David Denby (born 1943) is an American journalist. He served as film critic for ''

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 ...

'' until December 2014.

Early life and education

Denby grew up 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 ...

. He received a B. A. from

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 1965, and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from its journalism school in 1966.

Career

Journalism

Denby began writing film criticism while a graduate student at Stanford University's Department of Communication. He began his professional life in the early 1970s as an adherent of the film critic

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...

—one of a group of film writers informally, and sometimes derisively, known as "the Paulettes." Denby wrote for ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', the ''Boston Phoenix'', and ''New York'' before arriving at ''The New Yorker''; his first article for the magazine was published in 1993, and beginning in 1998 he served as a staff writer and film critic, alternating his critical duties week by week with

Anthony Lane Anthony Lane is a British journalist who is a film critic for ''The New Yorker'' magazine. Career Education and early career Lane attended Sherborne School and graduated with a degree in English from Trinity College, Cambridge, where he also ...

. Denby participated in the 2012 ''Sight & Sound'' critics' poll, where he listed his ten favorite films as follows: ''

L'Avventura ''L'Avventura'' ( en, "The Adventure") is a 1960 Italian drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Developed from a story by Antonioni with co-writers Elio Bartolini and Tonino Guerra, the film is about the disappearance of a young woman ...

'', '' Citizen Kane'', ''

The Godfather Part II ''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is partially based on the 1969 novel ''The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. ''Part II'' s ...

'', '' Journey to Italy'', ''

The Life of Oharu is a 1952 Japanese historical fiction film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi from a screenplay by Yoshikata Yoda. It stars Kinuyo Tanaka as Oharu, a one-time concubine of a ''daimyō'' (and mother of a later ''daimyō'') who struggles to escape the s ...

'', ''

The Rules of the Game ''The Rules of the Game'' (original French title: ''La règle du jeu'') is a 1939 French satirical comedy-drama film directed by Jean Renoir. The ensemble cast includes Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parély, Marcel Dalio, Julien Carette, ...

'', '' Seven Samurai'', ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

'', ''

The Tree of Life ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', and ''

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

. In December 2014, it was announced that Denby would step down as film critic in early 2015, continuing with ''The New Yorker'' as a staff writer.

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...

wrote: "David Denby – the film critic who can be counted on most regularly to express American doublethink with the least amount of self-consciousness".

Books

Denby's ''Great Books'' (1996) is a non-fiction account of the

Western canon The Western canon is the body of high culture literature, music, philosophy, and works of art that are highly valued in the West; works that have achieved the status of classics. However, not all these works originate in the Western world, ...

-oriented

Core Curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

at his ''alma mater'',

. In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', the writer Joyce Carol Oates called the book "a lively adventure of the mind," filled with "unqualified enthusiasm." ''Great Books'' was a ''New York Times'' bestseller. In ''The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th century'', Peter Watson called "Great Books" the "most original response to the culture wars." The book has been published in 13 foreign editions. In 2004, Denby published ''American Sucker'', a memoir which details his investment misadventures in the dot-com stock market bubble, along with his own bust years as a divorcé from writer

Cathleen Schine Cathleen Schine (born 1953) is an American novelist. Her first book was ''Alice in Bed'' (1983), which was followed by ''To the Birdhouse'' (1990), ''Rameau's Niece'' (1993), ''The Love Letter'' (1995) and ''The Evolution of Jane'' (1998). '' ...

, leading to a major reassessment of his life.

Allan Sloan Allan Sloan (born 1944) is an American journalist, formerly senior editor at large at'' Fortune'' magazine. He is currently a columnist for ''The Washington Post.'' Sloan was born in Brooklyn, New York and is a 1966 graduate of Brooklyn College ...

in ''The New York Times'' called the author "formidably smart," while noting this paradox: "Mr. Denby is even smart enough to realize how paradoxical it is that he not only has a good, prestigious job, but that he is also in a position to make money by relating how he lost money in the stock market." ''Snark'', published in 2009, is Denby's polemical dissection of the spread of low, annihilating sarcasm in the Internet and in public speech. In 2012, Denby collected his best film writing in ''Do the Movies Have a Future?''

Bibliography

References

External links

*
David Denby archive
''New York'' (articles from January 1998 to January 2001) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Denby, David 1943 births Living people American film critics American memoirists American social sciences writers Columbia College (New York) alumni Ethical Culture Fieldston School alumni Harper's Magazine people The New Yorker critics The New Yorker staff writers Stanford University alumni Writers from New York City Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni