Breece D'J Pancake (b. Breece Dexter Pancake, June 29, 1952 – April 8, 1979) was an American short story writer. He is said to be "one of the greatest authors you've never heard of" according to an article on his work in Study Breaks. Pancake was a native of West Virginia. Several of his short stories were published in The Atlantic Monthly and other periodicals during his lifetime.
Pancake died of suicide on Palm Sunday, 1979, at the age of 26. His motives for suicide are still somewhat unclear but many speculate the death of his father to alcoholism and the death of his close friend from a gruesome car accident could have had an influence on his choices—his writing style could also prove he was living a haunted life.
Biography
Early life and education (1952–1974)
Breece Dexter Pancake was born and raised in Milton, West Virginia, the youngest child of Clarence "Wicker" Pancake and Helen Frazier Pancake and brother of two sisters. His hometown of Milton is recognized as the home of handmade Blenko glass and sits in a plateau of farms outside the city of Huntington. Milton is also said to be Pancake's inspiration for the fictionalized settings of his stories.
Growing up in Milton, Pancake's best friend was Rick Blenko. During his childhood, Pancake would spend time listening to conversations between older men and older women which influenced his writing—he would also spend time eating at soup kitchens with the homeless.
Pancake briefly attended West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon before transferring to Marshall University in Huntington, where he completed a bachelor's degree in English education in 1974. After graduating from Marshall he spent time in the western United States, visiting his sister in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Later education
As a graduate student, he studied at the University of Virginia's creative writing program under John Casey and James Alan McPherson. Pancake also worked as an English teacher at two Virginia military academies, Fork Union and Staunton.
Pancake suffered from feelings of alienation at the University of Virginia. He felt that faculty and staff looked down upon him, despite the fact that the college was so close to his native state. He was, however, a gregarious person who befriended everyone he could. His attachment to alcohol eventually led to further isolation, likely contributing to his depressive state.
Personal life
He was an avid outdoorsman, who enjoyed hunting, fishing, and camping. Pancake was a devout fan of the music of folk singer Phil Ochs, who had attended Staunton Military Academy, where Pancake later taught.
The unusual middle name "D'J" originated when The Atlantic Monthly misprinted his middle initials (D.J., for Dexter John) in the byline of Trilobites, a short story the magazine published in 1977. Pancake decided not to correct it. Dexter was Pancake's middle name; he took the name John after converting to Catholicism in his mid-20s.
Suicide
Pancake died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the outskirts of Charlottesville, Virginia. He was buried in Milton, West Virginia. According to Foster, "One cannot consider Pancake's work without probing his tragic death. Douglass points out that, in hindsight, there were many indications of Pancake's suicidal longings," such as the act of giving away many personal items, including his guns, with the exception of the Savage over-under shotgun he used to end his life.
Sam Sacks of The Wall Street Journal described Pancake's death as "A Voice Stilled Too Soon," and called his suicide a "tragic mistake," insisting that it was the result of a particularly bad night rather than an inevitable circumstance. Sacks concluded this argument by stating that Pancake's stories, which carry on his legacy, are "heartbreaking not for their potential but for their perfection."
Murphy says, "Pancake has become a semi-mythical figure of American Literature, a hillbilly Hemingway for those few—heavy on writers and academicians—who do know him. Parts of the myth he created for himself are through the way he lived his life and the foggy circumstances surrounding his death. The rest of the myth we've created ourselves around the legacy of his extraordinary writing."
Pancake's papers are held at the West Virginia & Regional History Center, the West Virginia University Libraries at West Virginia University and the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.