Daniel Stern (January 18, 1928 – January 24, 2007) was an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

, and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of English in the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...

creative writing program.

Biography

Daniel Stern was raised on the Lower East Side and

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

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 ...

. Stern was talented and adept in many areas. Before starting his career as a writer, Stern was an accomplished cellist and promising composer. After graduating from

The High School of Music and Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the Hig ...

, he earned spots in the

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) is an American orchestra based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The largest performing arts organization in Indiana, the orchestra is based at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis on Monument Ci ...

and the

Houston Symphony Orchestra The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts. History The first concert of what was to become the Houston Symphony took place on June 21, 1 ...

and played with jazz giant

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

. He served as vice president at

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Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. As a young writer, Stern and

Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseba ...

maintained a close friendship. Stern was a prolific and critically acclaimed writer. He published nine novels and three collections of short fiction and also served as the editor of '' Hampton Shorts''. His work is celebrated for explorations of post-

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 ...

Jewish-American American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora Je ...

life, formal experimentation in the novel, and for the innovation in the short story known as the "Twice Told Tale". His first collection of such stories, ''Twice Told Tales'', was called a "powerful emotional experience" by Ronald Sanders of ''

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''. Although his novels and short stories are admired for their lyricism and experimentation, he only momentarily penetrated the mainstream with the novels ''Who Shall Live, Who Shall Die'' and ''The Suicide Academy'' (the first novel of the Wolf Walker trilogy). ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' described him as "a writer's writer", and as such he remains something of a

cult figure A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. A ...

. Anaïs Nin devoted an essay to ''The Suicide Academy'' in her collection ''In Favor of the Sensitive Man''. He collected awards for his writing throughout his career, including the International Prix du Souvenir from the

Bergen Belsen Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentr ...

Society and the Government of France, the Rosenthal Award from the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

, two Pushcart Prizes, two O. Henry Prizes, and publication in

Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of '' The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in co ...

. Stern taught at

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

Pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US * Pace Airlines, an American charter airline *Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

, New York, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. He taught in the

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

program at the

from 1992 to 2006, where he was Cullen Distinguished Professor of English. He died of complications from heart surgery on January 24, 2007.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''The Girl With the Glass Heart'' (1953) * ''The Guests of Fame'' (1958) * ''Miss America'' (1960) * ''Who Shall Live, Who Shall Die'' (1963) Foreword by Elie Wiesel (1994) * ''After the War'' (1965) * ''The Suicide Academy'' (1968) Introduction by Anaïs Nin (1968) * ''The Rose Rabbi'' (1971) * ''Final Cut'' (1975) * ''An Urban Affair'' (1980)

Collected short fiction

* ''Twice Told Tales'' (1989) Introduction by Sir Frank Kermode (1994) * ''Twice Upon a Time'' (1992) * ''One Day's Perfect Weather (1999) * ''In the Country of the Young'' (2001) * ''A Little Street Music'' (2004)

Uncollected short fiction

* ''The Oven Bird by Robert Frost: A Story'' (1995) * ''Grievances and Griefs by Robert Frost: A Story'' (1995) * ''The Advancer'' (2006)

Plays

* ''The Television Waiting Room.'' Read at Playwrights Horizons, New York, NY. 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Daniel 1928 births 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Jewish American novelists 2007 deaths University of Houston faculty Harvard University faculty New York University faculty Pace University faculty The High School of Music & Art alumni 20th-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Novelists from Texas Novelists from Massachusetts 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews