The life and literary journey of Thomas Harris, creator of Hannibal Lecter

Thomas Harris' early life

Thomas Harris was born in 1940 in Jackson , Tennessee. He attended Baylor University in Waco , Texas, where he studied English, and graduated in 1964. In his university years he worked as a reporter for a local newspaper, and also began tp write stories. In 1968 he took HP a job as a crime reporter at Associated Press in New York, thus acquiring a good knowledge of police investigative procedures and of the world of crime. What particularly intrigued him was the psychology of murderers. This book - like all of Thomas Harris' thrillers - was made into a film. The success that he obtained convinced him to become a full-time writer.

Hannibal Lecter and major works

The Red Dragon (1981) introduced his best known and, in a way, most fascinating hero, Hannibal Elected, who would appear in all his later novels. The silence of the Lambs (1988) is by far the greatest achievement of the writer, and is considered a masterpiece of the genre. It revolves around two main characters , Hannibal Elected and Clarice Starling - a brilliant and determined FBI trainee, who happens to be very attractive young woman. The relationship that come to be established between them is complex, and includes a sort of admiration and mutual respect , besides an inevitable sense of fear on the young woman's part . The film which was made out of this bestseller in 1991, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster in the main roles and directed by Jonathan Femme, obyakned immense success all over the worls, and won top five Oscar Awards.

Writing style and personal life

Hannibal followed in 1999. It is the sequel of The Silence of the Lambs;part of this novel is set in Florence, a city that Lecter loves where he is living temporarily. With Hannibal Rising (2006) Harris explores - for the first time - Lecter's early years. Harris writes slowly, with great concentration and attention to important details; moreover, his novels are always the result of careful and meticulous research . This is the reason why years pass between the moment he begins a new novel and its publication. He is very much concerned with character investigation, and particularly with the motives behind criminal actions . His language is clear-cut and effective, and reflects both his close knowledge of the police world and his experience as a journalist. Thomas Harris lives in South Florida, and often visits Europe.