christopher paolini

Biography

Paolini was born in Southern California, though he was raised and still lives in the Paradise Valley area of Montana. His parents are Kenneth Paolini and Talita Hodgkinson. Paolini is of Italian descent.^[1] He has one sister, Angela. Home schooled for his entire life, he graduated high school at the age of 15 through an accredited correspondence course at American School, Chicago, IL. Following graduation, he started work on what would become the novel Eragon and its sequel, all set in Alagaësia.

Nature influences much of Paolini's writing. In a three-way interview with Philip Pullman and Tamora Pierce, Paolini stated that Paradise Valley is "one of the main sources" of his inspiration.[2] In Eldest Paolini explained that his elves were atheists and vegetarians. When asked if he is a vegetarian, he answered, "No, I am not vegetarian, although I lean in that direction."[3]

Career

In 2002, Eragon was published privately by his parents through Paolini International, LLC. To promote the book, Paolini toured over 135 schools and libraries, discussing reading and writing, all the while dressed in "a medieval costume of red shirt, billowy black pants, lace-up boots, and a jaunty black cap." ^[4] Paolini created the cover art for the first edition of Eragon, which featured Saphira's eye. He also drew the maps on the inside covers of his books.^[5]

During one of his promotional tours, he gave a speech at the school of the stepson of Carl Hiaasen; Hiaasen enjoyed the book so much, he told his publisher, Knopf about it^[6]. An offer was made by Knopf for Eragon and the rest of the Inheritance trilogy. After another round of editing, the second edition of Eragon was published in August 2003. At the age of nineteen, he became a New York Times bestselling author^[7].

Eldest, the sequel to Eragon, was released August 23, 2005. In the first edition of Eragon, it was stated that the third book would be titled Empire, but Knopf has the right to change this.^[8] Therefore third novel has not had a name officially released. Paolini has stated that the title will not necessarily start with E and contain six letters like the other two.[9] It was rumored that it would.

Literary influences

Information from Paolini's biography on his trilogy's official website.^[10]

• Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Magician by Raymond E. Feist
• His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
• Anne McCaffrey
• Jane Yolen
• Brian Jacques
• E.R. Eddison
• David Eddings
• Ursula LeGuin
• Beowulf
• The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Norse mythology
• Old English
• Icelandic sagas

Criticism

See also: Inheritance Trilogy#Critical_reception

See also: Inheritance Trilogy#Derivative nature of the books

Some critics of his work have noted a derivative nature to the series. Kenneth Oppel, who was first published at age fifteen, compared the book to a fantasy computer game.[11]

Writing in other media

A movie adaption of Eragon is scheduled for release on December 15, 2006. It stars a mostly British cast including Edward Speleers as Eragon and Jeremy Irons as Brom.

Trivia

• Paolini is red-green colorblind. He sees mostly in blue.
• He likes classical music.
• He has two pets. One is a black-and-white cat named Otis and the other is a cocker/Australian sheperd mix named Annie.^[12]

References

1. ↑  http://www.alagaesia.com/christopherpaolini.htm
2. ↑  http://www.powells.com/authors/hiassen.html
3. ↑  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/037582670X/002-9278409-1982408?n=283155
4. ↑  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/books/bestseller/0528bestchildren.html
5. ↑  http://www.bordersstores.com/walden/feature.jsp?file=paoliniw
6. ↑  See reviews: VOYA, "Eragon"; Kirkus, "Eldest"; School Library Journal, "Eldest"
7. ↑  Paolini, C., Eragon, Paolini International LLC, 2002.
8. ↑  http://alagaesia.com/christopherpaolini.htm
9. ↑  http://www.shurtugal.com/?id=trilogy/christopher/qanda

External links

• Official website, which includes autobiographical comments from Paolini
• Shur'tugal.com - The world's largest Inheritance Trilogy website. and Shur'tugal.com's page on Christopher Paolini
• Eragon summary, from Random House
• Shadeslayer.com Inheritance Trilogy Fan Site
• Video clip from the Amazon.com website
• [13] Audio Interview with Christopher Paolini
• http://www.homeschool.com/articles/Eragon/default.asp Interview with Eragon Author, Christopher Paolini
• Philip Pullman, Tamora Pierce, and Christopher Paolini Talk Fantasy Fiction, from Powell's books