Alfred Kazin's Journals - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300187955 ISBN 13: 9780300187953

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2012

Synopsis

Selected by Kazin's acclaimed biographer, an enlightening collection of the private writings of one of the twentieth century's most fascinating intellectuals.

At the time of his death in 1998, Alfred Kazin was considered one of the most influential intellectuals of postwar America. What is less well known is that Kazin had been contributing almost daily to an extensive private journal, which arguably contains some of his best writing. These journals collectively tell the story of his journey from Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood to his position as a dominant figure in twentieth-century cultural life.

To Kazin, the daily entry was a psychological and spiritual act. To read through these entries is to reexperience history as a series of daily discoveries by an alert, adventurous, if often mercurial intelligence. It is also to encounter an array of interesting and notable personalities. Sketches of friends, mistresses, family figures, and other intellectuals are woven in with commentary on Kazin's childhood, early religious interests, problems with parents, bouts of loneliness, dealings with publishers, and thoughts on the Holocaust. The journals also highlight his engagement with the political and cultural debates of the decades through which he lived. He wrestles with communism, cultural nationalism, liberalism, existentialism, Israel, modernism, and much more.

Judiciously selected and edited by acclaimed Kazin biographer Richard Cook, this collection provides the public with access to these previously unavailable writings and, in doing so, offers a fascinating social, historical, literary, and cultural record.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard M. Cook is chair of the English department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Review:

"This is a remarkable book, easily one of the great diaries and moral documents of the past American century."—Dwight Garner, New York Times (Dwight Garner New York Times 2011-05-26)

“These journals, ably edited and annotated by Kazin's biographer, display all his passions . . . [and] give us an intimate look at one of the great [men of letters].”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

(Publishers Weekly)

“A profound and exciting book, more so even than the best of the dozen works of criticism and autobiography that [Kazin] published during his lifetime.”—Edward Mendelson, New York Review of Books

(Edward Mendelson New York Review of Books)

"This book is a remarkable demonstration of how good writing struggles to emerge from the inner chaos with which we all live and that only a writer as talented as Alfred Kazin can bring to its knees."—Vivian Gornick, Boston Review (Vivian Gornick Boston Review)

“[Kazin’s] deepest work . . . The journals' overwhelming note is passion. Kazin wrote with his whole being, from a ferocious intensity of hunger and joy.”—William Deresiewicz, Slate (William Deresiewicz Slate)

“‘Of all his writing, the journal was most dear to Kazin, whose suffering is palpable and authentic throughout. The journal represents with merciless self-honesty an almost manic-depressive oscillation between self-affirmation and self-loathing and an insurmountable loneliness with a keen desire for sociability.”—Eugene Goodheart, Professor Emeritus of English, Brandeis University

(Eugene Goodheart 2011-02-02)

“There is a jagged magnificence to these journals. Kazin’s journal is a profound, almost pendular, oscillation between his stunning portraits of others and his ruthless investigations of himself, of his strangeness, his engorged sexual appetites, his lack of social grace, his refusal to ease graciously into his success. There is nothing placidly retrospective about them.  He can be bitter, lyrical, musical, rapturous, acerbic – sometimes all in one glorious sentence.  They are a fire fueled by intimations of immortality, a rapture laced with resentment.  The journals are a gold mine for future critical thinkers and a treasure house of English writing.”—Mark Shechner, Professor of English, University at Buffalo

(Mark Schechner 2011-02-02)

“The extraordinary, often anguished journals of Alfred Kazin, like those of Edmund Wilson though different in tone, throw valuable light on American writing and writers in the 20th century, and rank among the few indispensable documents of their kind.”—Sean Wilentz, Professor of History, Princeton University (Sean Wilentz 2011-02-02)

“Kazin’s journal entries are often keenly, piercingly, sometimes painfully, personal. Kazin emerges as a very complicated, brilliant, exasperating character -- incisive, unsparing in his judgments of himself as well as others, moody, funny, harsh, lyrical, and poignant. An edition of Kazin's journals is a major literary and cultural event”—William E. Cain, Professor of English, Wellesley College

(William E. Cain 2011-02-02)

“[A] robust and enveloping selected volume, from which the intensity of Kazin’s engagement with life beams forth. . . . Frank about sex, scathing in his portrayal of his peers, prescient about world events, and passionate about literature.”—Donna Seaman, Booklist

(Donna Seaman Booklist)

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0300187955
• ISBN 13: 9780300187953
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 632
• Editor: Cook Richard M.