“But maybe they understood more about life than I did. From an early age they knew what little value the world placed in books, and so didn't waste their time with them. Whereas I, even now, persist in believing that these black marks on white paper bear the greatest significance, that if I keep writing, I might be able to catch the rainbow of consciousness in a jar.”

American author

Jeffrey Eugenides is an American author. He is known for fiction that has reached a wide audience, especially his novels The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex, and The Marriage Plot. Born in 1960, he has also written short stories and essays. His best-known novel, The Virgin Suicides, was adapted into a film in 1999. Middlesex brought him the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, and France’s Prix Médicis. His work is often read for its close attention to identity, family, and the pressures of modern life.