"A Separate Peace" is a coming-of-age novel published in 1959 and written by John Knowles. The novel is Knowles first and best-known published work. It is based on a previous short story of his titled, 'Phineas'. The book received many awards, including the William Faulkner Foundation Award and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award in 1961. […]
John Knowles
John Knowles was an American author born in Fairmont, West Virginia in 1926.
His father was the vice president of a coal company and as a result, the Knowles' lived comfortably. Knowles graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1945 and went into the army afterward, serving in the Air Force during World War II.
After the war, Knowles attended Yale University. While there he contributed to the campus humor magazine, 'The Yale Record' and was a member of the 'Yale Daily News' staff. He was also a record-holding champion varsity swimmer. He graduated in 1949 and went on to write for the Hartford Courant and Holiday magazine.
During this time he also began to write novels.
Knowles first novel 'A Separate Peace', (1959) draws from Knowles own childhood attending Phillips Exeter Academy and Knowles 1981 novel 'A Peace Breaks Out' used the same setting to greater advantage.
Including these, Knowles published 12 books in his lifetime, the last one being published on the internet in it's burgeoning days in 1995.
Knowles died in November of 2001 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at the age of 75.