Harold Brodkey facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Harold Brodkey
|
|
|---|---|
Harold Brodkey, by Howard Coale for The New Yorker, 1995
|
|
| Born |
Aaron Roy Weintraub
October 25, 1930 Staunton, Illinois, U.S.
|
| Died | January 26, 1996 (aged 65) New York City, New York, U.S.
|
| Occupation | Writer |
| Awards | O. Henry Award (1975 & 1976) |
Harold Brodkey (born Aaron Roy Weintraub, October 25, 1930 – January 26, 1996) was an American writer. He was known for his short stories and novels. He wrote for famous magazines like The New Yorker.
Contents
Harold Brodkey's Early Life and Family
Aaron Weintraub was born in Staunton, Illinois. His parents were Max and Celia Weintraub. Celia passed away when Aaron was only two years old. His older brother, Samuel, stayed with their father. But Aaron was adopted by his father's cousin, Doris Rubenstein Brodkey, and her husband, Joseph Brodkey. They renamed him Harold Roy Brodkey.
Harold grew up with his adoptive parents and their daughter, Marilyn. They lived in University City, Missouri. Harold Brodkey later wrote about his life with this family. He shared these stories in his short stories and his novel, The Runaway Soul.
Education and Beginning His Writing Career
Harold Brodkey went to Harvard University. He graduated in 1952. After college, he married Joanna Brown. Their daughter, Ann Emily, was born in 1953.
With help from his editor, William Maxwell, Brodkey started writing. He wrote short stories for The New Yorker and other magazines. His stories were very good. He won two first-place O. Henry Awards. Brodkey continued to write for The New Yorker throughout his life.
In 1993, he announced that he had a serious illness called AIDS. He later wrote a book about his fight with the disease. It was called This Wild Darkness: The Story of My Death. Harold Brodkey passed away in 1996. He was living in New York City with his second wife, Ellen Brodkey, who was also a novelist.
Harold Brodkey was known for his amazing conversation skills. He was also famous for his complex writing style. It took him 32 years to finish his first novel, The Runaway Soul. It was finally published in 1991.
Harold Brodkey's Literary Journey
Brodkey's writing career started well. His first collection of short stories was First Love and Other Sorrows. It was published in 1958. Many critics praised it.
Six years later, he signed a contract for his first novel. It was first called "A Party of Animals." This book became very famous even before it was finished. It moved between different publishing companies. Each company was very eager to publish it. People waited a very long time for this book to come out. Some even joked it was "longer awaited than anything without theological implications."
During this time, Brodkey published many stories. Most of them appeared in The New Yorker. These stories featured characters like Wiley Silenowicz. This character was often seen as a reflection of Brodkey himself. These stories were meant to be parts of his big novel. His editor at Knopf, Gordon Lish, called the novel "the one necessary American narrative work of this century."
Other Works and Teaching
Besides writing, Brodkey also worked on television pilot scripts for NBC. He also taught at Cornell University. Some of his long stories from "A Party of Animals" were collected in Women and Angels (1985). More stories, including those three, appeared in Stories in an Almost Classical Mode (1988).
When The Runaway Soul was published in 1991, it was a very long novel. It was 835 pages long. It told the story of Wiley's early life. Interestingly, none of the material from Stories in an Almost Classical Mode was included in this novel. The Runaway Soul might have been "A Party of Animals" with a new title. Or it could have been the first part of a larger series of books. Brodkey himself hinted that it might be a multi-volume work.
Brodkey's second novel, Profane Friendship, was published in 1994.
