Gerald Jay Goldberg
Encyclopedia
Gerald Jay Goldberg is an American author. Professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles
, he is a novelist, critic, and (with Robert Goldberg) author of a nonfiction study of the network news and a biography of Ted Turner
.
Goldberg’s best-known work is The Lynching of Orin Newfield (nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, 1970), a powerful novel about a “communal murder . . . in a small farming town in Vermont.” His novels and short stories—ranging widely in setting, subject, and technique—are intense, witty, and elegantly crafted. Reviewers have compared his crisp prose and caustic humor to Nathanael West
, Donald Barthelme
, Joseph Heller
and Thomas McGuane
. Saul Bellow’s description of McGuane as “a language star” is, in fact, an apt description for Goldberg as well. His command of metaphor and detail is (like McGuane’s) remarkable, each sentence precisely, relentlessly original. “His prose sparkles,” The New York Times wrote, “with well-observed idiosyncrasies.” The Chicago Sun-Times ranked Goldberg’s 126 Days of Continuous Sunshine with Pynchon
’s The Crying of Lot 49
for its evocation of “California insanity.” The Los Angeles Herald Examiner praised Heart Payments for its “wonderful textured evocation of the L.A. art scene of the late 1960s.” Of The Lynching of Orin Newfield, The New Yorker concluded: “The tension and clarity of Mr. Goldberg’s writing leave us no choice but to follow his raging anti-hero’s story from the comparatively mild beginning to the thundering finish.”
There was considerable Hollywood interest in Orin Newfield, following its publication in 1970. Though never produced, the novel was optioned by Buck Henry, Victor Drai Productions and James B. Harris. Goldberg himself wrote a screenplay. Jerry Harvey
, programming chief of Los Angeles’s legendary Z channel, nearly succeeded in bringing Orin Newfield to the screen. Before Harvey’s death in 1988, he had arranged for Sam Peckinpah
to direct the film.
Goldberg’s two nonfiction “media” books (Anchors and Citizen Turner, both co-authored with his son, Robert Goldberg) were widely acclaimed and translated into several languages. Anchors was reprinted in Reader’s Digest’s Today’s Best Nonfiction (1991). Citizen Turner is, by critical consensus, the best of the many biographies of Turner.
Goldberg is currently at work on two projects: a second collection of short stories and a new novel.
, Goldberg earned his undergraduate degree at Purdue University
(B.S., 1952), where he was a member of the wrestling team and the Purdue Players. He received his master’s degree at NYU (M.A. 1955), and his Ph.D. at University of Minnesota in 1958. His doctoral dissertation was “The Artist as Hero in Modern British Fiction, 1890-1930.”
Goldberg taught at Dartmouth College
(1958–1964) and at the University of California, Los Angeles
(1964–1991), where he is Professor of English emeritus. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Zaragoza
, Spain (Fullbright Professorship, 1962–63), Williams College
(1981) and Queens College, City University of New York (1985–87). He edited Faulkner Studies and co-founded Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction.
Goldberg is married to art critic, Nancy Marmer (formerly managing editor of Art in America). His brother, Michael Goldberg
(1924–2007), was a well-known abstract expressionist painter. His son, Robert Goldberg (formerly TV critic for The Wall Street Journal) is a prizewinning writer and filmmaker.
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, he is a novelist, critic, and (with Robert Goldberg) author of a nonfiction study of the network news and a biography of Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
.
Goldberg’s best-known work is The Lynching of Orin Newfield (nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, 1970), a powerful novel about a “communal murder . . . in a small farming town in Vermont.” His novels and short stories—ranging widely in setting, subject, and technique—are intense, witty, and elegantly crafted. Reviewers have compared his crisp prose and caustic humor to Nathanael West
Nathanael West
Nathanael West was a US author, screenwriter and satirist.- Early life :...
, Donald Barthelme
Donald Barthelme
Donald Barthelme was an American author known for his playful, postmodernist style of short fiction. Barthelme also worked as a newspaper reporter for the Houston Post, managing editor of Location magazine, director of the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston , co-founder of Fiction Donald...
, Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller was a US satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His best known work is Catch-22, a novel about US servicemen during World War II...
and Thomas McGuane
Thomas McGuane
Thomas Francis McGuane III is an American author. His work includes ten novels, short fiction and screenplays, as well as three collections of essays devoted to his life in the outdoors.-Early life:...
. Saul Bellow’s description of McGuane as “a language star” is, in fact, an apt description for Goldberg as well. His command of metaphor and detail is (like McGuane’s) remarkable, each sentence precisely, relentlessly original. “His prose sparkles,” The New York Times wrote, “with well-observed idiosyncrasies.” The Chicago Sun-Times ranked Goldberg’s 126 Days of Continuous Sunshine with Pynchon
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon received the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature...
’s The Crying of Lot 49
The Crying of Lot 49
The Crying of Lot 49 is a novel by Thomas Pynchon, first published in 1966. The shortest of Pynchon's novels, it is about a woman, Oedipa Maas, possibly unearthing the centuries-old conflict between two mail distribution companies, Thurn und Taxis and the Trystero...
for its evocation of “California insanity.” The Los Angeles Herald Examiner praised Heart Payments for its “wonderful textured evocation of the L.A. art scene of the late 1960s.” Of The Lynching of Orin Newfield, The New Yorker concluded: “The tension and clarity of Mr. Goldberg’s writing leave us no choice but to follow his raging anti-hero’s story from the comparatively mild beginning to the thundering finish.”
There was considerable Hollywood interest in Orin Newfield, following its publication in 1970. Though never produced, the novel was optioned by Buck Henry, Victor Drai Productions and James B. Harris. Goldberg himself wrote a screenplay. Jerry Harvey
Jerry Harvey
Jerry Harvey was an American screenwriter and film programmer, best known for his work on Z Channel, a pioneering cable station in Los Angeles from 1974 to 1989.-Background:...
, programming chief of Los Angeles’s legendary Z channel, nearly succeeded in bringing Orin Newfield to the screen. Before Harvey’s death in 1988, he had arranged for Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
to direct the film.
Goldberg’s two nonfiction “media” books (Anchors and Citizen Turner, both co-authored with his son, Robert Goldberg) were widely acclaimed and translated into several languages. Anchors was reprinted in Reader’s Digest’s Today’s Best Nonfiction (1991). Citizen Turner is, by critical consensus, the best of the many biographies of Turner.
Goldberg is currently at work on two projects: a second collection of short stories and a new novel.
Life and work
After attending the Bronx High School of ScienceBronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
, Goldberg earned his undergraduate degree at Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
(B.S., 1952), where he was a member of the wrestling team and the Purdue Players. He received his master’s degree at NYU (M.A. 1955), and his Ph.D. at University of Minnesota in 1958. His doctoral dissertation was “The Artist as Hero in Modern British Fiction, 1890-1930.”
Goldberg taught at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
(1958–1964) and at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
(1964–1991), where he is Professor of English emeritus. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Zaragoza
University of Zaragoza
The University of Zaragoza or sometimes Saragossa University is a university located in Zaragoza, in the Aragon region of Spain...
, Spain (Fullbright Professorship, 1962–63), Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
(1981) and Queens College, City University of New York (1985–87). He edited Faulkner Studies and co-founded Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction.
Goldberg is married to art critic, Nancy Marmer (formerly managing editor of Art in America). His brother, Michael Goldberg
Michael Goldberg
Michael Goldberg was an American abstract expressionist painter and teacher known for his gestural action paintings, abstractions and still-life paintings. His work was recently seen in September 2007 in a solo exhibition at Knoedler & Company in New York City, as well as several exhibitions at...
(1924–2007), was a well-known abstract expressionist painter. His son, Robert Goldberg (formerly TV critic for The Wall Street Journal) is a prizewinning writer and filmmaker.
Criticism
- Editor (with Nancy Marmer Goldberg) The Modern Critical Spectrum, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1962.
- The Fate of Innocence, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965.
Fiction
- Notes from the Diaspora, Hanover, N.H.: Atelier 21, 1962. (Limited edition with original pen-and-ink drawings by Nancy Marmer)
- The National Standard, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.
- The Lynching of Orin Newfield, New York: The Dial Press, 1970. (Selected as “Notable Book of the Year” by the "New York Times" and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, 1970)
- 126 Days of Continuous Sunshine, New York: The Dial Press, 1972.
- Heart Payments, New York: The Viking Press, 1982. (Named “Best Twentieth-Century Novel about an Artist” by Art News, 2000)
Non-Fiction
- (with Robert Goldberg) Anchors: Brokaw, JenningsJenningsA surname of early medieval English origin , Jennings can refer to several people, places, or things :- People :*Adam Jennings, English actor and film director...
, RatherRatherRather is a family name. It is also an adverb in the English language.Rather may refer to:* Dan Rather, news presenter* Elizabeth Rather, expert in the computer programming language Forth...
and the Evening News, New York: Birch Lane Press, 1990. (Finalist for the National Association of Broadcasters 1990 “Media Book of the Year Award”) - (with Robert Goldberg) Citizen Turner: The Wild Rise of an American Tycoon, New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1995.
External links
- http://geraldjaygoldberg.com/
- Jerry HarveyJerry HarveyJerry Harvey was an American screenwriter and film programmer, best known for his work on Z Channel, a pioneering cable station in Los Angeles from 1974 to 1989.-Background:...
- Michael GoldbergMichael GoldbergMichael Goldberg was an American abstract expressionist painter and teacher known for his gestural action paintings, abstractions and still-life paintings. His work was recently seen in September 2007 in a solo exhibition at Knoedler & Company in New York City, as well as several exhibitions at...
- Thomas McGuaneThomas McGuaneThomas Francis McGuane III is an American author. His work includes ten novels, short fiction and screenplays, as well as three collections of essays devoted to his life in the outdoors.-Early life:...
- http://www.pen.org/
- http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt096nc53h/