Fox, Hugh, 1932-2011

Hugh Fox was born into an Irish-Catholic family in Chicago in 1932. He became interested in literature at a young age, and got his master's degree in the Humanities at Chicago's Loyola University. He went on to get his Ph. D. in American literature from the University of Illinois, and became a teacher at Loyola University in Los Angeles. In the early 1960s, he served as visiting professor of American Studies in Mexico and Caracas, Venezuela. While teaching in South America, he worked on his novel The Taffy Hills, which was never published. Returning to Los Angeles, he concentrated on his poetry and also wrote his novel Countdown on an Empty Streetcar. He also began to explore his transvestite inclinations, and occasionally published under the name of his female alter-ego, Connie. In 1968, he founded Ghost Dance: The International Quarterly of Experimental Poetry, which he edited for 27 years. After leaving Los Angeles, he accepted a post at Michigan State University's Department of American Thought and Language, where he is now a Professor Emeritus. He continues to write novels, nonfiction, poetry, and critical studies of other authors.

Hugh Fox has written over 50 volumes of poetry, fiction, and literary criticism, primarily for small presses, on subjects such as North and South American cultural history and writers from Henry James to Charles Bukowski. After marrying a Peruvian Fox taught and lived throughout Latin America from Mexico to Argentina. During the 1980s Fox taught at Michigan State University.

Novelist, poet, literary critic. Also writes under pseudonym Connie Fox.

Biography

Hugh Fox was born into an Irish-Catholic family in Chicago in 1932. He became interested in literature and the arts at a young age, and attended Chicago's Jesuit college, Loyola University. After receiving a master's degree in the humanities, he went on to earn a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Illinois. In 1958, he began teaching at Loyola University of Los Angeles. Three years later, he served as Visiting Professor of American Studies at the University of Sonora in Mexico, and during 1964 and 1965 he was a visiting professor at several universities in Caracas, Venezuela, including Universidad Católica Andrés Bello and the Instituto Pedagogico. Also a specialist in pre-Columbian Amerindian religion, Fox lectured throughout South America under the sponsorship of the United States Information Service. It was at this time that he worked on the manuscript for his novel The Taffy Hills, which was never published.

Returning to Los Angeles, Hugh Fox began to concentrate on his poetry, publishing numerous chapbooks through small presses, as well as writing his novel Countdown on an Empty Streetcar. He immersed himself in the city's underground poetry scene, and befriended poets such as Richard Morris, Blythe Ayne, A.D. Winans, and Charles Bukowski. He also began to explore his transvestite inclinations, and would occasionally publish under the name of his female alter-ego, Connie. In 1968 he founded Ghost Dance: The International Quarterly of Experimental Poetry, which he would edit for 27 years.

Hugh Fox then left Los Angeles for a post at Michigan State University's Department of American Thought and Language, where he is now a Professor Emeritus. In 1969, Fox published the first critical analysis of Bukowski's work in Charles Bukowski: A Critical and Bibliographical Study. He was also the first to publish a critical study of the works of poet Lyn Lifshin, and has produced several poetry anthologies. He continues to write in a variety of genres, having recently published Shaman (1993), The Last Summer (1995), Stairway to the Sun (1996), and Back: Brazil-Peru Poems (1997).