Marc Estrin (born April 20, 1939) is an American writer and political activist.

Early life and education

Estrin was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He attended

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

, studying

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, then studied theater directing at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Estrin came to novel-writing late. In the fall of 1998, he and his wife Donna were on holiday in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and decided to visit the grave of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

, whose work had always been important to him. His father had challenged him to read ''

The Magic Mountain ''The Magic Mountain'' (german: Der Zauberberg, links=no, ) is a novel by Thomas Mann, first published in German in November 1924. It is widely considered to be one of the most influential works of twentieth-century German literature. Mann st ...

'' during the summer before he attended college. He left a note on the grave, inviting Kafka to drop by if he ever found himself in Burlington. Through the 1960s he worked in various

repertory A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...

theaters in the United States, including the Pittsburgh Playhouse and the San Francisco Actor's Workshop. But the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and

Bertold Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

inspired him to become politically active. He helped found and was the first coordinator of the Burlington Peace and Justice Center, working on anti-war campaigns, and most recently has stood for seven years in all weather with a Monday-through-Friday peace

vigil A vigil, from the Latin ''vigilia'' meaning ''wakefulness'' (Greek: ''pannychis'', or ''agrypnia'' ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word ''vigilia'' has become genera ...

in Burlington. His current political work focuses on two arenas: a just settlement between

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

and

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 ...

and what he considers to be crucially unanswered questions of

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

. These political issues are discussed in some of his writings. In 1985, he enrolled in the

Starr King School for the Ministry Starr King School for the Ministry is a Unitarian Universalist seminary in Oakland, California. The seminary was formed in 1904 to educate leaders for the growing number of progressive religious communities in the western part of the US. The scho ...

and became an ordained

Unitarian Universalist Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present) ...

minister in 1988, and was active in the church, but found it conflicted with his political work. He is also a cellist and vocalist who has worked with several orchestras including the ''Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra'', the ''Lyric Theater'' Orchestra, the ''Vermont Symphony Chorus''.

Writing career

Estrin said that the concept, an outline and the opening episodes of '' Insect Dreams'' arrived in Vermont one morning at 3 AM, three weeks after he visited Kafka's grave. ''Insect Dreams'' appeared from ''BlueHen/Putnam'' in 2002. Since then it has been re-released (by ''Unbridled Books''). The book has the insect/man from

's ''

The Metamorphosis ''Metamorphosis'' (german: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, ''Metamorphosis'' tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himsel ...

'' meet several historical literary figures. ''

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 ...

'' mentioned the character's generosity and "heroic persistence." ''

The Washington Post ''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 nati ...

'' questioned whether

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

was the best vehicle for Estrin's passion for ideas. The ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' placed it in one of their top 100 books for the year in 2002. The book has been the subject of analysis regarding Estrin's use of proverbial material. ''Insect Dreams'' was not the first Estrin book to be published. In 1971,

Dell Publishing Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...

released ''reCreation: Some Notes on What’s What and What You Might Be Able To Do About What’s What,'' a ''

Whole Earth Catalog The ''Whole Earth Catalog'' (WEC) was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays and articl ...

''-like book which

fat acceptance movement The fat acceptance movement, also known as fat pride, fat empowerment, and fat activism, is a social movement which seeks to eliminate the social stigma of fatness from social attitudes by pointing out the social obstacles which are faced by ...

has considered helpful. In 2004, ''Chelsea Green'' released an analysis by Estrin of the work of

Peter Schumann Peter Schumann (born 11 June 1934) is the co-founder and director of the Bread and Puppet Theater, Bread & Puppet Theater. Born in Silesia, he was a sculpture, sculptor and dancer in Germany before moving to the United States in 1961. In 1963 he f ...

through his cultural activist theater. Of ''The Lamentations of Julius Marantz'' (Unbridled Books, 2007), the reviewer for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' said the story had heart, but turned into a "bit of a nonnarrative mess" at the end, and ''The New York Times'' said it was full of anachronistic mistakes, and the protagonist dull, the book full of Estrin's own enthusiasms.

Bibliography

Books

*''reCreation: Some Notes on What's What and What You May Be Able To Do About What's What, collected, constructed, and edited by Marc Estrin'',

, 1971. *'' Insect Dreams: The Half Life of Gregor Samsa'', Putnam/Blue Hen, 2002. *''Rehearsing With Gods: Photographs and Essays on the Bread & Puppet Theater'': by Ronald T Simon, text by Marc Estrin; Chelsea Green Publishing Company. *''The Education of Arnold Hitler'', Unbridled Books, 2005. *''Golem Song'', Unbridled Books, 2006. *''The Lamentations of Julius Marantz'', Unbridled Books, 2007. *''The Annotated Nose'', Unbridled Books, 2008.

References

External links