Jerome Charyn (born May 13, 1937) is an American writer. With nearly 50 published works over a 50-year span, Charyn has a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life, writing in multiple genres.

Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...

calls him "one of the most important writers in American literature". ''New York

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' hailed Charyn as "a contemporary American Balzac", and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' described him as "absolutely unique among American writers". Charyn's first novel, ''Once Upon a Droshky'', was published in 1964. With ''Blue Eyes'' (1975), the debut of detective character Isaac Sidel, Charyn attracted wide attention and acclaim. As of 2017, Charyn has published 37 novels, three memoirs, nine graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named ''

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 ...

'' Book of the Year. Charyn has been a finalist for the

PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US$5000. Fi ...

. Charyn was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in Fiction, 1983. He received 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 ...

and has been named Commander of Arts and Letter (

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

) by the French Minister of Culture. Charyn was Distinguished Professor of Film Studies at the

American University of Paris The American University of Paris (AUP) is a private, independent, and accredited liberal arts university in Paris, France. Founded in 1962, the university is one of the oldest American institutions of higher education in Europe, and the first to ...

until 2009, when he retired from teaching. In addition to his writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player, once ranked in the top 10 percent of players in France. Novelist

Don DeLillo Donald Richard DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, per ...

called Charyn's book on table tennis, ''Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins'', "''The Sun Also Rises'' of ping-pong". Charyn lives in Paris and New York City.

Early life

Charyn was born in 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, to Sam and Fanny (Paley) Charyn. In order to escape its mean streets, Charyn immersed himself in comic books and cinema."BOMB"
Frederic Tuten, BOMB Magazine online, Fall 2004. Books were scarce in the Charyn household, save for volume "A" of the ''Book of Knowledge''. After becoming all too well versed in astronomy and aardvarks, Charyn hungered for more. He attended

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 ...

in Manhattan, majoring in painting. Turning from painting to literature, Charyn enrolled at

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 ...

, where he studied history and comparative literature with a focus on Russian literature, graduating

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

and ''cum laude'' (BA, 1959).

Teaching career

From 1962 through 1964, Charyn taught at his alma mater, Manhattan's High School of Music and Art, and at

High School of Performing Arts The High School of Performing Arts (informally known as "PA") was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984. In 1961, the school was m ...

, popularized in the movie Fame. Charyn lectured in English at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

in 1965. He was assistant professor of English at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

from 1965 to 1968. He served as a visiting professor in colleges across the country, including

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

in 1979 and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, from 1981 until 1986. From 1988 to 1989, Charyn was Distinguished Professor at the

. From 1995 to 2008, Charyn taught film at

, where he is Distinguished Professor ''

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

''. Charyn serves on the advisory board of the Laboratoire d'Études et de Recherche sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA), a research centre at

Aix-Marseille University Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II o ...

Literary career

Charyn often returns to his native Bronx in many of his writings, including a book appropriately named ''El Bronx''. Michael Woolf, who wrote ''Exploding the Genre: The Crime Fiction of Jerome Charyn'', says of Charyn: "Of all the novelists characterized as

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 J ...

, Charyn is the most radical and inventive. There is in the body of his work a restless creativity which constantly surprises and repeatedly undermines the reader's expectation." One of Charyn's best-known protagonists is Isaac Sidel, a Jewish New York police detective turned mayor, who is the subject of eleven crime novels, including ''Blue Eyes'' and ''Citizen Sidel''. Charyn became interested in writing a crime novel after discovering Ross Macdonald's ''

The Galton Case ''The Galton Case'' is the eighth novel in the Lew Archer series by Ross Macdonald. It was published in the US in 1959 by Knopf and in 1960 by Cassel & Co in the UK. The book has been widely translated, although the title has been changed in so ...

'' (1959). What impressed Charyn most was the narrative voice of sleuth

Lew Archer Lew Archer is a fictional character created by American-Canadian writer Ross Macdonald. Archer is a private detective working in Southern California. Between the late 1940s and the early '70s, the character appeared in 18 novels and a handful o ...

—at once sympathetic and detached, who "deliver both a landscape and a past without least hint of sentimentality."See Charyn's introduction to ''The Isaac Quartet'' (1984), London, Zoomba Books The experiences of Charyn's brother, Harvey, an NYPD homicide detective, added authenticity to this popular series, which attracted a cult following worldwide. After the limited success of his earlier works, Charyn considered publishing the first Sidel novel under what he described as the

Marrano Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were Forced conversion#Spanish Inquisition, forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to Crypto-Judaism, practice Judaism i ...

pen name of Joseph da Silva (i.e., to obscure his

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

origins), but was convinced by his agent to use his birth name. The ten books were translated into seven languages and remained in print for three decades. In 1991, Charyn co-produced and co-wrote a TV pilot starring

Ron Silver Ronald Arthur Silver (July 2, 1946 – March 15, 2009) was an American actor/activist, director, producer, and radio host. As an actor, he portrayed Henry Kissinger, Alan Dershowitz and Angelo Dundee. He was awarded a Tony in 1988 for Best Actor ...

as The Good Policemen. More recently, in April 2012,

Otto Penzler Otto Penzler (born July 8, 1942) is a German-born American editor of mystery fiction, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City. Biography Born in Germany to a German-American mother and a German father, Penzler moved to The B ...

, founder of

Mysterious Press The Mysterious Press is an American publishing company specializing in mystery fiction based in New York City. The company, founded in 1975 by Otto Penzler, has been associated with various publishing companies over the years, most recently with ...

, reissued the entire series as eBooks, co-published by

Open Road Media Open Road Integrated Media or ORIM (stylized as OR/M and also called Open Road) is a digital media company in New York City that was created by Jane Friedman and Jeffrey Sharp in 2009 with a focus on publishing ebook editions of older works of li ...

. The October 2012, publication of ''Under the Eye of God'', the first new Sidel thriller in a decade, rebooted the series ahead of a planned adult animated TV drama, to be titled ''Hard Apple''. Charyn's eight graphic novels were teamed him up with artists like

Jacques de Loustal Jacques de Loustal (born 10 April 1956) is a French comics artist who uses a painterly style reminiscent of David Hockney. Biography In combination with a career as an illustrator, Loustal began working in comics in the late 1970s publishing sh ...

José Antonio Muñoz José Antonio Muñoz or simply Muñoz (born July 10, 1942) is an Argentine artist. He is most notable for his influential black-and-white artwork. His hardboiled graphic novels series ''Alack Sinner'' (with writer Carlos Sampayo) is a noted sourc ...

and

François Boucq François Boucq (; born 28 November 1955 in Lille), is a French comic book artist. He is most famous for his Surrealism, surreal comics revolving around the main character . Career Boucq published cartoons in magazines like ''Le Point'' or ''L'E ...

, together with whom he won the 1998 Angoulême Grand Prix. Much of his writing in this genre was influenced by the comic books he devoured as a child. Charyn himself says comic books helped him learn to read. Charyn's books have been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Chinese and 11 other languages. Charyn served as judge for the 2011 National Book Awards in Fiction. He is represented by the literary agency headed by

Georges Borchardt Georges Borchardt is a literary agent in America; he has represented such figures as General Charles de Gaulle to Jane Fonda. Early life Born in Berlin in 1928, Borchardt was in France with his family when war broke out in 1939; his father d ...

. Charyn's personal papers are held by the

Fales Library New York University's Fales Library and Special Collections is located on the third floor of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at 70 Washington Square South between LaGuardia Place and the Schwartz Plaza, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhat ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

''The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson''

The publication of his 2010 novel ''The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson'' (W.W. Norton) stirred a great deal of controversy. Some critics felt that Charyn was much too brazen in writing in poet

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...

's voice and surrounding her with invented characters.'' The New York Times'' said this "fits neatly into the flourishing genre of literary body-snatching". In the San Francisco Chronicle, the novel was called a "bodice-ripper". Other critics saw the work as a magical tour de force.

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...

, writing in ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

'', said: "Of literary sleights of hand none is more exhilarating for the writer, as none is likely to be riskier, than the appropriation of another—classic—writer's voice." In the'' Globe and Mail'', reviewer

William Kowalski William John Kowalski III (born August 3, 1970 in Parma, Ohio) is an American-Canadian novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of ''Eddie's Bastard'' (1999), ''Somewhere South of Here'' (2001),Judd, ElizabethReview ''The New York Times'', 2 ...

wrote: "I had hoped that there was someone like Dickinson out there. My one regret, after finding her, was that I would never get to make her acquaintance. No doubt millions of others feel the same. It's for us that Jerome Charyn has written this book." In ''The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson'', Charyn attempts to bring America's greatest female poet to life by transforming himself into Emily Dickinson. Assuming her voice, he narrates Dickinson's "secret life" to the reader, delving into her childhood, romantic involvements, even her final illness and death. On May 1, 2011, ''The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson'' was named a "Must-Read" book by the

Massachusetts Center for the Book The Massachusetts Center for the Book is Massachusetts's affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Mission The Massachusetts Center's mission is to "advance the cause of books and reading and enhance the outreach potentia ...

and selected as finalist for its annual book award in the fiction category. The French edition of his novel, titled ''la vie secrète d'emily dickinson,'' was released by Rivages in 2013, Charyn says he drew inspiration for his novel from Emily Dickinson's letters and poems. He says of Dickinson: "I am fascinated by her writing and the kind of power she had. Where it came from, I don't think we'll ever know."

"The Collagists"

In 2007 Charyn was asked by the literary website '' Smyles and Fish'', along with lifelong friend, novelist

Frederic Tuten Frederic Tuten (born December 2, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He has written five novels – ''The Adventures of Mao on the Long March'' (1971), ''Tallien: A Brief Romance'' (1988), ''Tintin in the New World: A ...

, to write an essay about their former colleague and friend

Donald Barthelme Donald Barthelme (April 7, 1931 – July 23, 1989) was an American short story writer and novelist known for his playful, postmodernist style of short fiction. Barthelme also worked as a newspaper reporter for the ''Houston Post'', was managing ...

. The project evolved into a lengthy article, which offers a sort of collage of these three writers and the world of their influences. The work is divided into three parts - an introductory essay on the project by editor-in-chief Iris Smyles, Charyn's essay on Barthelme, and Tuten's piece ''My Autobiography: Portable with Images''. The work also features photos of the three writers and their work, as well as quotes from Barthelme himself.

Advocacy and charity work

In 1968, Charyn joined

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

, Dr.

Benjamin Spock Benjamin McLane Spock (May 2, 1903 – March 15, 1998) was an American pediatrician and left-wing political activist whose book '' Baby and Child Care'' (1946) is one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century, selling 500,000 copie ...

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...

William Styron William Clark Styron Jr. (June 11, 1925 – November 1, 2006) was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work. Styron was best known for his novels, including: * '' Lie Down in Darkness'' (1951), his acclaimed fi ...

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; de ...

and more than 400 others in signing the "

Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse of ...

" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.

Personal life

Charyn has lived in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, the Bronx,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, Paris and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. He currently divides his time between New York and Paris. During 14 years living in Paris and teaching at the American University, he resisted mastering the French language, fearful of its effect on "the rhythm f my native speech even though French words creep into your vocabulary. I don't want my music interfered with." Charyn is married to Lenore Riegel,
Liam O'Brien and Sam Riegel, AWNP: Unplugged Ep. 1, April 16, 2020 mother of actress

Eden Riegel Eden Sonja Jane Riegel (born January 1, 1981) is an American actress. She portrayed Bianca Montgomery in the daytime drama ''All My Children'', and propelled the character into a gay icon, as well as a popular figure within the medium. Nominated ...

and voice actor

Sam Riegel Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel, sometimes credited as Jack Lingo, is an American voice actor, director, and writer. He is a regular cast member of the web series ''Critical Role'', in which he and other fellow voice actors play ''Dungeons & Dragons' ...

Bibliography

Isaac Sidel series *''Blue Eyes'', Simon & Schuster, 1975 *''Marilyn the Wild'', Arbor House, 1976 *''The Education of Patrick Silver'', Arbor House, 1976 *''Secret Isaac'', Arbor House, 1978 *''The Good Policeman'', Mysterious Press, 1990 *''Maria's Girls'', Warner Books, 1992 *''Montezuma's Man'', Warner Books, 1993 *''Little Angel Street'', Warner Books, 1995 *''El Bronx'', Warner Books, 1997 *''Citizen Sidel'', Mysterious Press, 1999 *''Under the Eye of God'', Mysterious Press and Open Road Media, 2012 *''Winter Warning: An Isaac Sidel Novel'', Pegasus Books, October 2017 *''The Isaac Quartet'', Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002 (Omnibus of the first four Sidel novels) Other novels *''Once upon a Droshky'', McGraw-Hill, 1964 *''On the Darkening Green'', McGraw-Hill, 1965 *''The Man Who Grew Younger'', Harper & Row, 1967 *''Going To Jerusalem'', Viking, 1967 *''American Scrapbook'', Viking, 1969 *''Eisenhower, My Eisenhower'', Holt, 1971 *''The Tar Baby'', Holt, 1973 *''The Franklin Scare'', Arbor House, 1977 *''The Seventh Babe'', Arbor House, 1979 *''The Catfish Man'', Arbor House, 1980 *''Darlin' Bill'', Arbor House, 1980 *''Panna Maria'', Arbor House, 1982 *''Pinocchio's Nose'', Arbor House, 1983 *''War Cries Over Avenue C'', Donald I. Fine, 1985 *''Paradise Man'', Donald I. Fine, 1987 *''Elsinore'', Warner Books, 1991 *''Back to Bataan'', Farrar, Straus (for younger readers), 1993 *''Death of a Tango King'', New York University Press, 1998 *''Captain Kidd'', St. Martin's Press, 1999 *''Hurricane Lady'', Warner Books, 2001 *''The Green Lantern'', Thunder's Mouth Press, 2004 *''Johnny One-Eye: A Tale of the American Revolution'', W.W.Norton, 2008 *''The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson'', W.W.Norton, 2010 * *''Jerzy: A Novel'', Bellevue Literary Press, March 2017 *
The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt and His Times
', Liveright, 2019 *
Cesare: A Novel of War-Torn Berlin
', Bellevue Literary Press, 2020 *'' Sergeant Salinger'', Bellevue Literary Press, 2021 *'' Big Red'', Liveright, 2022 Short stories and collections (selected) *''The Man Who Grew Younger and Other Stories'', Harper, 1967 *''Bitter Bronx: Thirteen Stories'', Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2015, *"The Blue Book of Crime", in ''The New Black Mask'', Harcourt Brace, 1986 *"Fantomas in New York", in ''A Matter of Crime'', Harcourt Brace, 1988 *"Young Isaac", in ''The Armchair Detective'', 1990 * * *"Adonis" in ''The American Scholar'', Winter, 2011 Issue * *Alice's Eyes. American Short Fiction Summer 2011. *The Paperhanger's Wife. Fiction, Number 58. 2012. * *The Major Leaguer. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. September–October 2013. Comics *''La femme du magicien'', art by

Casterman Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Brussels, Belgium. History The company was founded in 1780 by Donat-Joseph Casterman, an editor and bookseller or ...

, 1986 (published in english by

Dover Press Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...

as ''The magician's wife'', 2015) *''Bouche du diable'', art by François Boucq, Casterman, 1990 (published in english by Dover Press as ''Billy Budd, KGB'', 2016) *''Les frères Adamov'', art by

, Casterman, 1991 (published in english by Dover Press as ''The boys of Sheriff Street'', 2016) *''Margot'', art by

Massimiliano Frezzato Massimiliano Frezzato (born March 12, 1967) is an Italian comic book author. Born in Turin, he studied art in that city and won the first Prize in the 1989 comics contest in Prato. In 1990 he started the series ''Margot'', written by Jerome Chary ...

, Glénat, 1991-1995 *''Family Man'', art by

Joe Staton Joe Staton ( born January 19, 1948) is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist of t ...

Paradox Press Paradox Press was a division of DC Comics formed in 1993 after editor Mark Nevelow departed from Piranha Press. Under the initial editorship of Andrew Helfer and Bronwyn Carlton the imprint was renamed. It is best known for graphic novels like '' ...

, 1995 *''Madame Lambert'', art by Andreas Gefe, Arrache Cœur, 1997 *''Le croc du serpent'', art by

, Casterman, 1997 *''Panna Maria'', art by José Antonio Muñoz, Casterman, 1999 (adapted by the homonym novel by Charyn himself) *''White Sonya'', art by Jacques de Loustal, Casterman, 2000 *''Marilyn la dingue'', art by Frédéric Rébéna, Denoël, 2008 (adapted by the novel ''Marilyn the wild'' by Charyn himself) *''Little Tulip'', art by François Boucq, Casterman, 2014 (published in english by Dover Press as ''Little Tulip'', 2017) *''Corb-nez'', art by Emmanuel Civiello,

Le Lombard ''Le Lombard'', known as ''Les Éditions du Lombard'' until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when ''Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard is now part of Média-Participations, alongside publishers Dargaud and Dupuis ...

, 2018 *''New York Cannibals'', art by François Boucq, Casterman, 2020 (sequel to ''Little Tulip'') Non-fiction *''Metropolis: New York as Myth, Marketplace and Magical Land'', Putnam's, 1986 **Translated and adapted into French by Cécile Bloc-Rodot – ''New York : Chronique d'une ville sauvage'', coll.

Découvertes Gallimard (, ; in United Kingdom: ''New Horizons'', in United States: ''Abrams Discoveries'') is an editorial collection of illustrated monographic books published by the Éditions Gallimard in pocket format. The books are concise introductions to pa ...

(nº 204), Paris: Gallimard, 1994 (also translated into Spanish, Italian, Korean and simplified Chinese, as translated from the French version) *''Movieland: Hollywood and the Great American Dream Culture'', Putnam's, 1989, New York University Press, 1996 *''The Dark Lady from Belorusse'', St. Martin's Press, 1997 *''Hemingway : Portrait de l'artiste en guerrier blessé'', coll.

(nº 371), Paris: Gallimard, 1999 **Trad. into traditional Chinese by Chʻên Li-chʻing – ''Hai Ming Wei: Shang hên lei lei tê wên hsüeh lao ping'', collection "Fa hsien chih lü" (vol. 57), Taipei: China Times Publishing, 2001 *''The Black Swan'', St. Martin's Press, 2000 *''Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins: Ping-Pong and the Art of Staying Alive'', Four Walls Eight Windows, 2001 * *''Gangsters & Gold Diggers: Old New York, the Jazz Age, and the Birth of Broadway'', Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003 * *''Inside the Hornet's Head: an anthology of Jewish American Writing'', Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005 *''Raised by Wolves: The Turbulent Art and Times of Quentin Tarantino'', Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005 *''Marilyn : La dernière déesse'',

(n° 517), Gallimard, 2007 **''Marilyn: The Last Goddess'' Abrams_Discoveries_series.html" ;"title="List of English-translated volumes of Découvertes Gallimard">Abrams Discoveries series">List of English-translated volumes of Découvertes Gallimard">Abrams Discoveries series Abrams, 2008 *''Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil'', Yale University Press, American Icon series, March 2011 *''A Loaded Gun: Emily Dickinson for the 21st Century'', Bellevue Literary Press, March 2016 Selected plays and documentaries *''George'' (three-act play) developed at the Actors Studio, under Arthur Penn, staged readings at La Maison des Ecrivains (Paris 1988) and Ubu Repertory Theater (NY 1990) *''Empire State Building'', co-writer, semi-fictional documentary broadcast by Canal Plus, (France 2008) As editor *Editor, The Single Voice: An Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. New York, Collier, 1969 *Editor, The Troubled Vision: An Anthology of Contemporary Short Novels and Passages. New York, Collier, 1970 *Editor, The New Mystery. New York, Dutton, 1993 About Jerome Charyn * * *''The Review of Contemporary Fiction'' Summer 1992 issue, devoted to work of Charyn and José Donoso *''Polar'' (Paris) summer 1995 issue, devoted to Jerome Charyn *''Air France Magazine'' cover story on novel ''Citizen Sidel'', August 1997 *"Notes on the Rhetoric of Anti-Realist Fiction" by Albert Guerard, in ''Tri-Quarterly'' (Evanston, Finding the MusicIllinois), Spring 1974 *"Jerome Charyn: Artist as Mytholept" by Robert L. Patten, in ''Novel'' (Providence, Rhode Island), Fall, 1984 *"Exploding the Genre: The Crime Fiction of Jerome Charyn" by Michael Woolf, in ''American Crime Fiction: Studies in the Genre'' Brian Docherty (ed.), New York, St. Martin's Press, 1988, p. 132 and p. 138. *"Finding the Music: An Interview with Jerome Charyn on ''The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson''"]https://journals.openedition.org/erea/1737, Richard Phelan and Sophie Vallas, E-REA 8-2, 2011. https://doi.org/10.4000/erea.1737 *Vallas, Sophie. "The Bronx in Short Trousers: Jerome Charyn's Mischievous Childhood Recollections in The Dark Lady from Belorusse", in Life Writing, Taylor & Francis Online (April 8, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/14484528.2021.1907890 *Vallas Sophie, "La possibilité d'une île: la mythologie du Bronx, archipel enchanté, dans trois textes autobiographiques de Jerome Charyn", in Nathalie Cochoy et Sylvie Maurel (eds.): L'Art de la ville/ The Art of the City, Anglophonia/ Caliban (Université Toulouse-II-Le Mirail), n°25/2009, p. 75-85. *Vallas Sophie, « D'autres vies dans la mienne : l'écriture (auto)biographique de Jerome Charyn », in Joanny Moulin, Yannick Gouchan et Nguyen Phuong Ngoc, Études biographiques. La biographie au carrefour des humanités, Paris, Honoré Champion, 2018, 135-144. *Vallas Sophie, "Saturne et l'orphelin : les relations familiales dans le cycle Isaac Sidel de Jerome Charyn", in Sylvie Crinquand et Mélanie Joseph-Vilain (eds.), dossier « Le détective en famille », Textes & Contextes, 15-2, 2020.

Literary archives

*Charyn's archives and manuscripts are housed in the Fales Collection at Elmer Holmes Bobst Library of New York University, since 1993.

References

Sources

*Jerome Charyn's introduction to ''The Isaac Quartet'' - Black Box edition of the first four Isaac Sidel books, Four Walls Eight Windows, New York and London, 2002 *''Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers'' *''Exploding The Genre: The Crime Fiction of Jerome Charyn in American Crime Fiction'', Ed. B. Doherty, St Martin's Press 1988 *''Neon Noir'' by Woody Haut, Chapter 6 "From Mean Streets to Dream Streets". Serpents Tail, 1999 *Jerome Charyn Topics, ''The New York Times''

*Jerome Charyn Interview: ''bookreporter.com''

*Jerome Charyn Interview: ''IndieBound.org''

*''Powell's Book Blog''

*''Master of Mythologies: The Fictional Worlds of Jerome Charyn'', Marvin Taylor, Curator, Fales Library

External links

The Fales Library Guide to the Jerome Charyn Papers

Official website

"The Collagists"
at Smyles & Fish * : Charyn discusses chaos and the Bronx, and ping-pong, which inspired his Isaac Sidel crime novel series; the 11th is ''Under the Eye of God'' (Mysterious Press/Open Road Media, October 2012) * : Charyn discusses Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe and his biographical study ''Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil'' (Yale University Press, March 2011) * : Charyn discusses Emily Dickinson and critical reaction to his novel ''The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson'' (W. W. Norton, 2010). (TRT 3:09 min.)
Video:
Charyn discusses Emily Dickinson at Harvard Bookstore, NPR Forum Network Free Lecture (March 2010) * : Charyn discusses his youth in the Bronx, his love for Paris, and his novel ''Johnny One-Eye'' (W. W. Norton, 2008) * : Director Naomi Gryn goes back to the Bronx with authors Jerome Charyn and

(originally broadcast on Channel 4, BBC, 1993)
Official page:
Charyn's novel "The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson"
Official page:
Charyn's Isaac Sidel detective/crime fiction series
Official page:
Charyn's biography "Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil"
Official page:
Charyn's novel "Johnny One-Eye: A Tale of the American Revolution"
Official page:
Charyn's novel "I Am Abraham: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War" (Liveright, 2014) {{DEFAULTSORT:Charyn 1937 births Living people 20th-century American novelists American expatriates in France Columbia College (New York) alumni American graphic novelists Crime novelists Rice University faculty Princeton University faculty Jewish American novelists Academic staff of the American University of Paris 21st-century American novelists City College of New York faculty Stanford University faculty American male novelists Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The High School of Music & Art alumni PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Novelists from New Jersey Novelists from Texas 21st-century American Jews