William Boyd is a renowned British popular fiction writer. His major contributions to contemporary English literature include A Good Man in Africa and An Ice-Cream War.
Born on March 7, 1952, in Accra, Ghana, Boyd grew up in Ghana and Nigeria. He received his early education from Gordonstoun School and studied for a Diploma course of French Studies at the University of Nice, France. Later, he earned a Masters degree in English and Philosophy from the University of Glasgow. Finally, he attended Jesus College, Oxford and was awarded a PhD in English Literature. Upon completion of his higher studies, Boyd was offered a lectureship at St Hilda’s College, Oxford in the English department, where he taught from 1980-83.
While teaching he began working on his first novel A Good Man in Africa, which was published in 1981. It is a black comedy set in the fictional West African country of Kinjanja. The central character, Morgan Leafy, is a disaster-prone British Diplomat with a questionable record. This dark comedy also touches upon the dynamics of British political influences in relation to Western African. Boyd’s reprehensible and morally deplorable character, Morgan Leafy, serves as a representative of British politician and their deplorable behavior. In fact, Leafy makes appearance in Boyd’s another two short stories. According to the author, there is an autobiographical element to his novel and the character of Dr. Murray serves as a portrait of his father.
A Good Man in Africa received positive response from most of the critics and became an instant success. Boyd was honored with Whitbread Book Award and Somerset Maugham Award for his contribution. On the success of his novel, he published a short story collection, On the Yankee Station and Other Stories, the very same year. Subsequently, he wrote another novel, titled An Ice-Cream War, in 1982. It is set in colonial East Africa and focuses on the World War I campaigns. The novel is a dark satire that highlights the tragedy of a war waged between the Great Britain and Germany on East African soil. The darkly comic treatment of WWI had the book shortlisted for a Booker Prize and won John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.
Another one of his key works is considered to be Any Human Heart (2002) in which he fictionalized and incorporated the creator of James Bond phenomenon, Ian Fleming. It is written in the journal entry form and charts the life of a fictitious 20th century writer, Logan Mountstuart. In addition to novel writing, Boyd also served in the Hollywood as a screenwriter. He adapted Evelyn Waugh’s novel Scoop in a feature film Stars and Bars (1988). His own novel’s movie adaptation, A Good Man in Africa, was released in 1994. For television he is credited for screenwriting dramas, including Armadillo (2001), Any Human Heart (2010) and Restless (2012).
William Boyd’s is known for his satiric and comic narratives, which he took a little too far with his publication of a fake biography of Nat Tate. Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928-1960 sketches the life eponymous abstract expressionist painter. The author withheld the status of the book being fictional till its launch party. A number of prominent guests claimed to have known the fictional painter oblivious to the nature of the book. It created quite a buzz at the revelation of the truth. Moreover, Boyd has adapted a literary work of Anton Chekhov for theater as well. His recently published book is a James Bond novel, titled Solo (2013).
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