Arthur Krystal (born December 12, 1947, in Stockholm, Sweden) is an American essayist, editor, and screenwriter living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Early life and education

Krystal's parents, Shloime and Mila Krystal, both from Warsaw, Poland, survived

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in Russia and immigrated to the United States in 1952. He attended the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...

from 1963 to 1965, the

University of Wisconsin at Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

from 1965 to 1969, and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1970. After working at a series of jobs, he became a part-time editor at Basic Books in New York City.

Career

Krystal has written for publications including ''

The American Scholar "The American Scholar" was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College at the First Parish in Cambridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was invited to speak in recognition of his gro ...

'', '' Harper's Magazine'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', the ''

Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to r ...

'', the ''

Washington Post Book World ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nat ...

'', ''

New York Newsday ''New York Newsday'' was an American daily newspaper that primarily served New York City and was sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The paper, established in 1985, was a New York City-specific offshoot of '' Newsday'', a Long Island ...

'', the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'', the '' New Criterion'', the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...

'', ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'', ''

Art & Antiques ''Art & Antiques'' is an American arts magazine. History 1984 launch ''Art & Antiques'' launched its premier issue in March 1984. While the magazine disclaimed any connection to a previous publication of the same name, the company had in fact ...

'', the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'', and ''

Collier's Encyclopedia ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' is a discontinued general encyclopedia first published in 1949 by P. F. Collier and Son in the United States. With ''Encyclopedia Americana'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Collier's Encyclopedia'' became one of the th ...

''. His first book of essays, ''Agitations: Essays on Life and Literature'' (2002) was a finalist for the 2003

PEN Award This is a list of awards sponsored by International PEN centres. There are over 145 PEN centres on the world, some of which hold annual literary awards. The PEN American Center awards have been characterized as being among the "major" literary awar ...

for the "Art of the Essay". The essay "When Writers Speak", which appeared in ''The New York Times Book Review'', was included in ''The Best American Essays 2010'', edited by

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

. Many of Krystal's essays have stirred up controversy for their insistence that intellectual work not be limited or defined by sociopolitical concerns when executed in good faith. Krystal co-wrote the HBO film '' Thick as Thieves'' (1998) and wrote the documentary ''

Secrets of the Code ''Secrets of the Code'' is a 2006 documentary based on Dan Burstein's ''New York Times'' best-seller of the same name in which experts explore topics put forth by Dan Brown's novel ''The Da Vinci Code''. ''New Yorker'' essayist Arthur Krystal ...

'' (2006).

Bibliography

Books

* ''This Thing We Call Literature''. Oxford University Press. 2016. * ''Except When I Write: Reflections of a Recovering Critic''. Oxford University Press. 2011. * ''The Half-Life of an American Essayist''. David R. Godine, Publisher. 2007 * ''Agitations: Essays on Life and Literature''. Yale University Press. 2002.

As editor

* ''A Company of Readers: Uncollected Writings of W. H. Auden, Jacques Barzun, and Lionel Trilling from The Reader's Subscription and Mid-Century Book Clubs''. The Free Press. 2001. * ''Jacques Barzun, The Culture We Deserve''. Wesleyan University Press. 1989.

Selected essays

* "Closing the Books" (''Harper's'', March 1996), recounting Krystal's disaffection with reading, generated many irate responses and was the occasion of a lecture by

Sven Birkerts Sven Birkerts (born 21 September 1951) is an American essayist and literary critic. He is best known for his book ''The Gutenberg Elegies'' (1994), which posits a decline in reading due to the overwhelming advances of the Internet and other te ...

at the New York Public Library (May 1, 1996): "The Time of Reading: A meditation on the fate of books in an impatient age". * "H. C. Witwer and Me" (''The American Scholar'', Spring 1998). Reprinted in ''Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love'', edited by

Anne Fadiman Anne Fadiman (born August 7, 1953) is an American essayist and reporter. Her interests include literary journalism, essays, memoir, and autobiography. She has received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for ...

(Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2005). * "Who Speaks for the Lazy?" (''The New Yorker'', April 26 & May 3, 1999) was a clarion call to those who find it hard to get any work done. Reprinted in ''The New Gilded Age: The New Yorker Looks at the Culture of Affluence'', edited by

David Remnick David J. Remnick (born October 29, 1958) is an American journalist, writer and editor. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his book '' Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire'', and is also the author of ''Resurrection'' and ''King of th ...

(New York: Random House, 2000) * "Why Smart People Believe in God" (''The American Scholar'', Fall, 2001) examined the intellectual appeal of and objections to "the Mayor of the Planet"), anticipating the "

New Atheism The term ''New Atheism'' was coined by the journalist Gary Wolf in 2006 to describe the positions promoted by some atheists of the twenty-first century. New Atheism advocates the view that superstition, religion and irrationalism should not si ...

" of the twenty-first century. * "Easy Writers" (''The New Yorker'', May 28, 2012), a highly controversial piece about the distinctions between literature and genre fiction, elicited a notable response from

Lev Grossman Lev Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American novelist and journalist who wrote ''The Magicians Trilogy'': '' The Magicians'' (2009), ''The Magician King'' (2011), and ''The Magician's Land'' (2014). He was the book critic and lead technology ...

in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine (May 23, 2012): "Literary Revolution in the Supermarket Aisle: Genre Fiction Is Disruptive Technology: How science fiction, fantasy, romance, mysteries and all the rest will take over the world". * "What is Literature" (''Harper's'', March 2014) took issue with ''

A New Literary History of America ''A New Literary History of America'' is an anthology of essays edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors. Its roughly 200 essays span a range of topics that the editors selected as a sample of the different voices and perspectives on North Amer ...

'', edited by

Greil Marcus Greil Marcus (born June 19, 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics. Biography Marcus wa ...

and

Werner Sollors Werner Max Sollors (born June 6, 1943) is Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English and of African American Studies at Harvard University. He is also Global Professor of Literature at New York University Abu Dhabi. Background Sollors rece ...

, and came down firmly on the side of the literary canon while recognizing the socio-cultural biases that inform it. * "The Shrinking World of Ideas" (''The Chronicle of Higher Education'', November 28, 2014) or how postmodernism and neuroscience have influenced the teaching of the humanities. * "Is Cultural Appropriation Ever Appropriate?" (''The Los Angeles Review of Books'', July 15, 2017) questioned the validity of the debate itself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krystal, Arthur 1947 births Living people American essayists