Bryan Malessa

Bryan Joachim Malessa (born May 16, 1964 in Chagrin Falls, Ohio) is an American novelist. He is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley (BA), and the Oscar Wilde Centre at Trinity College, Dublin (MPhil). His novel The Flight (Harper Perennial) is one of the first written in English to depict the Expulsion of Germans after World War II. In reviewing the novel, The Irish Times stated "With this story…Bryan Malessa joins the ranks of Günter Grass…in taking on the major preoccupations of post-war German literature – National Socialism and the fear of history repeating itself, the complicity of the German people in the crimes perpetuated in their name, and the role of literature in history and memory." Regarding the novel's controversial subject matter, The Independent (UK) stated, "Only since the fall of the Iron Curtain has the subject begun to be discussed, and it remains highly sensitive. The Flight joins a small but growing body of literature on the subject, but the novel does not seek to exonerate the Germans."

His story "Looking Out For Hope" (Voices of the Xiled, Doubleday, 1994) in memory of Raymond Carver was made into a short film directed by Phil Harder and scored by the rock band Low.

He is also editor of Re/mapping the Occident (University of California, 1995) and a journalist whose best known piece is a widely-cited career retrospective interview with World Champion and three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond.

Sources

(1) The Irish Times, Escape From East Prussia http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2007/0407/1175720887682.html

(2) The Independent (UK) review of The Flight http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-flight-by-bryan-malessa-438861.html

(3) Bryan Malessa, "Once Was King: An interview with Greg LeMond" http://www.roble.net/marquis/coaching/lemond98.html