February 24, 1999

Andre Dubus (August 11, 1936 to February 24, 1999) was an American writer. He is most famous for the short stories he wrote for the New Yorker and other periodicals. Dubus, from a Cajun-Irish Catholic family, taught most of his professional life at Bradford College, in Massachusetts. He was awarded a MacArthur fellowship and other honors. Like many artists Dubus was particularly open to the pain of others. His stories were collected in multiple volumes including Separate Flights (1975), and Adultery and Other Choices (1977). Dubus maintained that writing short stories was more akin to poetry than other fiction.

Of one story, "The Bully," in the latter volume,  we read about Paul and a stray cat. The author elsewhere explains the story: Paul kills the cat because the cat represents to him a part of himself which he hates—weakness."

Of Dubus's six children, one is also a famous writer: Andre Dubus III is the author of "House of Sand and Fog."