In much of Mr. Banks’ writings, his concerns about race, class and power continually surface, with particular attention to the powerless and the despised, especially the ancient figures. his unremarkable green appearance.
“There is an important tradition in American literature, from the days of Mark Twain to Raymond Carver and Grace Paley, whose work was created out of love for the scorned and ridiculed,” Mr. Banks told The Guardian in 2000. “I have an almost simple affection for them. My readers are not like my characters, because I am very conscious. So I’m glad they feel the same sentiment.”
Russell Earl Banks was born on March 28, 1940 in Newton, Mass., just west of Boston. His father, Earl Banks, is a plumber, and his mother, Florence (Taylor) Banks, is a homemaker and accountant.
The eldest of four children, Russell grew up in Barnstead, NH, a small town about 90 miles north. He is open about his father’s alcoholism and the physical abuse his father inflicted on him as a child – a blow to the head caused him to lose mobility in his left eye – but he He also admitted his conflicting feelings about him.
He told People magazine in 1989: “I don’t remember how scared I was of my father. I hate my father and I admire him.”
Earl Banks left when Russell was 12 years old, and the family moved back to Massachusetts, settling in Wakefield, where Russell worked odd jobs to help support his mother and siblings. He excelled at school, won a full scholarship to Colgate University and became the first in his family to attend college.
