William Levy known as the Talmudic Wizard of Amsterdam and Dr. Doo-Wop

Doo-wop

The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

, is the author of such works as The Virgin Sperm Dancer, Wet Dreams, Certain Radio Speeches of 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...

 and Natural Jewboy.

Before leaving the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in the autumn of 1966 aboard the R.M.S Queen Mary, Mr. Levy attended the University of Maryland

University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

 and Temple University

Temple University

Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...

 and taught in the literature department at Shippensburg State College, in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. In the sixties and seventies, he was founder and chief-editor of many magazines such as: The Insect Trust Gazette, International Times

International Times

International Times was an underground newspaper founded in London in 1966. Editors included Hoppy, David Mairowitz, Pete Stansill, Barry Miles, Jim Haynes and playwright Tom McGrath...

, Suck, and The Fanatic. Recently, he served as European Editor for American glossy fanzines High Times and Penthouse magazine and as an associate editor of Amsterdam zines Het Gewicht, Ins & Outs, La Linea and Atom Club. Mr. Levy has been a regular contributor to Andrei Codrescu

Andrei Codrescu

Andrei Codrescu is a Romanian-born American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for National Public Radio. He was Mac Curdy Distinguished Professor of English at Louisiana State University from 1984 until his retirement in 2009....

's Exquisite Corpse and Libido and is currently publisher of Transactions of the Invisible Language Society series. His meditation play Europe in Flames was also featured at the Festival of New Radio in New York. In 1998, Mr. Levy was awarded the Erotic Oscar for writing at London's Sex Maniac's Ball. Until his recent retirement from radio and for 20 years non-stop, Mr. Levy's alter-ego, Dr. Doo Wop, could be heard weekly spinning groovy music across Amsterdam's airwaves.

Mr. Levy currently lives in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 with his wife, the literary translator Susan Janssen (translator of many works of Bukowski

Bukowski

Bukowski may refer to* Charles Bukowski, an American author* Bukowski * Bukowski * Bukowskis, an auction house* "Bukowski," a song on the Modest Mouse album, Good News for People Who Love Bad NewsSee also:Bukovski...

 and of F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...

's The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....

).

Selected works

• Playing Tennis with Kafka
• Have Rock Will Roll
• Confessions of a Failed Dealer
• France: Oxygen, a Thirsty (American-in-Paris) Satori
• Refugee TV
• A Call for Chaos & Beans On Toast, Please!
• Poetry and Pensees
• Three Poems
• Dear George W Bush
• Impossible: The Otto Muehl Story (New York: Barany Artists, 2001)
• The Virgin Sperm Dancer
• Wet Dreams
• Certain Radio Speeches of Ezra Pound
• Jeremiad Chants
• Natural Jewboy (Ins & Outs Press
  Ins & Outs Press
  Ins & Outs Press is a small English-language publisher with international connections based in Amsterdam and registered in the Netherlands as a cultural foundation, or stichting. It was started in 1980 by Eddie Woods, Jane Harvey, and Henk van der Does as a natural extension of Ins & Outs magazine,...
  
  , Amsterdam, 1981)
• Voicings and Transmissions
• Radio Art
• Blood
• Rape
• An Introduction to Political Porno in Europe
• A Vilna Legend
• The Night Before Charisma
• Billy's Holiday
• Viagra Blues
• Is There Sex Over Forty?
• Never Knew Never From Less: Secondary Raw Materials of Harry Hoogstraten
• ZOCK: The Outlaw Manifesto of the Century
• Death of a Gunslinger: An Obituary on Ed Dorn for America
• Requiem for Christian Loidl
• Hanging Out With Zalman Shneour
• Two Mornings in Amsterdam Pt. 1 Lost Soles
• Fourth and Fifteen & A Poet's Guide to Fashion

External links

• Dr. Doo-wop A film by Michiel Brongers
• William Levy: Beyond Criticism a Biopic by Malcolm Hart