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Portnoy’s Complaint
''Portnoy's Complaint'' is a 1969 American novel by Philip Roth. Its success turned Roth into a major celebrity, sparking a storm of controversy over its explicit and candid treatment of sexuality, including detailed depictions of masturbation using various props including a piece of liver. The novel tells the humorous monologue of "a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor," who confesses to his psychoanalyst in "intimate, shameful detail, and coarse, abusive language." Many of its characteristics (such as comedic prose, themes of sexual desire and sexual frustration, and a self-conscious literariness) went on to become Roth trademarks. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked ''Portnoy's Complaint'' 52nd on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. ''Time'' included this novel in its "''TIME'' 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005." Structure and themes Structurally, ''Portnoy's Complaint'' is a continuous monologue by narrator ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophically and formally blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, for its "sensual, ingenious style" and for its provocative explorations of American identity. He first gained attention with the 1959 novella ''Goodbye, Columbus''; the collection so titled received the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.Brauner (2005), pp. 43–47 He became one of the most awarded American writers of his generation. His books twice received the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle award, and three times the PEN/Faulkner Award. He received a Pulitzer Prize for his 1997 novel '' American Pastoral'', which featured one of his best-known characters, Nathan Zuckerman. ''The Human Stain'' (2000), another Zuckerman novel, was awarded the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea, and shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest. Israel also is bordered by the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively. Tel Aviv is the economic and technological center of the country, while its seat of government is in its proclaimed capital of Jerusalem, although Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is unrecognized internationally. The land held by present-day Israel witnessed some of the earliest human occupations outside Africa and was among the earliest known sites of agriculture. It was inhabited by the Canaanites ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diana Trilling
Diana Trilling (née Rubin; July 21, 1905 – October 23, 1996) was an American literary critic and author, one of a group of left-wing writers known as the New York Intellectuals. Background Born Diana Rubin, she married the literary and cultural critic Lionel Trilling in 1929 after an extended stay in Paris with childhood friend Margaret Lefranc. Her parents, Sadie (née Forbert) and Joseph Rubin, were Polish Jews, her father from Warsaw and her mother from the local countryside. She graduated from Radcliffe College. Career Diana Trilling was a reviewer for ''The Nation'' magazine. Her works include ''We Must March My Darlings'' (1977), an essay collection; ''Mrs. Harris'' (1981), a study of and meditation on the trial of Jean Harris; and ''The Beginning of the Journey'' (1993), a memoir of her life and marriage to Lionel Trilling. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1976. Cultural impact Carolyn Heilbrun wrote about Trilling in her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irving Howe
Irving Howe (; June 11, 1920 – May 5, 1993) was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America. Early years Howe was born as Irving Horenstein in The Bronx, New York. He was the son of Jewish immigrants from Bessarabia, Nettie (née Goldman) and David Horenstein, who ran a small grocery store that went out of business during the Great Depression. His father became a peddler and eventually a presser in a dress factory. His mother was an operator in the dress trade. Howe attended City College of New York and graduated in 1940, alongside Daniel Bell and Irving Kristol; by the summer of 1940, he had changed his name to Howe for political (as distinct from official) purposes. While at school, he was constantly debating socialism, Stalinism, fascism, and the meaning of Judaism. He served in the US Army during World War II. Upon his return, he began writing literary and cultural criticism for the CIA-backed ''Partisan Revi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York Intellectuals
The New York Intellectuals were a group of American writers and literary critics based in New York City in the mid-20th century. They advocated left-wing politics but were also firmly anti-Stalinist. The group is known for having sought to integrate literary theory with Marxism and socialism while rejecting Soviet socialism as a workable or acceptable political model. Trotskyism emerged as the most common standpoint among these anti-Stalinist Marxists. Irving Kristol, Irving Howe, Seymour Martin Lipset, Leslie Fiedler and Nathan Glazer were members of the Trotskyist Young People's Socialist League. Overview Writers often identified as members of this group include Lionel Abel, Hannah Arendt, William Barrett, Daniel Bell, Saul Bellow (despite his usual association with the city of Chicago), Norman Birnbaum, Elliot Cohen, Midge Decter, Morris Dickstein, Leslie Fiedler, Nathan Glazer, Clement Greenberg, Paul Goodman, Richard Hofstadter, Sidney Hook,Michael HOCHGESCHWENDER "Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jewish Identity
Jewish identity is the objective or subjective state of Identity (social science), perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jews, Jewish. Under a broader definition, Jewish identity does not depend on whether a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an external set of religious, or legal, or sociological norms. Jewish identity does not need to imply religious orthodoxy. Accordingly, Jewish identity can be Cultural Judaism, cultural in nature. Jewish identity can involve ties to the Jewish community. Orthodox Judaism bases Jewishness on matrilineal descent. According to Jewish law (halacha), all those born of a Jewish mother are considered Jewish, regardless of personal beliefs or level of observance of Jewish law. World Union for Progressive Judaism, Progressive Judaism and Haymanot , Haymanot Judaism in general base Jewishness on having at least one Jewish parent, while Karaite Judaism bases Jewishness only on paternal lineage. These differences between the maj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March 11, 2013 it was designated a National Historic Landmark. It offers residencies to artists working in choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance art, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video. Collectively, artists who have worked at Yaddo have won 66 Pulitzer Prizes, 27 MacArthur Fellowships, 61 National Book Awards, 24 National Book Critics Circle Awards, 108 Rome Prizes, 49 Whiting Writers' Awards, a Nobel Prize (Saul Bellow, who won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976), at least one Man Booker Prize (Alan Hollinghurst, 2004) and countless other honors. Yaddo is included in the Union Avenue Historic District. History The estate was purchased in 1881 by the financier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 42 million visitors annually , and is the most filmed location in the world. After proposals for a large park in Manhattan during the 1840s, it was approved in 1853 to cover . In 1857, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a Architectural design competition, design competition for the park with their "Greensward Plan". Construction began the same year; existing structures, including a majority-Black settlement named Seneca Village, were seized through eminent domain and razed. The park's first areas were opened to the public in late 1858. Additional land at the northern end of Central Park was purchased in 1859, and the park was completed in 1876. After a period of de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Writer's Block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or the lack of writing skills. The condition ranges from difficulty in coming up with original ideas to being unable to produce a work for years. Writer's block is not solely measured by time passing without writing. It is measured by time passing without productivity in the task at hand. History Throughout history, writer's block has been a documented problem.Clark, Irene. "Invention." ''Concepts in Composition: Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing''. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2012. Professionals who have struggled with the affliction include authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Joseph Mitchell, comic strip cartoonist Charles M. Schulz,Downey, Bill. ''Right Brain – Write ON!''. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1984. c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partisan Review
''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affiliated John Reed Club of New York and was initially part of the Communist political orbit. Growing disaffection on the part of ''PR''s primary editors began to make itself felt, and the magazine abruptly suspended publication in the fall of 1936. When the magazine reemerged late in 1937, it came with additional editors and new writers who advanced a political line deeply critical of Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union. By the 1950s, the magazine had evolved towards a moderate social democratic and staunchly anti-Stalinist perspective and was generally supportive of American foreign policy. ''Partisan Review'' received covert funding from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the 1950s and 1960s as part of the agency's efforts to shape intellectual op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oh! Calcutta!
''Oh! Calcutta!'' is an avant-garde, risque theatrical revue created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan. The show, consisting of sketches on sex-related topics, debuted Off-Broadway in 1969 and then in the West End in 1970. It ran in London for over 3,900 performances, and in New York initially for 1,314. Revivals enjoyed even longer runs, including a Broadway revival that ran for 5,959 performances, making the show the longest-running revue in Broadway history at the time. As of 2018, its revival was still the longest-running revue in Broadway history; the second longest-running revival, after ''Chicago''; and the eighth longest-running Broadway show ever. The show sparked considerable controversy at the time due to its extended scenes of total nudity, both male and female. The title is taken from a painting by Clovis Trouille, itself a pun on "''O quel cul t'as!''", French for "Oh, what an arse you have!" Background Tynan came up with the idea of putting on an erotic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lenny Bruce
Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), known professionally as Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of comedy which contained satire, politics, religion, sex, and vulgarity. His 1964 conviction in an obscenity trial was followed by a Posthumous recognition, posthumous pardon in 2003. Bruce paved the way for counterculture-era comedians. His trial for obscenity was a landmark of freedom of speech in the United States. In 2017, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him third (behind Richard Pryor and George Carlin) on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time. Early life Bruce was Jewish, born Leonard Alfred Schneider in Mineola, New York, Mineola, New York (state), New York. He grew up in nearby Bellmore, New York, Bellmore, and attended Wellington C. Mepham High School. According to his biography, during part of his high school years, he lived at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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