John Tytell
Encyclopedia
John Tytell is an American writer and academic, whose works on such literary figures as Jack Kerouac
, Ezra Pound
, Allen Ginsberg
, Henry Miller
, and William S. Burroughs
, have made him both a leading scholar of the Beat Generation
, and a respected name in literature in general. He has been a professor of English at Queens College, City University of New York
since 1977. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano (1987).
to escape Nazi oppression, Tytell grew up in New York city
where he has lived for the majority of his life. Afflicted with vernal catarrh till the age of 12, Tytell was confined to low-lit rooms by his eye's sensitivity, and the seeping fluids plaguing him during his waking hours. This condition prevented him from seriously taking part in the family's diamond
trade where precision was a must, but it helped to introduce him to a world of reading.
As Tytell would later write about this time period in his book Reading New York, literature was both an escape from the gloom of his darkened bedroom, as well as a subversive act of defiance, because he was forbidden to read for fear that the strain would further damage his eyes. Tytell read Melville and Poe at this early age, and the sense of a great American literary foundation seems to have influenced his later work on the Beats, who were extensions of these 19th century giants. The prose and poetry of these first American writers defined their century, as the Beats would later shape the 20th century course of American Literature.
The impetus for the book Naked Angels (published in 1976 by McGraw Hill) was a paper that Tytell presented at "The Last Lecture Series" held by Queens College, entitled: The Beat Generation and the Continuing American Revolution. In terms of an advancement for the study of the Beats, both the paper and the subsequent book were incredibly important as a scholar had begun to seriously analyze major Beat texts.
Tytell's next book, Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano earned him a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize
in 1987, and established him as a major chronicler of America's most important Men of Letters, and has never gone out of print. This career-making book was quickly followed by Passionate Lives, a study of both English
and American writers, and the relationships that helped form their creative visions, which was translated into German and Korean.
The Living Theatre: Art, Exile and Outrage saw Tytell casting his eye from literature to the stage, where he saw the same rebellious spirit typified in The Beat culture, exert itself in the Living Theatre, which is both a New York and an American institution.
Tytell next teamed up with his wife, Mellon Tytell
, whose photographic study of many Beat literary figures mirrored his own writing, to produce the book, Paradise Outlaws. The book is an overarching picture of both the major and minor figures of the Beat Generation. Mellon provided photographs of William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, as well as Carl Solomon, Jan Kerouac and others, while Tytell wrote complementing descriptions of those depicted, and a text commenting on the significance and importance of the Beats. The book can be seen as a follow up to Naked Angels, but with the added advantage of a twenty-five year removed perspective, to the lasting importance of the now widely recognized literary movement--a movement he first brought into the realm of legitimacy.
Reading New York, published in 2003 is Tytell's most recent work, and can be seen as a hybrid of memoir, biography of American writers, history of New York, as well as literary criticism. The book spans from Melville to the present day, and weaves Tytell's life with those of the mainly New York writers who had inspired him since those nights of reading in the dark, that lead him to a nearly forty year career in the printed word.
"Burroughs has been our most apocalyptic American writer since Edgar Allan Poe
. Marshall McLuhan, reviewing Naked Lunch in The Nation, observed that criticizing Burroughs was very much like finding fault with the demeanor or dress of the man who was banging on your kitchen door to warn you that your house was on fire. It still seems an apt simile."
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
, Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
, Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, Henry Miller
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
, and William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
, have made him both a leading scholar of the Beat Generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
, and a respected name in literature in general. He has been a professor of English 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...
since 1977. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano (1987).
Biography
Tytell was born in Antwerp, Belgium. As part of a diamond trading family of Jewish descent who fled to AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to escape Nazi oppression, Tytell grew up 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...
where he has lived for the majority of his life. Afflicted with vernal catarrh till the age of 12, Tytell was confined to low-lit rooms by his eye's sensitivity, and the seeping fluids plaguing him during his waking hours. This condition prevented him from seriously taking part in the family's diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
trade where precision was a must, but it helped to introduce him to a world of reading.
As Tytell would later write about this time period in his book Reading New York, literature was both an escape from the gloom of his darkened bedroom, as well as a subversive act of defiance, because he was forbidden to read for fear that the strain would further damage his eyes. Tytell read Melville and Poe at this early age, and the sense of a great American literary foundation seems to have influenced his later work on the Beats, who were extensions of these 19th century giants. The prose and poetry of these first American writers defined their century, as the Beats would later shape the 20th century course of American Literature.
The impetus for the book Naked Angels (published in 1976 by McGraw Hill) was a paper that Tytell presented at "The Last Lecture Series" held by Queens College, entitled: The Beat Generation and the Continuing American Revolution. In terms of an advancement for the study of the Beats, both the paper and the subsequent book were incredibly important as a scholar had begun to seriously analyze major Beat texts.
Tytell's next book, Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano earned him a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
in 1987, and established him as a major chronicler of America's most important Men of Letters, and has never gone out of print. This career-making book was quickly followed by Passionate Lives, a study of both English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
and American writers, and the relationships that helped form their creative visions, which was translated into German and Korean.
The Living Theatre: Art, Exile and Outrage saw Tytell casting his eye from literature to the stage, where he saw the same rebellious spirit typified in The Beat culture, exert itself in the Living Theatre, which is both a New York and an American institution.
Tytell next teamed up with his wife, Mellon Tytell
Mellon Tytell
Mellon Tytell is an American photographer with a diverse career that includes fashion, documentary series, erotic photography, and portraits of celebrated personalities....
, whose photographic study of many Beat literary figures mirrored his own writing, to produce the book, Paradise Outlaws. The book is an overarching picture of both the major and minor figures of the Beat Generation. Mellon provided photographs of William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, as well as Carl Solomon, Jan Kerouac and others, while Tytell wrote complementing descriptions of those depicted, and a text commenting on the significance and importance of the Beats. The book can be seen as a follow up to Naked Angels, but with the added advantage of a twenty-five year removed perspective, to the lasting importance of the now widely recognized literary movement--a movement he first brought into the realm of legitimacy.
Reading New York, published in 2003 is Tytell's most recent work, and can be seen as a hybrid of memoir, biography of American writers, history of New York, as well as literary criticism. The book spans from Melville to the present day, and weaves Tytell's life with those of the mainly New York writers who had inspired him since those nights of reading in the dark, that lead him to a nearly forty year career in the printed word.
Quotations
"What was much more difficult was the fact of my own conditioning: the years of reading more classical forms of expression, which had helped to form my taste as well as that of the Western world, and an academic process that reveres the past while almost always condescending to the present. It is easier to idealize the dead; the living can be querulous.""Burroughs has been our most apocalyptic American writer since Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
. Marshall McLuhan, reviewing Naked Lunch in The Nation, observed that criticizing Burroughs was very much like finding fault with the demeanor or dress of the man who was banging on your kitchen door to warn you that your house was on fire. It still seems an apt simile."
Selected works
- Paradise Outlaws: Remembering the Beats, William Morriw/Harper Collins: New York, 1999. Photographs by Mellon TytellMellon TytellMellon Tytell is an American photographer with a diverse career that includes fashion, documentary series, erotic photography, and portraits of celebrated personalities....
- The Living Theatre: Art, Exile and Outrage, Grove Press: New York, 1995. Paperback edition: Grove PressGrove PressGrove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
, 1997. British edition: Methuen, 1997. Spanish edition: Los Libros de la Liebre de Marzo, BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, 1999. - Passionate Lives: D.H. Lawrence, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath--In Love, Birch Lane Press: Carol Publishers, New York, 1991. German edition: Arche Verlang, 1993. Paperback edition: St. Martin's PressSt. Martin's PressSt. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City. Currently, St. Martin's Press is one of the United States' largest publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press , St...
, New York, 1995. South KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n edition: Ahchimyisul Publishers, 2005. - Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano, Doubleday: New York, 1987, and BloomsburyBloomsbury-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
: London. Paperback edition: Doubleday, Anchor, 1988. French edition for La Font Seghers: Paris, 1990. Second French edition for Editions du Rocher, 2002. American reprint: Ivan S. Dee, 2004. - Naked Angels: Lives and Literature of the Beat Generation, McGraw Hill, 1976. Paperback edition, 1977. Japanese edition, 1978. German edition, 1979. Grove Press edition, 1986. Grove Weidenfeld Evergreen edition, 1991. Czech Republic edition: Votobia, 1997. Ivan Dee edition, 2006.