Geoffrey O'Brien
Encyclopedia
Geoffrey O'Brien is an American poet, editor, book and film critic, translator, and cultural historian. In 1992, he joined the staff of the Library of America
as Executive Editor, becoming Editor-in-Chief in 1998.
Good Guys. He has one daughter, Heather O'Brien.
O'Brien began publishing poetry and criticism in the 1960s. He has been a contributor to Artforum
, Film Comment
, The New York Times
and The New York Times Book Review, Village Voice, New Republic
, Bookforum, and, especially, to the New York Review of Books. He has also been published in numerous other publications, including Filmmaker, American Heritage
, The Armchair Detective, Bomb, Boston Globe, Fence, GQ, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Men’s Vogue, Mother Jones
, The Nation
, Newsday
, and Slate, and has contributed many essays for liner notes for The Criterion Collection. In addition, his work has been included in numerous anthologies.
He has served as Editor of The Reader's Catalog (1987–1991), a faculty member of The Writing Program at The New School
, a Contributing Editor at Open City
, and was a member of the Selection Committee for The New York Film Festival
in 2003.
O'Brien has participated in numerous lectures, conferences, readings, and TV and film appearances, notably giving or participating in readings, conferences, and lectures at The New School
; The Graduate Center, CUNY; Duke University
; Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania
; Bard
; NY Institute for the Humanities, NYU; Columbia University
; LA Times Festival of Books; The Museum of the City of New York; the Smithsonian; The Museum of Biblical Art; National Arts Club
; many Barnes & Nobles; and KGB Bar. He has also appeared on CUNY TV
, and in the 2008 documentary "Val Lewton: Man in the Shadows", directed by Kent Jones and produced and narrated by Martin Scorsese
(Turner Classic Movies; DVD release January 2008).
He lives and works in New York City
.
Library of America
The Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
as Executive Editor, becoming Editor-in-Chief in 1998.
Biography
O'Brien was born in New York City and grew up in Great Neck, Long Island. His mother, Margaret O'Brien, née Owens, was a theater actress, and his father was Joseph O'Brien, one of the original WMCAWMCA
WMCA, 570 AM, is a radio station in New York City, most known for its "Good Guys" Top 40 era in the 1960s. It is currently owned by Salem Communications and plays a Christian radio format...
Good Guys. He has one daughter, Heather O'Brien.
O'Brien began publishing poetry and criticism in the 1960s. He has been a contributor to Artforum
Artforum
Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...
, Film Comment
Film Comment
Film Comment is an arts and culture magazine published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, of which it is the official publication. Film Comment features critical reviews and in-depth analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world...
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and The New York Times Book Review, Village Voice, New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, Bookforum, and, especially, to the New York Review of Books. He has also been published in numerous other publications, including Filmmaker, American Heritage
American Heritage (magazine)
American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
, The Armchair Detective, Bomb, Boston Globe, Fence, GQ, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Men’s Vogue, Mother Jones
Mother Jones (magazine)
Mother Jones is an American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...
, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
, and Slate, and has contributed many essays for liner notes for The Criterion Collection. In addition, his work has been included in numerous anthologies.
He has served as Editor of The Reader's Catalog (1987–1991), a faculty member of The Writing Program at The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
, a Contributing Editor at Open City
Open city
In war, in the event of the imminent capture of a city, the government/military structure of the nation that controls the city will sometimes declare it an open city, thus announcing that they have abandoned all defensive efforts....
, and was a member of the Selection Committee for The New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
in 2003.
O'Brien has participated in numerous lectures, conferences, readings, and TV and film appearances, notably giving or participating in readings, conferences, and lectures at The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
; The Graduate Center, CUNY; Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
; Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
; Bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
; NY Institute for the Humanities, NYU; Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
; LA Times Festival of Books; The Museum of the City of New York; the Smithsonian; The Museum of Biblical Art; National Arts Club
National Arts Club
The National Arts Club is a private club in Gramercy Park, New York City, New York, USA. It was founded in 1898 to "stimulate, foster, and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts". Since 1906 the organization has occupied the Samuel J...
; many Barnes & Nobles; and KGB Bar. He has also appeared on CUNY TV
CUNY TV
CUNY TV is a non-commercial Educational-access television cable station in New York City, part of The City University of New York's university system. It provides tele-course programming varying from mathematics, physics and biology to history, art and social studies. It also provides cultural...
, and in the 2008 documentary "Val Lewton: Man in the Shadows", directed by Kent Jones and produced and narrated by Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
(Turner Classic Movies; DVD release January 2008).
He lives and works 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...
.
Literary style
Erudite but playful, O’Brien’s style as an essayist and reviewer is unique. Highly associative in approach, his dense, highbrow prose is often brought to bear upon the worlds of low-budget exploitation films and pulp fiction as well as more upscale and respectable venues of the cinematic, theater, literary, or popular music worlds. These wide-ranging pieces have been described as idiosyncratic “prose poems” and tend towards partial autobiography in which he recollects youthful experiences as reader or viewer which — although they may or may not have been shared by his own readership — can lead deeply into unexpected aspects of the material at hand.Honors and accolades
- 1988 Whiting Foundation Writing Award
- 1994 Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award (Criticism)
- 1998 Fellow, New York Institute for the HumanitiesNew York Institute for the HumanitiesThe New York Institute for the Humanities is an academic organisation affiliated with New York University, founded by Richard Sennett in 1976 to promote the exchange of ideas between academics, professionals and the general public. The NYIH regularly holds seminars open to the public, as well as...
- 1999 Fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial FoundationJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial FoundationThe John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
- 2002 Fellow, Rockefeller FoundationRockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
, Bellagio Study Center, Italy - 2011 Fellow, Bosch Public Policy Prize, American Academy in Berlin
Reviews and cultural criticism
(reprint 1997) (reprint Counterpoint Press, 2002, ISBN 978-1-58243-191-8)- O'Brien, Geoffrey (1998), Bardic Deadlines: Reviewing Poetry 1984–1995, University of Michigan PressUniversity of Michigan PressThe University of Michigan Press is part of the University of Michigan Library and serves as a primary publishing unit of the University of Michigan, with special responsibility for the creation and promotion of scholarly, educational, and regional books and other materials in digital and print...
. (reprint Counterpoint Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-58243-245-8) - O'Brien, Geoffrey (2001), Doing It: Five Performing Arts, New York Review of Books (One of 5 authors) (Paperback title: Sonata for Jukebox: An Autobiography of My Ears, Counterpoint Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-58243-329-5)
History
- O'Brien, Geoffrey (2010), The Fall of the House of Walworth: Madness and Murder in Gilded Age America, Henry HoltHenry HoltHenry Holt , was a book publisher and author.Henry Holt was born in Baltimore, Maryland on January 3, 1840.He graduated from Yale in 1862....
.
Editor
- The Reader's Catalog: An Annotated Listing of the 40,000 Best Books in Print in Over 300 Categories (1989; Second Edition, 1997)
- American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, The Library of America, 2000
- Volume One: Henry Adams to Dorothy Parker
- Volume Two: E.E. Cummings to May Swenson