Alan Isler
Encyclopedia
Alan Isler was an American novelist and professor. He left his native England for the United States at age 18, served in the US Army from 1954 to 1956, received a doctorate in English Literature
from Columbia University
and taught Renaissance Literature
at Queens College, City University of New York
from 1967 to 1995. In 1994 he won the National Jewish Book Award and the JQ Wingate Prize for his first novel “The Prince of West End Avenue”, which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award
. He has subsequently published four other works: “Kraven Images” (1996); “The Bacon Fancier”, also known as “Op.Non.Cit.”, (1999); “Clerical Errors” (2002); and “The Living Proof” (2005).
His writing is dense but comical, referential and intellectual in the tradition of Nabokov
, and often concerned with the bitter-sweet condition of the solitary Jew in a Gentile world.
Alan Isler died after a long illness on March 29, 2010.
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and taught Renaissance Literature
Renaissance literature
Renaissance Literature refers to the period in European literature that began in Italy during the 14th century and spread around Europe through the 17th century...
at Queens College, City University of New York
Queens College, City University of New York
Queens College, located in Flushing, Queens, New York City, is one of the senior colleges of the City University of New York. It is also the fifth oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning. The college's seventy seven acre campus is located in the heart of the...
from 1967 to 1995. In 1994 he won the National Jewish Book Award and the JQ Wingate Prize for his first novel “The Prince of West End Avenue”, which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
. He has subsequently published four other works: “Kraven Images” (1996); “The Bacon Fancier”, also known as “Op.Non.Cit.”, (1999); “Clerical Errors” (2002); and “The Living Proof” (2005).
His writing is dense but comical, referential and intellectual in the tradition of Nabokov
Nabokov
Nabokov may refer to:* Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov , Russian-American author, entomologist, and chess problem composer* Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov , Russian criminologist, journalist, and liberal politician, and father of Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov* Nicolas Nabokov , Russian-American...
, and often concerned with the bitter-sweet condition of the solitary Jew in a Gentile world.
Alan Isler died after a long illness on March 29, 2010.
Works
- The Prince Of West End Avenue 1994, a comedy set in a New York Jewish old persons' home, and centred around the retirees’ preparations for their upcoming production of HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. - Kraven Images 1996, partly a hilarious sixties-style sex-romp set in a Bronx College, and partly a mad but mournful attempt to resolve the past in London and Yorkshire.
- The Bacon Fancier, also published as Op. Non. Cit. 1999, four satirical tales wrought from the sideshows of literature.
- Clerical Errors 2002, in which the peregrinations of a Jewish Catholic priest give rise to a fierce yet tender lampoon of Catholicism.
- The Living Proof 2005, a famous and anti-Semitic painter hires a Jewish biographer.