Leonard Michaels

2025-10-18T19:17:47Z

2600:1002:A105:FE16:481B:2E33:37A6:4F64: /* Sylvia Bloch */ why is this section even here?

{{short description|American writer}}
{{distinguish|Leonard Michael}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
|name=Leonard Michaels
|image=File:Leonard Michaels.jpg
|image_size=200px
|caption=Leonard Michaels
|birth_date={{birth date|1933|1|2}}
|birth_place=New York City
|death_date={{death date and age|2003|5|10|1933|1|2}}
|death_place=California
|occupation={{flatlist|
* Essayist
* screenwriter
* novelist
}}
|genre=Fiction, non-fiction
|alma_mater=[[University of Michigan]]
}}

'''Leonard Michaels''' (January 2, 1933 – May 10, 2003) was an American writer of short stories, novels, and essays, and a Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.

==Early life and education==
Michaels was born in New York City to Jewish parents; his father was born in Poland. He attended [[New York University]] and was awarded a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] degree, and then went on to earn an [[Master's degree|MA]] and PhD in English literature from the [[University of Michigan]]. After receiving his doctorate, Leonard Michaels moved to [[Berkeley, California]], where he was to spend most of his adult life and become Professor of English at the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California]].<ref name="universityofcalifornia1">{{cite web |url=http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/inmemoriam/leonardmichaels.htm |title=Leonard Michaels |publisher=Senate.universityofcalifornia.edu |access-date=2014-01-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203030258/http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/inmemoriam/leonardmichaels.htm |archive-date=February 3, 2014 }}</ref>

==Literary career==
In 1969, Michael's first book was published – ''Going Places'', a collection of short stories.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://harpers.org/blog/2007/06/interview-wyatt-mason-on-leonard-michaels |title=Harpers |publisher=harpers.org|access-date=2016-10-28}}</ref>

His follow-up book, another collection of short stories, was ''I Would Have Saved Them If I Could'', published in 1975. It was considered by some as strong as Michaels' [[wikt:debut|debut]].<ref name="universityofcalifornia1"/><ref>{{cite news|title=I Would Have Saved Them If I Could|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/03/archives/i-would-have-saved-them-if-i-could.html|author=Edwards, Thomas|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 3, 1975|access-date=December 11, 2020}}</ref>

Michaels' first novel, released in 1981, was ''The Men's Club''. It is story-like comedy that simultaneously attacks and celebrates the absurdities of men as they gather in a kind of urban support group. In 1986, the novel was made into a [[The Men's Club|film]], directed by [[Peter Medak]], with the screenplay by Michaels, and starring [[Roy Scheider]], [[Harvey Keitel]], [[Stockard Channing]], [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]] and [[Frank Langella]].

Michaels' second and last novel was published in 1992. Titled ''Sylvia'', it is a fictionalized memoir of his first wife, Sylvia Bloch, who died by suicide. Sylvia is described in the book as "abnormally bright" but prone to violent rages, "like a madwoman imitating a college student."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/01/20/169713851/fiction-truer-than-fact-a-haunting-autobiographical-novel |title=National Public Radio (NPR) |publisher=npr.org|access-date=2016-10-28}}</ref> ''Sylvia'' incorporates passages from Michaels' diary, a selection of which was published under the title ''Time Out of Mind'' in 1999.<ref>{{cite web |title=Time Out of Mind: The Diaries of Leonard Michaels, 1961–1995 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-57322-142-9 |website=publishersweekly.com |publisher=Publishers Weekly |access-date=October 23, 2018}}</ref>

Michaels became a regular contributor to ''[[The New Yorker (magazine)|The New Yorker]]'' magazine in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/leonard-michaels |title=New Yorker Magazine|publisher=newyorker.com |access-date=2016-10-28}}</ref>

==Other information==
Michaels was a Professor of English at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].

He took part in [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|anti-Vietnam war protests]] in the [[San Francisco Bay]] area,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/miscellaneous/5847/the-lost-interview-leonard-michaels |title=Paris Review interview|publisher=theparisreview.org |access-date=2016-10-28}}</ref> although he also accepted a description of himself as an 'unpolitical man'.

He is interred at [[Oakmont Memorial Park]], in [[Lafayette, California]].

Michaels had a daughter with his third wife, the poet [[Brenda Hillman]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enotes.com/topics/leonard-michaels |title=Leonard Michaels Biography |publisher=eNotes.com |date=January 2, 1933 |access-date=2014-01-19}}</ref> His son [[Jesse Michaels]] (from his second marriage) was the vocalist and primary lyricist in the seminal underground [[punk rock]] band [[Operation Ivy (band)|Operation Ivy]] in the late 1980s

==Selected publications==
;Short story collections:
* ''Going Places'' ([[:Category:1969 books|1969]], {{ISBN|0-374-16496-7}})
* ''I Would Have Saved Them If I Could'' ([[:Category:1975 books|1975]], {{ISBN|0-374-17411-3}})
* ''Shuffle'' ([[:Category:1990 books|1990]], {{ISBN|0-374-26349-3}})
* ''A Girl With a Monkey: New and Selected Stories'' ([[:Category:2000 books|2000]], {{ISBN|1-56279-120-6}})
* ''The Collected Stories '' ([[:Category:2007 books|2007]], {{ISBN|0-374-12654-2}})
* ''The Nachman Stories '' ([[:Category:2017 books|2017]], {{ISBN|978-1-911-54707-5}})

;Novels:
* ''The Men's Club'' ([[:Category:1981 books|1981]], {{ISBN|0-374-20782-8}}) (filmed in 1986)
* ''Sylvia'' ([[:Category:1992 books|1992]], {{ISBN|1-56279-029-3}})

;Essays:
* ''To Feel These Things'' ([[:Category: 2000 books|2000]], {{ISBN|1-56279-040-4}})
* ''The Essays of Leonard Michaels '' [[:Category:2009 books|2009]], {{ISBN|978-0-374-14880-5}}

;Diary:
* ''Time Out of Mind'' ([[:Category: 1999 books|1999]], {{ISBN|1-57322-819-2}})

;Others:
* ''A Cat'' ([[:Category:1995 books|1995]], {{ISBN|1-57322-013-2}})

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0584420}}
* [http://www.thenation.com/article/improbable-moralist The Improbable Moralist] Both an appreciation of his art and review of ''The Collected Stories'' by [[Phillip Lopate]]; published in [[The Nation]] on-line June 21, 2007 (July 9, 2007, issue)
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/01/RVGLQQJD1G1.DTL&type=books ''Leonard Michaels – let us not forget him''] review of ''The Collected Stories'', by Paul Wilner. This piece appeared July 1, 2007, at [http://www.sfgate.com/ SF Gate.com]. The review also extends into a backlog of reflection about Michaels' ''Sylvia'' and an essay on Michaels' called ''Difficult Friends'' in [[Wendy Lesser]]'s ''Room For Doubt''.
* [http://brooklynrail.org/2007/7/books/to-live-in-a-culture To Live in a Culture: Leonard Michaels' ''Sylvia'' and ''The Collected Stories''] piece by Nora Griffin at [http://brooklynrail.org/ The Brooklyn Rail]
* [http://harpers.org/archive/2007/06/hbc-90000369 Interview: Wyatt Mason on Leonard Michaels] at [http://www.harpers.org Harper's]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120906085614/http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/inmemoriam/leonardmichaels.htm Obituary] of the University of California
* {{cite web|url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/2010/06/07/100607on_audio_galchen |title=Audio: Fiction Podcast: Rivka Galchen reads Leonard Michaels |publisher=The New Yorker |access-date=2014-01-18}} – A reading of Michaels' story "Cryptology".
* {{cite web |url=http://www.powells.com/review/2010_02_05.html |title=Review-a-Day – The Collected Stories by Leonard Michaels, reviewed by Wyatt Mason, "The Irresponsibility of Feelings: Reading Leonard Michaels" – at Powell's Books |publisher=Powells.com |access-date=2014-01-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201132525/http://www.powells.com/review/2010_02_05.html |archive-date=February 1, 2014 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaels, Leonard}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Jewish American novelists]]
[[Category:Writers from Berkeley, California]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:University of Michigan alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from California]]
[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]

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Leonard Michaels