Patrick deWitt

Patrick deWitt – Life, Career, and Memorable Quotes

Explore the life and work of Patrick deWitt, the Canadian-American novelist known for The Sisters Brothers, French Exit, Undermajordomo Minor, and The Librarianist. Delve into his biography, themes, style, and notable quotes.

Introduction

Patrick deWitt (born 1975) is a Canadian novelist and screenwriter whose work is marked by dark humor, genre play, vivid characters, and an ability to blend the absurd with the poignant. His breakthrough novel The Sisters Brothers (2011) made him internationally known and was adapted into a film. Over time, deWitt has shown versatility—moving from Westerns to satire to intimate character studies. His work often explores themes of identity, loss, loneliness, and moral ambiguity, rendered in a voice both wry and emotionally sharp.

Early Life and Background

• Patrick deWitt was born in Sidney, British Columbia on Vancouver Island, Canada.

• “Some deeper part of me wants to write comical dialogue; I’d be foolish to not follow that impulse. Now I recognize that if there’s energy to a section of work, you go where the energy is. It’s a living thing, and you just follow it.”

These quotes show his attention to mood, personal fear, humor, and the craft impulse.

Lessons from Patrick deWitt

From his life and work, here are a few lessons for writers and thinkers:

1. Don’t wait for perfect preparation
   DeWitt’s early life involved dropping out, working odd jobs, writing on scraps. His route was nonideal but persistent.

2. Use genre to illuminate, not constrain
   He uses genre forms as frameworks to explore meaning rather than as rigid rules.

3. Let voice and character lead
   Instead of forcing plot, he often lets characters dictate direction—starting from small details, then growing outward.

4. Embrace moral complexity
   Don’t shy from flawed characters. The tension between desires and limitations is often where meaning lies.

5. Retain flexibility & surprise
   Even successful authors must risk venturing into unfamiliar genres or styles (as deWitt has done) to continue growing.

Conclusion

Patrick deWitt is a novelist who balances literary ambition and accessible voice, emotional truth and formal inventiveness. His evolution from Ablutions to The Librarianist shows a writer unafraid to shift terrain while holding onto a distinctive moral and tonal center. His work offers both humor and heartbreak, imaginative leaps, and quiet resonances.