Hilary Thayer Hamann (born November 7, 1962, in New York City) is an American author. Her first novel, Anthropology of an American Girl, is the story of a search for authenticity told in the first-person voice of teenaged protagonist Eveline Auerbach. The semi-autobiographical literary novel contains an examination of the social and cultural pressures that prevent individuals from living meaningfully.Ciuraru, Carmela. "Book Review: Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann", The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, 13 June 2010. It was self-published in 2003,Taylor, Elizabeth. "Anthropology of an American Girl: A Novel by Hilary Thayer Hamann", Chicago Tribune, Chicago, 21 May 2010. and then edited and re-released in 2010 by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House, both times to critical praise.Publishers Weekly Staff. "Fiction Reviews", Publishers Weekly, New York, 1 March 2010. The novel has been compared to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.Barron, John. "Thoroughly Modern Manners," Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, 6 June 2010.
Hamann edited, co-wrote, and published a non-fiction science and art book, also to praise from critics, as well as from scientists and educators.Glausiusz, Josie. "Secret Science in Art", Discover Magazine, New York, 2 December 2005. Categories—On the Beauty of Physics (2006) was conceived as a multidisciplinary educational tool that uses art and literature to broaden the reader's understanding of challenging material. Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams, called Categories "A beautiful synthesis of science and art, pleasing to the mind and to the eye," and Dr. Helen Caldicott, founder and president of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, said, "This wonderful book will provoke thought in lovers of science and art alike, and with knowledge comes the inspiration to preserve the beauty of life on Earth."Seffusati, Emiliano and Hilary Thayer Hamann (2006). Categories—On the Beauty of Physics. Vernacular Press. .
Early years Hamann was born in New York City. Following her parents' divorce, her time was divided between her mother's home in Manhattan and the home of her father and his extended family in the Bronx.Dahl, Marilyn. "Book Review: Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann", Shelf Awareness, Upper Montclair, NJ, 4 May 2010. When Hamann's mother moved to Long Island to take a job as a high school biology teacher at East Hampton High School,Pilgrim, Joanne. "Recalling an Unconventional Teaching Career", The East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY, 27 September 2007. Hamann again split her time between family homes, spending summers in the Bronx and winters in the Hamptons.
As a young girl in the Hamptons, she became involved in community theater. From ages 9 to 19 she was involved in over 30 plays, including some produced at East Hampton's Guild Hall, in roles ranging from property mistress to female lead to writer and director.Graves, Jack. "Stunningly Good", The East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY, February 1978.Norris, Cal. "Travel Plans", The East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY, January 1979.Koltz, Bradley. "Sophs Sweep Play Competition", The Beachcomber, East Hampton, NY, March 1978. Hamann credits her experience in theater and the arts as a young person with having shaped her life.Vazquez, Nicole. , Side B Magazine, 20 December 2010.
Hamann attended New York University where she received a B.F.A. in Film & Television Production and Dramatic Writing from the Tisch School of the Arts, an M.A. in Cinema Studies from the Graduate School of Arts and Science, and a post-graduate certificate in Ethnographic Filmmaking from the Center for Media, Culture, and History.Alfuso, Renee. "Second Life", NYU Alumni Magazine, New York, May 2011. She was accepted into the graduate filmmaking program at Tisch, but declined to attend for personal reasons.Maier, Marissa. "A Conversation with Hilary Thayer Hamann" , The Sag Harbor Express, New York, 4 June 2010. She is a founding member of NYU's Tisch East Alumni Council.
Career Hamann was the assistant to former New York City Ballet principal dancer Jacques d'Amboise, who founded the National Dance Institute (NDI) and served as its artistic director, and to whom Hamann's second book on arts and education is dedicated. While at NDI, Hamann oversaw script and project development and she produced a short film titled We Real Cool, which was directed by Academy Award-winner Emile Ardolino and based on the Gwendolyn Brooks poem of the same name. Hamann began to write while working freelance jobs in New York's publishing, independent film, and television industries. She co-wrote, co-produced, and acted in an experimental 16mm film about a female artist and a vampire, In Full Cry (1988).
Hamann co-owned a product, print, and graphic design and production company based in Soho, New York City. It was this experience that inspired Hamann to start Vernacular Press, an independent publishing company with a focus on content development and book packaging.Schwartz, Missy. "Anthropology of an American Girl: A Cult Favorite Goes Mainstream", Entertainment Weekly, New York, 28 May 2010.Kurutz, Steven. "Author Gets a Rare Second Chance", The Wall Street Journal, New York, 25 May 2010. The small press was launched with the publication of Anthropology of an American Girl. Vernacular Press closed in 2007.Smith Rakoff, Joanna. "An Author’s Adventures in Anthropology", Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, 6 June 2010.
Anthropology of an American Girl Hamann wrote Anthropology of an American Girl, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story about Eveline Auerbach, a young woman growing up in Reagan-era America. Hamann was inspired to write the novel after taking graduate anthropology courses at NYU.Staff. "New Voices, A Conversation with Hilary Thayer Hamann, Author of Anthropology of an American Girl", Ingram Advance, New York, May 2010. The novel was first published by Vernacular Press in 2003. Hamann did not send the manuscript to agents or publishers until Vernacular closed in June 2007. Anthropology was purchased for publication two months later by Spiegel & Grau, and was re-released in May 2010.Crispin, Jessa. "What It Feels Like for a Girl", Need to Know on PBS, 25 May 2010. The paperback version was released in June 2011.
The book was re-published in a version edited by Cindy Spiegel of Spiegel & Grau at Random House.Neyfakh, Leon. "Lit Ladies Spiegel and Grau Launch List at Doubleday" , The New York Observer, New York, 15 January 2008. It was published in Australia by Allen & Unwin, in Italy by Fandango Libri, and in the UK by Constable & Robinson.
Library Journal called the novel "Henry James meets the 21st Century," "intelligent and insightful."Hoffert, Barbara. "Prepub Exploded: May 2010, Pt. 2" , Library Journal, New York, 17 December 2009. Also according to Library Journal, "Eveline, or Evie, is not a stereotypical 'American Girl'; nor is the book a standard coming-of-age story."Blakeslee, Sarah. "Fiction Reviews: Anthropology of an American Girl", Library Journal, New York, 1 November 2003.
The Providence Journal cited the novel for its "gorgeous detail and nuanced thought" and "poetically rendered, astute perceptions." It stated that "Anthropology of an American Girl is an extraordinary debut, updating the 19th-century social-psychological novel of romance and manners. Like Jane Austen, George Eliot or Edith Wharton, H.T. Hamann critiques her era and culture through the tale of a precocious young woman buffeted by the accidents, values and consequences of her age."Taylor, Beth. "Book Review: Anthropology of an American Girl", The Providence Journal, Providence, RI, 2004.
Anthropology was praised by publications with diverse demographics. Ms. Magazine cited it for its "gorgeous language and brilliant observation,"Gonzales, Sarah. "Summer Must Read List" , Ms. Magazine, Los Angeles, Summer 2004. and Romantic Times Book Club Magazine called it a "magnificently intense love story," awarding the novel its highest possible rating.Benninger, Gerry. "Book Review: Anthropology of an American Girl", RT Book Reviews Magazine, Brooklyn, 1 November 2003.
The novel won a "Notable Fiction Award" from Writers' Notes (2004);Staff. "A Closer Look at the Writers’ Notes Book Awards Winners", Writers’ Notes Magazine, Titusville, NJ, 2004. ForeWord Magazine named it a Book of the Year "Fiction Finalist" (2003).Staff. "Book of the Year Award Finalists Announced: Literary Fiction", ForeWord This Week, Traverse City, MI, 9 March 2004.
The novel received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which called the book "exquisitely rendered," and added, "If publishers could figure out a way to turn crack into a book, it’d read a lot like this." Kirkus Reviews also gave the novel a starred review, calling it a "closely observed, Holden Caulfieldish story of teendom" that is "intelligent and without a false note—a memorable work." The review added that "Eveline is a marvelously complex and tragic figure of disconnection, startlingly real and exposed at all times."Staff. "Book Review: Anthropology of an American Girl", Kirkus Reviews, New York, 1 April 2010.
O Magazine said that the novel is "a realistic, resonant, and universal story," adding that "Evie has a deadpan delivery Holden Caulfield might envy." The magazine also stated that "Hamann's depiction of time and place is stunningly accurate."Nelson, Sara. "Growing Up Is Hard to Do", O, The Oprah Magazine, 19 May 2010.
The Washington Post praised it as "a very respectable and serious descendant of the work of D.H. Lawrence," adding that Hamann had created "a carefully devised, coherent world, filled with opinions that need to be spoken—and heard." It also called the novel "A stern rebuke to chick lit everywhere," adding that the story "reminds us that all human lives are potentially sacred; that no lives should be judged and dismissed out of hand; that young women, though seen for eons as primarily just attractive objects, actually possess soul and will and sentience."See, Carolyn. "A Young Woman’s Exhaustive Search for Love", The Washington Post, Washington, DC, 4 June 2010.
According to The Chicago Tribune, "Hamann has a hugely engaging voice and one that is rich with social and psychological insights."
The Dallas Morning News said, "This impressive debut is epic but not overwrought, and brilliant without the slightest hint of smugness. A rare kind of novel—at once sprawling and intimate—whose excellence matches its grand ambition."
The Chicago Sun-Times said that Anthropology "Showcases all the nuance and character insight of the masters. But it also has a thrilling contemporary edge that seems to just about perfectly capture the ethos, angst, and danger of a time close to our own," calling Hamann "one of the most engaging, evolving voices in contemporary fiction." Adding that, "The author is pitch perfect in rendering the times. It’s a time that’s post-postwar and pre-Internet, and it’s never seemed so intriguing."
East Hampton Independent called the novel "An ethnographic exploration of youth culture," "haunting, wise, and hip," with "its ear-perfect dialogue and erotic charge."Baum, Joan. "Between the Covers", East Hampton Independent, New York, 26 May 2010.
Respected book seller e-zine, Shelf Awareness, said that Anthropology is a "magnificent book," "incredibly intense and passionate," "romantic in the grand sense," "a rich, affecting experience," and "completely entrancing."
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