Taylor, Peter (Hillsman)

(born Jan. 8, 1917, Trenton, Tenn., U.S.—died Nov. 2, 1994, Charlottesville, Va.) U.S. short-story writer, novelist, and playwright. Taylor studied in the 1930s under several poets associated with the Southern literary renaissance. He taught at various schools, including the University of Virginia. He is best known for his short stories, which are usually set in contemporary Tennessee and which reveal conflicts between the old rural society and the industrialized “New South.” The novella A Woman of Means (1950) is perhaps his finest work; his later works include The Old Forest and Other Stories (1985) and A Summons to Memphis (1986, Pulitzer Prize).

Taylor, Peter (Hillsman) (1917–94) writer; born in Trenton, Tenn. He studied at Vanderbilt (1936–37), Southwestern (1937–38), and Kenyon (B.A. 1940). He served in the army (1941–45) and taught at the University of North Carolina (1946–67) and the University of Virginia (1967). He wrote novels and plays, but is best known for his short stories, as in The Collected Stories of Peter Taylor (1969). He was consistently praised for his mastery of the form and his use of Southern settings.