Alfred Kazin

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Alfred Kazin

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Alfred Kazin , 1915-98, American critic, b. New York City, grad. College of the City of New York (B.S., 1935) and Columbia (M.A., 1938). Kazin was one of the outstanding literary critics of his time. His first book, the influential and pioneering On Native Grounds (1942), is a critical study of American prose literature from Howells to Faulkner . His later essay collections include The Inmost Leaf (1955), Contemporaries (1962), Bright Book of Life (1973), An American Procession (1984), Writing Was Everything (1995), and God & the American Writer (1997).

Bibliography: See his autobiographical works, A Walker in the City (1951), Starting Out in the Thirties (1965), and New York Jew (1978), as well as A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment: From the Journals of Alfred Kazin (1996); biography by R. M. Cook (2008).

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Kazin, Alfred

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | | © The Oxford Companion to American Literature 1995, originally published by Oxford University Press 1995. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Kazin, Alfred (1915–), literary critic, best known for his critical works, On Native Grounds (1942), a study of American prose literature after Howells; The Inmost Leaf (1955), essays on European and American literature; Contemporaries (1962), essays on American authors, past and present; and Bright Book of Life (1973), treating American fiction from Hemingway to Mailer; and his moving autobiographical writings, A Walker in the City (1951), a lyrical treatment of his youth in Brownsville, then a Jewish immigrant section of Brooklyn; Starting Out in the Thirties (1965), reminiscences of his young manhood; and New York Jew (1978), considering his life into the 1970s. An American Procession (1984) is on U.S. authors from 1830 to 1930, and A Writer's America (1989) concerns landscape in literature. Our New York (1990), heavily illustrated, combines memoirs and social history.

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Kazin, Alfred." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 25 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Kazin, Alfred." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (November 25, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-KazinAlfred.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Kazin, Alfred." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Retrieved November 25, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-KazinAlfred.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article Alfred Kazin: A biography.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Harvard Review; 6/1/2008
Free Article America--c'est moi! Alfred Kazin on American literature.(Books)
Magazine article from: New Criterion; 4/1/2004
Free Article The Jew who read America.
Magazine article from: Moment; 3/1/2008

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Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

Alfred Kazin Obit
Transcript from: NPR All Things Considered; 6/5/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...00-0000 ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: Alfred Kazin, a master of literary criticism...bracing truth. Of course, only Alfred Kazin would console himself with Hardy...himself back to life. GLADSTONE: Alfred Kazin read himself back to life, but...
Alfred Kazin's Bridge
Newspaper article from: Forward; 6/12/1998; 700+ words ; Forward 06-12-1998 Alfred Kazin's Bridge I met Alfred Kazin because of I.B. Singer. It was 1991 and I...died. The next day the phone rang. "This is Alfred Kazin. I'd like to write something about Singer...
Alfred Kazin BOOKS / Nonfiction
Newspaper article from: International Herald Tribune; 1/4/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...International Herald Tribune 01-04-2008 Alfred Kazin BOOKS / Nonfiction Byline: William...Edition: 1 Section: FEATURES Alfred Kazin A Biography By Richard M. Cook...his diary after an encounter with Alfred Kazin on the streets of New York in the...
Alfred Kazin: A biography.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Harvard Review; 6/1/2008; ; 700+ words ; Alfred Kazin: A biography by Richard Cook, Yale University Press, 2008, $35 cloth, ISBN 9780300115055. Alfred Kazin (1915-1998) was one of America's most powerful literary critics...
Alfred Kazin's last steps
News Wire article from: Jewish Telegraphic Agency; 6/16/1998; 700+ words ; Jewish Telegraphic Agency 06-16-1998 Alfred Kazin's last steps By Sandee Brawarsky NEW YORK, June 15 (JTA) -- In his last weeks of life, Alfred Kazin was still reading with passion, discussing books with...
Richard Cook. Alfred Kazin: A Biography.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Style; 6/22/2009; ; 700+ words ; Richard Cook. Alfred Kazin: A Biography. Yale UP, New Haven...00 ISBN 978-0-300-11505-5. Alfred Kazin broke onto the American literary scene...such, of Kazin, titled simply, Alfred Kazin: A Biography (Yale UP, 2007) to...
Notes on a native son.(Alfred Kazin)(Republic Opinion)(Obituary)(Column)(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: The Nation; 10/19/1998; ; 700+ words ; When Alfred Kazin's critical masterpiece On Native Grounds...Trilling was exactly what overflowed in Alfred Kazin: passion. Kazin was just as ambitious...as well they ought. But according to Alfred Kazin, the reason was sex. "The Socialists...
Talkers in the City: Celebrating Alfred Kazin at 80
Newspaper article from: Forward; 5/26/1995; ; 700+ words ; Alfred Conant Forward 05-26-1995 Talkers in the City: Celebrating Alfred Kazin at 80. Alfred Kazin, critic and historian of American and European literature, essayist, memoirist, assiduous keeper of journals...
Celebrating Alfred Kazin; How provocative critic felt American literature in his bones.(BOOKS)
Newspaper article from: The Washington Times; 10/12/2003; 700+ words ; ...SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES Alfred Kazin, who died in 1998 on his eighty...practiced in the academy, where Kazin taught from time to time but always...this selection of his writings, Kazin makes a list of 20th century critics...
The cranky, utterly indispensable Alfred Kazin.(Arts and Letters)(Biography)
Magazine article from: Midstream; 11/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; The late Alfred Kazin (1915-98) was every inch the New...and disturbing, as Howe never did. Kazin never completely lost his fervor for...Melville, and Faulkner. I first met Alfred Kazin while turning the pages of his classic...

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