;no 041 ,
4
On The Bookshelf
The death of author Alfred Kazin marks
the passing of a giant man of letters.
SAN DEE BRAWARSKY
Special to The Jewish News
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memoirs, including New York Jew. His
latest book, God and the American
Writer, was published last year.
While writing, he taught at many
universities here and abroad.
"He was a unique figure among
New York Jewish intellectuals," Morris
Dickstein, a critic and colleague at the
Graduate Center of the City
University of New York, comments.
"Early on, he was strongly -interested
. in American culture when others were
n his last weeks of life, Alfred
Kazin was still reading with pas-
sion, discussing books with
friends who'd visit in the hospi-
tal, thinking about the book he still
wanted to write. The author of A
Walker in the City, an evocation of his
Jewish Brooklyn childhood, could no
longer walk, but his mind was ever
curious. His
silence will be
deeply felt.
The author of
13 nonfiction
books and editor
of 10 literary col-
lections, Kazin
died of cancer
last month, on
his 83rd birth-
day. Born to .
Russian immi-
grant parents —
his father was a
house painter
and his mother a
dressmaker — in
the Brownsville
section of
Brooklyn, the
distinguished lit-
erary critic had a
career spanning
more than 60
years.
Kazin's prose
was direct and
penetrating, a
delight to read
and, as many col-
leagues and friends Alfred Kazin: A unique figure among Jewish intellectuals.
have commented,
more interested in Europe, and he was
awesome in its breadth. His prime
interested in hisJewish background -
subjects were literature and his own
when
other intellectuals looked toward
life. He kept a daily journal and con-
the
mainstream."
Kazin's daughter
tinued to publish frequent reviews and
Cathrael, a lawyer and former profes-
essays. In 1934, while a student at
sor of English who moved to
City College, Kazin began writing for
Jerusalem two years ago, describes him
the New York Times Book Review. His
as "the last of this great line of men of
first book, On Native Grounds, about
letters. There is no one with his huge-
American literature, was published in
ness of vision."
1942 and remains in print.
What made his criticism special,
Other books include works of criti-
according to Dickstein, was his
cism like An American Procession and