanderson: biography, creativity and reviews
Brandon Sanderson (Brandon Sanderson) - a modern American science fiction writer. He made his debut in 2005 with the novel "Elantris", and in 2007 his novel "Hope of Elantris" was published. Since that moment the author has become professionally engaged in writing. On the biography and creativity of this author, we'll talk further.
Biography
Born Brendon Sanderson in Lincoln (Nebraska) on December 19, 1975. The University of Brigham Young, the leading educational institution of the Mormon Church, is located in Orem. Here the future writer graduated from the Faculty of English Literature in 2000, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree. On this Brandon did not stop, and in 2005 he graduated from the magistracy, becoming a master of arts, receiving the specialty of "creative writing". After graduation, he did not leave the alma mater and returned as an English teacher.
In 2006, the writer married Emily Bushman, who is a teacher from Provo. The couple do not have children yet.
Sanderson is a member of the Mormon Church.
About the love of reading
Brandon Sanderson, whose books we will discuss below, in an interview said that the love of reading in general, and in fantasy in particular, developed in him in high school. In primary school, most of all the writer liked the books of the children's series of detectives The Three Investigators, which was published since 1964. With age, Brandon began to be advised more serious and realistic books, which caused only boredom. This discouraged him from the whole hunt for reading, and in high school he was practically not interested in literature.
Then already in high school Sanderson had a wonderful teacher of English. She then gave the boy to read "The Dragon Death" by Barbara Hambly. This book was the first in the genre of fantasy, which read Brandon, but not the last. With this novel, the author's love for this genre began. According to the writer's own admission, he re-read all the books in the library, in the names of which the word "dragon" was mentioned.
Academic years and debut
Brandon Sanderson initially went to college for biochemistry, but after studying for a year, he realized that this was not his specialty at all. The whole year of study Brandon tirelessly wrote, this was the defining moment in the decision to change direction. He, having abandoned biochemistry, went to study English literature. Having chosen a new direction, Brandon made every possible effort to realize his dream - to become a writer. The result of the works was the publication of the novel "Elantris", in the Russian translation - "City of the Gods". The work was written back in 1999, and was published only in 2005. As soon as the book came out, Sanderson was awarded the prize to the best debutant authors John W. Campbell Award. The author does not plan to continue this novel at this time, and if he does, he will describe the adventures of secondary characters.
Creative process
Brandon Sanderson (the writer's books today translated into many languages of the world) has always wanted his first book to be a non-cyclical novel, since he believed that this would be the best way to introduce himself to the readers. The reader who first gets acquainted with the writer will rather choose to read one finished story to understand whether it is worth paying attention to the author, Sanderson believes. That is why "Elantris" has no continuation - with this book you need to begin to get acquainted with the creativity of the author.
In 2006, a second novel was published that was written by Brendon Sanderson (a collection with the writer's stories will be published much later). This was the first book of the Mistborn trilogy called The Final Empire.
The author himself claims that this cycle was born of two ideas. The first came to Sanderson's mind when he looked through Ocean's "11 friends" and realized that in many films that he likes, the focus of the story is the teams of professional thieves. And he decided to try to transfer this technique to fantasy. The second idea came from the many adventure novels that Sanderson read in his teens. It consisted in the fact that too many books are told about a young man from a peasant family who left the house to fight with the forces of darkness. And what if the young hero could not overcome the master, and the evil won?
Thus, it turned out that the cycle Mistborn tells what would happen to the world, where the victory was won by the dark ruler. The hero was defeated, prophecies did not come true, ash falls from the sky, and mankind is enslaved. Then a team of thieves enters the scene, which decides to deal with the dark ruler in its own way - stealing it and buying up the servants. But it gradually turns out that not everything was so simple with that hero who was defeated a century ago.
Brandon Sanderson: author's books
After the publication of the first part of the cycle, two volumes of continuation came out, which had no less success than the first book. From this moment, Sanderson's new novels are constantly on the bookshelves, the writer continues to delight his fans with new and new works. Next we will consider the most famous books of the writer.
"City of the Gods"
Beginning is with the debut product - the novel "Elantris". Before the reader will appear the marvelous city of the gods of Elantris, full of wisdom, beauty and the center of magic, which is likened to a silver fire that burns in eternity. To be likened to the gods and become elantrians could be any mortal that touches the Shaod - a kind of magical transformation that empowers the selected magical abilities. However, these times passed a decade ago. The city of the gods fell, and the Shaod of blessing turned into a curse. The new capital of the land of Arelon was a small town of Kai, which is located at the black walls of the once beautiful stronghold, which now contains those unfortunates who touched the shaod. Our story begins with the moment when the Crown Prince of Arelon Raoden became the victim.
"The Doomed Kingdom," Brandon Sanderson
The novel has a second name - "The Way of Kings". He is the first work in the unfinished cycle "The Archive of the Petrel".
With this book, the writer begins a large-scale saga, which is not inferior to the works of J. Tolkien, R. Dalvatore, R. Jordan. The author depicts an amazing world with a unique flora and fauna, in addition, Brendon carefully thought out the spiritual culture of the races living in this world, paid great attention to the political structure of the world - there is nothing accidentally depicted in this novel, everything is thought out and fits into the overall system.
In the center of his book, Sanderson Brandon portrays the world of Roshar, which is dominated by the greatest storms that sweep away everything in its path. However, this is not the most terrible, the more terrible is the true devastation. The expectation of his offensive can change the fate of entire races. Do the inhabitants of this world have enough power to unite and confront the terrible danger together? Will the hero, for whom the words of the ancient oath - "death below life," "weakness below strength," "goal below the path" - will not just be an empty old tale?
In the meantime, the world remembers the Shining Knights that fell centuries ago, from which only armor and weapons remained. On the Shattered Plains, battles with the strange people of the Parshandi, who organized the murder of the ruler of Aletkar, do not stop.
For this novel, Sanderson was awarded the David Gammel Prize in 2011, and the book won the nomination "The Book of the Year according to the version of Fantlab" (2013).
"The coming storm"
In 2007, after the death of the famous American science fiction writer Robert Jordan, who started one of the longest cycles - "The Wheel of Time", Brandon Sanderson took on a difficult task - to finish the series. The writer, based on the diary entries of the deceased science fiction writer, was able to fulfill his task brilliantly. And in 2009 the book "The Coming Storm", the final cycle, was published.
The novel was well received by fans of Jordan and harmoniously blended into the series.
"Born in the Fog"
To date, this is a complete cycle, which Brendon Sanderson completed in 2008. The series includes three novels: "Ash and Steel," "The Source of the Ascension" and "The Hero of the Ages", as well as a short story "The Secret History", which was published in Russia rather late - in 2016.
The trilogy tells about a world in which the millennium has been flourishing The Last Empire, which governs an immortal ruler, a single ruler and a god. A thousand years ago he defeated the unknown Abyss and, instead of liberating, enslaved the world. Since that time the sun has turned red, ash falls from the sky, and at night the world covers a fog that takes people's souls from them.
To date, Sandorgson lives in Provo and continues to teach at the university.
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