CHAPTER 2 THE WRITER’S BIOGRAPHY AND THE SUMMARY OF NOVEL OF THE PELICAN
BRIEF
2.1. The Writer’s Biography
According to www.achievement.org, John Grisham was born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. His father, a cotton farmer and itinerant construction worker moved the
family frequently, from town to town throughout the Deep South, settling in Southaven, Mississippi in 1967. By his own account, he had no interest in writing until after he embarked on
his professional career. For his first two years in college, Grisham drifted. He attended three different colleges before earning a degree. After abandoning a youthful dream of a professional
baseball career, he settled down to study accounting and prepare for a career as a tax lawyer. While in law school, his interest shifted from tax law to criminal law and litigation.
After graduating from the University of Mississippi law school, he returned to Southaven and established a small private legal practice. He was elected to Mississippi House of
Representatives in 1983. By his second term he held the vice chairmanship of the Apportionment and Elections Committee, as well as memberships on the Insurance, Judiciary A, and Military
Affairs Committee. In Mississippi, attorneys in private practice are sometimes called upon to appear as public defenders for indigent clients. In this way, Grisham received invaluable
experience of the criminal justice system. Inspired by a case he observed in a Mississippi courthouse, Grisham decided to write a novel. For years, he arrived at his office at five oclock in
the morning, six days a week, to work on his first book, A Time To Kill. He has continued to write enormously successful legal thrillers at the rate of nearly one a
year. Some of his books are A Time to Kill 1989, The Firm 1991, The Pelican Brief 1992,
The Client 1993, The Chamber 1994, The Rainmaker 1995, The Runaway Jury 1996, The Partner 1997, The Street Lawyer 1998, The Testament 1999, The Brethren, 2000, The
Summons 2002, The King of Torts 2003, The Last Juror 2004, The Broker 2005, The Appeal 2008, The Associate 2009, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer 2010.
Novels that Grisham wrote have some special characteristics. His novels were made up of his experiences in his previous job. Most of them told about law, goverment and politic. His first
novel that published was A Time To Kill about the struggle of a white lawyer in helping a black father whose his daughter had been rapid. A Time To Kill and The Pelican Brief are Grisham’s
books example who have a theme-a small person againts some powefull people.
2.2. The Summary of Novel of The Pelican Brief
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