Charles Baxter's short fiction is focused on middle-class lifestyles. Sometimes in his writing he is patient, sometimes aloof, and sometimes tough-minded about middle-class life. Anton Chekhov's work is Baxter's exemplar of the first stance, Donald Barthelme's fiction (until mid career) represents the second, and the third resembles Ernest Hemingway's attitude. Baxter has been influenced by each of these writers. Yet he is not the product of any particular "school." Baxter is a self-effacing writer who is not easily described in terms of influences because he has smoothly and intelligently absorbed so many of them into his work.

Born in Minneapolis on 13 May 1947 to John and Mary Barber Baxter, Charles Baxter received his B.A. at Macalester College in Saint Paul and his Ph.D. at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Starting in 1974, he taught English for several years at Wayne State University, and he is...