At the 2015 Organization of American Historians conference in St. Louis, we interviewed OUP authors and journal editors to understand their views on the history discipline. Gathering at the OUP booth, scholars – working in fields ranging from women’s history to racial history, cultural history to immigration history – discussed topics both professional and personal.
The post Interviews with historians: An OAH video series appeared first on OUPblog.
I met Leonard Marcus three years ago, shortly after arriving in New York. An author/illustrator friend who gives wonderful kid lit parties in her small New York apartment was gracious enough to invite me to one. Thoroughly new to writing … Continue reading →
On this day in history, June 11, 1920, Irving Howe was born. To celebrate his birth I turned to the American National Biography which led me to an entry by Shirley Laird. The ANB offers portraits of more than 17,400 men and women – from all eras and walks of life – whose lives have shaped the nation. Learn about Irving Howe below.
Howe, Irving (11 June 1920-5 May 1993), literary critic and historian, was born in New York City, the son of David Howe and Nettie Goldman, grocery store operators and later garment workers. Irving Howe was married twice, first to Arien Hausknecht, with whom he had two children, and later to Ilana Wiener.
Howe became a socialist at fourteen, joining a faction led by Leon Trotsky. He graduated from City College of New York in 1940, claiming that he spent more time talking to fellow radicals than he spent in class. He completed a year and a half of graduate study at Brooklyn College before being drafted into the army in 1942; he served in Alaska for two or three years. When he returned to New York after the war, he began to publish articles in the Partisan Review, Commentary, and the Nation. In 1953 he founded Dissent, a political and literary journal that he edited for many years. In that year he became an associate professor of English at Brandeis University and also was appointed a Kenyon Review fellow. Leaving Brandeis in 1961, he spent 1961 to 1963 as a professor of English at Stanford University. From 1963 to 1970 he was professor of English at Hunter College of the City University of New York, where he was named in 1970 Distinguished Professor of English.
Howe wrote or contributed to more than forty books, the most noteworthy of which are works of literary criticism. His first study, Sherwood Anderson (1952), was an analysis of Sherwood Anderson’s work and a rebuttal of Lionel Trilling’s assault on the realist movement in modern literature. Howe reveals himself a capable historian in his portrait of Anderson’s childhood in Ohio, and he is charitable in dealing with Anderson’s indistinctness and sentimentality. Howe’s next book, William Faulkner: A Critical Study (1952), provides a sensible and balanced preface to William Faulkner. Another high point of Howe’s literary career is Thomas Hardy: A Critical Study (1967), particularly his interpretation of Hardy’s Jude the Obscure.
Howe’s political writing includes a wide variety of subjects: Politics and the Novel (1957); The Critical Point: On Literature and Culture (1973); Trotsky (1978); and The American Newness: Culture and Politics in the Age of Emerson (1986). Based on three lectures on Ralph Waldo Emerson that Howe gave at Harvard University in 1985, The American Newness reflects his earlier optimism and pays tribute to some of his heroes such as Marx, Trotsky, and Ben-Gurion. One of Howe’s most enduring pieces is an essay published in Commentary in 1968, “The New York Inte
Want to see what celebrity you look like? Click here, upload your photo, and be prepared for the results.
I wondered how correct my casting of Hugh Grant as Herman Munster was (see earlier post), so I ran Herman's picture through the database.
Hugh wasn't even on the list! Myfacerecognition-celebrity matches posted Magic Johnson as the celebrity who most resembled Herman. John Travolta, Dr. Phil, and Matt Dillon were on the list, too. But the most surprising Herman Munster look-alike was Meg Ryan, who appeared on the list above Matt Dillon!
So Meg, think about it. Men have traditionally played the best monsters: Frankenstein, Dracula, and Hannibal Lecter--even King Kong and Godzilla were male. The time is now, Meg! Break this field open for women. Hermoine Munster. Herman Megster.
Go for it, girl!
Meg Ryan? yikes! I'm afraid to put my picture in after that...I might look like Cousin IT from the Addam's Family...grin...
I put my picture in and egads - Sylvester Stallone was one of the pics that came back and several others ending with Peter Sellers - only a couple of women - that was funny because some of the faces I didn't have a clue who they were - going to try it again and see what it comes up with this time - E :)
Correction - Peter O'Toole was the last one - but even Sly was only a 60% match - I've posted a collage of the other matches on my blog - so come check it out - lol - it was fun - E :)
Thanks for stopping by Danette. I have finished doing the kids and myself - and thanks for the comment on Hailie. When we were viewing my blog - she saw that there was a comment on hers. So my email notification is sometimes slow or I didn't see your notification come up. Anyway - thanks for stopping by - E :)
Well I think you look much prettier than Meg Ryan!
I put 3 different pictures in of me and I got Sophia Bush, Raquel Welch and Kelly Hu. The first two really made me laugh And they were matching with them at 67% but Kelly Hu came in at 72% and that at least made more sense to me since I am Asian American! And some of the pictures in my list were people I have never even heard of.
Brenda,
Yes, but think of that lustrous hair--you could get a spot on a shampoo commercial!
E--I stopped by--your daughter had some good comparisons.
Ello,
Thank you! I ran myself through and I got Carmen Electra and Christie Brinkley, and I'm like feeling pretty good, so I keep reading and there are MEN on the list and I'm like No! No! No! I don't look like a man! NOOOOOO!
Well, that was interesting Danette. I ran the one from my blog and my match came up at Bryce Howard. I'm not sure who she is but she's way younger than me.
Stella!
I Googled Bryce Howard--she is gorgeous! All right!
Meg Ryan?!!!
I can't stop laughing long enough to post a more articulate comment!!
(Herman Megster gets my vote!!)
Courtney,
Haha! I know!
Danette, this is hysterical! But I acturally think you're on to something. Why not write a book about it?
PS I LOVE your photo - you are gorgeous!
Okay, Danette. It's now official. You are hereby dubbed a goob. I haven't giggled this much in a couple of days. Hermione Munster as played by Meg Ryan.
What really sad? I totally remember an episode of The Munsters wherein Herman was in drag. I have no idea if he was Herman dressed as a woman or supposed to be a female cousin or somesuch, but I remember it.
For all I know, I imagined the whole thing...
Church Lady,
A coffee table book, perhaps . . . hmmm
Virginia Lee,
Thank you! You made my day!