Elizabeth Wurtzel
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Lee Wurtzel is an American corporate attorney, writer
and journalist
, known for her work in the confessional memoir
genre. She is a graduate of Harvard College
and Yale Law School
.
d when she was young. As described in her memoir Prozac Nation
, Wurtzel's depression
began at the ages of 10 to 12. She attended the Ramaz School
in the Upper East Side
of New York City
. While an undergraduate at Harvard College
, she wrote for The Harvard Crimson
and The Dallas Morning News
. Wurtzel also received the 1986 Rolling Stone
College Journalism Award.
, at the age of 26. The book chronicles her battle with depression
while being a college undergraduate and her experience with the medication Prozac. The film adaptation of Prozac Nation
, starring Christina Ricci
, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
on September 8, 2001. It was also telecasted on the Starz!
network in March 2005 and was released on DVD
in the summer of 2005.
in New York City
and found work as pop music
critic for The New Yorker
and New York Magazine.
In the early 2000s, she applied to Yale Law School
and was accepted despite the fact that "… Her combined LSAT score of 160 was, as she put it, 'adequately bad' … 'Suffice it to say I was admitted for other reasons,' Ms. Wurtzel said. 'My books, my accomplishments.'…" She graduated at the end of the 2008 term, but failed the New York bar exam the first time she took it. Wurtzel sparked controversy in the legal community by holding herself out as a lawyer in interviews, even though she was not licensed to practice law in any jurisdiction at the time. However, Wurtzel passed the February 2010 New York State bar exam, and has practiced law at Boies, Schiller & Flexner in New York City since 2008. In July 2010, she wrote a proposal in the Brennan Law Center blog for abolishing bar exams.
She writes on a regular basis for The Wall Street Journal
.
In 2009 Wurtzel published an article in Elle
magazine about societal pressures related to aging
Wurtzel's latest book is entitled "Creatocracy" and is due for publication later in 2011. It is based on the thesis she wrote about intellectual property law upon graduation from Yale Law school. http://www.wnyc.org/thegreenespace/events/2011/may/23/studio-360-live-kurt-andersen/
, Wurtzel wrote an article for New York about time spent with him.
In January 2009, she authored an article at The Guardian
, arguing that the vehemence of opposition demonstrated in Europe
to Israel
's actions in the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
, when compared to the international reaction to human rights
abuses in China
, Darfur
and Arab
countries, suggested an antisemitic undercurrent fueling the outrage. In her words,
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, known for her work in the confessional memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
genre. She is a graduate of Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
and Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
.
Early life
Wurtzel was brought up in New York City in a Jewish family. Her parents divorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d when she was young. As described in her memoir Prozac Nation
Prozac Nation (book)
Prozac Nation , an autobiography published in 1994 and written by Elizabeth Wurtzel, describes the author's experiences with major depression, her own character failings and how she managed to live through particularly difficult periods while completing college and working as a writer...
, Wurtzel's depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
began at the ages of 10 to 12. She attended the Ramaz School
Ramaz School
The Ramaz School is a coeducational, private Modern Orthodox Jewish prep school located on the Upper East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It consists of a lower school , a middle school , and an upper school .The Ramaz Upper School is a college preparatory school...
in the Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. While an undergraduate at Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, she wrote for The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
and The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
. Wurtzel also received the 1986 Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
College Journalism Award.
Prozac Nation
Wurtzel is best known for publishing her memoir, the best-selling Prozac NationProzac Nation (book)
Prozac Nation , an autobiography published in 1994 and written by Elizabeth Wurtzel, describes the author's experiences with major depression, her own character failings and how she managed to live through particularly difficult periods while completing college and working as a writer...
, at the age of 26. The book chronicles her battle with depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
while being a college undergraduate and her experience with the medication Prozac. The film adaptation of Prozac Nation
Prozac Nation (film)
Prozac Nation is a 2001 American drama film directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg, starring Christina Ricci, Jason Biggs and Anne Heche. . It is based on an autobiography of the same name by Elizabeth Wurtzel, which describes Wurtzel's experiences with major depression...
, starring Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on September 8, 2001. It was also telecasted on the Starz!
Starz!
Starz is an American premium subscription channel that features mainly first-run motion pictures, along with some original programming...
network in March 2005 and was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the summer of 2005.
Other work
Following her graduation from Harvard, Wurtzel moved to Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and found work as pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
critic for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
and New York Magazine.
In the early 2000s, she applied to Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
and was accepted despite the fact that "… Her combined LSAT score of 160 was, as she put it, 'adequately bad' … 'Suffice it to say I was admitted for other reasons,' Ms. Wurtzel said. 'My books, my accomplishments.'…" She graduated at the end of the 2008 term, but failed the New York bar exam the first time she took it. Wurtzel sparked controversy in the legal community by holding herself out as a lawyer in interviews, even though she was not licensed to practice law in any jurisdiction at the time. However, Wurtzel passed the February 2010 New York State bar exam, and has practiced law at Boies, Schiller & Flexner in New York City since 2008. In July 2010, she wrote a proposal in the Brennan Law Center blog for abolishing bar exams.
She writes on a regular basis for The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
.
In 2009 Wurtzel published an article in Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
magazine about societal pressures related to aging
Wurtzel's latest book is entitled "Creatocracy" and is due for publication later in 2011. It is based on the thesis she wrote about intellectual property law upon graduation from Yale Law school. http://www.wnyc.org/thegreenespace/events/2011/may/23/studio-360-live-kurt-andersen/
Views
On September 21, 2008 after the suicide of David Foster WallaceDavid Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace was an American author of novels, essays, and short stories, and a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California...
, Wurtzel wrote an article for New York about time spent with him.
In January 2009, she authored an article at The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, arguing that the vehemence of opposition demonstrated in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's actions in the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
The Gaza War, known as Operation Cast Lead in Israel and as the Gaza Massacre in the Arab world, was a three-week bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel, and hundreds of rocket attacks on south of Israel which...
, when compared to the international reaction to human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
abuses in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
and Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
countries, suggested an antisemitic undercurrent fueling the outrage. In her words,
External links
- 1998 interview with Elizabeth Wurtzel by Gerald PearyGerald PearyGerald Peary is an American film critic, who has been a reviewer and columnist for the Boston Phoenix since 1996. He was formerly the Acting Curator of the Harvard Film Archive and is currently the General Editor of the University Press of Mississippi Conversations with Filmmakers Series...
- Sole Rock N Roll Survivor – Wurtzel's piece from The Harvard Crimson which won the 1987 Rolling Stone College Journalism Award
- Livejournal community dedicated to Elizabeth Wurtzel
- A Conversation with Elizabeth Wurtzel, Author and First-Year Lawyer October 11, 2008 blog post from WSJ.comThe Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....