Thomas Bontly was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1939. He attended the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, where he received a B.A. with Honors in 1961. The following year he held
a Rotary International Fellowship at Cambridge University, England, where he studied the
English novel at Corpus Christi College. In 1962 he marrried the former Marilyn Mackie of
Madison and began his doctoral study at Stanford University. He completed his Ph.D. in
English and American literature in 1966, writing his dissertation on the novels of Henry
James. While at Stanford, Bontly also held a Wallace Stagner Creative Writing Fellowship and
completed his first novel, The Competitor, which was
published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1966 as a "Maxwell Perkins Commemorative Novel."
In the fall of 1966 Bontly joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
(UWM), where he taught literature and creative writing for 35 years, retiring in 2001.
During that period, he published three novels (The Adventures of a
Young Outlaw, 1974; Celestial Chess, 1979; and
The Giant's Shadow, 1989), 24 short stories, five critical
essays and various reviews. His fiction received three awards from the Council for Wisconsin
Writers, an organization he later served as president (2000-2002). He also held a Fulbright
Fellowship to Justus Liebig Universitat in Germany in 1984.
Bontly was the first coordinator of UWM's Creative Writing Program (1974-1977) and served
two later terms in that position. He also served as department chair (1979-1982) and
coordinator of literary studies (1991-1994). He worked extensively with graduate students,
directing approximately 50 M.A. theses and 12 doctoral dissertations.
Bontly passed away on June 29, 2012.
Chronology of Completed Works
| 1960 |
"Man Who Hated the Sea"
|
| 1966 |
The Competitor
|
| 1967 |
"Eurydice"
|
| 1970 |
The Birthright (unpublished)
"or a Civilized Man" ("The Birth Day")
|
| 1971 |
"The Coward"
|
| 1972 |
"The Dimestore Romance" (unpublished)
"Eight Meetings" ("The Demon")
|
| 1973 |
"How I Learned About Sex"
"Missing Person"
"The Universal Bazaar" (unpublished)
|
| 1974 |
The Adventures of a Young Outlaw
"Desdemona" (unpublished)
|
| 1975 |
"The Dry Season" ("Man, Boy, Fish") (unpublished)
|
| 1976 |
"The Blue Smile"
Ducks on a Pond (unpublished)
|
| 1978 |
"The Guardian" ("The
Frightened Child")
|
| 1979 |
Celestial Chess
"One Year"
|
| 1980 |
"Shells" (unpublished)
"Suburban Snow"
|
| 1982 |
"The Fundamental Things of Life"
|
| 1984 |
"The Companions"
|
| 1985 |
"Instinct"
|
| 1987 |
"Act of Faith"
"The Reading" ("The Voyager")
|
| 1989 |
Giant's Shadow
"Re-Encounter"
|
| 1990 |
The Handyman (unpublished)
|
| 1992 |
Lucky's Blues (unpublished)
|
| 1993 |
"The Sisters"
|
| 1996 |
Taming the Dark Horse (unpublished)
|
| 1997 |
"December Dreams"
|
