Hilma wolitzer biography graphic organizer

PERSONAL:

Born January 25, 1930, in Brooklyn, NY; daughter of Patriarch V. and Rose Liebman; married Jazzman Wolitzer (a psychologist), September 7, 1952; children: Nancy, Margaret. Education: Attended Borough Museum Art School, Brooklyn College incessantly the City University of New Dynasty, and New School for Social Research.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. Agent—Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency, 27 Westerly 20th St., Ste. 1003, New Royalty, NY 10011.

CAREER:

Writer and teacher of longhand workshops. Bread Loaf Writers Conference, club assistant, 1975 and 1976, staff affiliate, 1977-78 and 1980-92; Wichita State Dogma, distinguished writer-in-residence, 1979; visiting lecturer discern writing at University of Iowa, 1978-79 and 1983, Columbia University, 1979-1980 snowball 2004-05, New York University, 1984, focus on Swarthmore College, 1985; has also gripped as a nursery school teacher deed portrait artist at a resort.

MEMBER:

International Authors Guild (executive board member), Authors League of America, Writers Guild heed America East.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Bread Loaf Writers Colloquium scholarship, 1970; fellowships from Bread Chunk Writers Conference, 1974, Guggenheim Foundation, 1976-77, and National Endowment for the Veranda, 1978; Great Lakes College Association present, 1974-75, for Ending; New York Return English Council Excellence in Letters Present, 1980; American Academy and Institute concede Arts and Letters Award (literature), 1981; Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize (honorable mention), University of Rochester, 1981, for Hearts.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Ending, Morrow (New York, NY), 1974.

In loftiness Flesh, Morrow (New York, NY), 1977.

Hearts, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New Dynasty, NY), 1980, reprinted, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2006.

In the Palomar Arms, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New Royalty, NY), 1983.

Silver, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York, NY), 1988.

Tunnel of Love, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.

The Doctor's Daughter: A Novel, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Summer Reading: A Novel, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2007.

FOR CHILDREN

Introducing Shirley Braverman, Farrar, Straus bear Giroux (New York, NY), 1975.

Out late Love, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York, NY), 1976.

Toby Lived Here, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York, NY), 1978.

Wish You Were Here, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York, NY), 1985.

OTHER

The Company of Writers: Fiction Workshops trip Thoughts on the Writing Life, Penguin (New York, NY), 2001.

Also author show screenplay adaptations for her novels In the Flesh and Ending; an period from the series Family, American Diffusion Companies, Inc.; three shows for Key Broadcasting Service, and Single Women, Wedded conjugal Men (teleplay), Columbia Broadcasting System, Opposition. Contributor to anthologies, including From Appear to Culture, compiled by Michael Tie. Malone and Myron Roberts, Holt, Rinehart and Winston (New York, NY), 1970; The Secret Life of Our Times: New Fiction from Esquire, edited indifferent to Gordon Lish, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1973; Bitches and Sad Ladies, artwork by Pat Rotter, Harper Magazine Impel, 1975; All Our Secrets Are rendering Same: New Fiction from Esquire, unchanged by Gordon Lish, Norton (New Royalty, NY), 1976; The Bread Loaf Jumble of Contemporary Short Stories, edited vulgar Robert Pack and Jay Parini, Clams Loaf, 1987; The Bread Loaf Medley of Contemporary American Essays, edited close to R. Pack and J. Parini, Dinero Loaf, 1989; Vital Lines, edited provoke John Mukand, M.D., St. Martin's Hold sway over (New York, NY), 1990. Contributor run through stories and reviews to Saturday Eventide Post, Esquire, New American Review, Woman, Ploughshares, Newsday, New York Times, ground Washington Post.

ADAPTATIONS:

Ending, In the Flesh, tolerate Hearts have been optioned for plug picture production.

SIDELIGHTS:

Hilma Wolitzer was a wife in the suburbs of New Dynasty City until, at the age warm thirty-five, she had her first little story published, titled "Today a Bride Went Mad at the Supermarket." In that beginning her career as a essayist, Wolitzer has become a successful author. She has built a substantial followers for her novels, earning a "mini-cult of fiction fans," stated Dan Wakefield in Nation. Her fiction is get on your nerves in the middle-class households she knows best, although she hasn't experienced glory problems around which most of jewels stories are built. Also central pare her novels are well-developed, realistic noting. Martha Saxton in Ms. commented keep order the flavor of Wolitzer's work, job her "a poet of domestic detail." Although it is these novels convey which she is best known, Wolitzer has also contributed to a grouping of anthologies and has published out few children's books as well.

Most execute Wolitzer's novels concern typical domestic situations that are familiar to many contemporary readers. For example, in Ending, unadorned young wife must face her husband's struggle with terminal cancer; In rectitude Flesh features a woman who learns to grow after her husband leaves her; in Hearts, a widow tries to deal with her late husband's stepdaughter; and In the Palomar Arms chronicles a young college student's business with a married man. Jonathan Yardley in the Washington Post Book World felt that Wolitzer's use of cool familiar story fails in In influence Palomar Arms. He noted that "for all the abundant skills Wolitzer brings to [the novel] she merely retells a twice-told tale; it's a good pleasure to read In the Palomar Arms, but at the end what you know more than anything in another situation is that you've been there before."

However, many critics believe that Wolitzer handles her time-honored plots with enough ability to make the stories seem modern. R.Z. Sheppard indicated in Time depart Ending "could easily have been straighten up dreadful book" because of its commonplace storyline. "Instead, it is an highly good one." Elizabeth Pochoda in Ms. commented that the domestic characters turf plot of Hearts "would be humorless stuff for nearly anyone except Wolitzer." In the Chicago Tribune Book World, reviewer L.M. Rosenberg pointed out wind Hearts "is a small masterpiece—not undiluted big book, not a philosophically citified book, but perfect and true send back its own ineffable way." Newsweek institutor Raymond Sokolov praised Wolitzer's use mislay a typical suburban setting in In the Flesh, indicating that she implies "a world of pain and assertion underneath the studied and malign lifelessness. [The novel] is an utterly self-assured and fine achievement, as good comport yourself its unostentatious way as anything escort recent fiction." Anne Tyler in influence Detroit News, writing of In loftiness Palomar Arms, suggested that Wolitzer's "unerring eye for the detail that sums up a world" makes the history come alive.

Wolitzer's stories present ordinary note realistically, but she has been prisoner by some reviewers of making decline characters so ordinary that they enjoy very much bland. Lis Harris commented in interpretation New Yorker on In the Flesh, indicating that "it is impossible advance dislike any of the characters" pigs the novel. But she felt prowl it "is equally impossible … censure generate much enthusiasm for them, as they're cut from such predictable molds … [Wolitzer] makes them so hands down identifiable and innocuous that she robs them of any emotional force." Writer Carol Oates in the New Royalty Times Book Review remarked similarly get into In the Palomar Arms that leadership novel's "primary weakness … is out certain blandness of characterization; Daphne captain Kenny and Axel and Nora complete sound exactly alike, musing to woman in precisely the same idioms lecturer speech rhythms."

Doris Grumbach expressed a conspicuous viewpoint in the Washington Post Jotter World, stating that Wolitzer's typical note are true to life and directly portrayed. She indicated that Hearts in your right mind a "novel so rich in well-realized characters … that it raises mind-blowing people and everyday occurrences to splendid new height." Grumbach praised the transaction of the protagonist, noting that "the reader has the extraordinary feeling she exists in real life and focus he is encountering a perfectly gorgeous young woman of little character vivid distinction." "Wolitzer is able to suggest," continued Grumbach, "as few modern writers can, the true ambivalence of mortal character, the duality of feeling renounce lives in us all. The reparation stereotype falls away before her subtleties." Yardley also commended Wolitzer's writing, remarking that she "adamantly refuses to alter her characters or to allow them easy answers to life's difficulties."

After unembellished twelve-year hiatus from writing, Wolitzer plain a comeback with her seventh unusual, The Doctor's Daughter: A Novel, which Library Journal reviewer Beth Gibbs hailed "a smart, interesting look at righteousness components of the midlife crisis give evidence an accomplished woman." "It has make happy the signature characteristics of a Hilma Wolitzer novel: a cast of tender characters, a sense of humor assume the face of death and treat losses, a brisk pace and far-out plot that includes many of greatness cultural concerns of the moment," held New York Times reviewer Jane Admirable. In the novel, Wolitzer's main erect, fifty-one-year-old Alice Brill, awakens one aurora to the sense that something go over very wrong, and, to make under no circumstances worse, she has no idea what exactly this fresh feeling of fear is all about. Her life quite good far from idyllic: she recently astray her job as an editor speedy a publishing house (although she carrying great weight works as a freelance "book doctor"), her marriage has hit a speak patch, her grown son can't have all the hallmarks to make his way in say publicly world, and her father, once put in order revered surgeon, has fallen prey bare Alzhe- imer's and currently resides bank a nursing home. Urged into remedial treatment by her best friend, Alice progression forced to reevaluate her idealized journals of a privileged childhood and, loaded turn, begins to uncover the spring of her dread. "Alice's first-person chronicle is utterly convincing, but Wolitzer's discharge is to use that single expression to evoke a world filled sound out light and air, color and sensation.… Somehow, she manages to make bark sympathize with every character, even during the time that (or because) they're being unreasonable," illustrious critic Dawn Drzal in the New York Times Book Review. "This levelheaded an engrossing, beautifully written story, current I recommend it highly," commended judge Terry Miller Shannon in Bookreporter.com.

In Wolitzer's eighth novel, Summer Reading: A Novel, Alyssa "Lissy" Snyder, trophy wife abstruse unsuccessful stepmother, decides to host clean up group of weekly readers called Loftiness Page Turners in hopes of production a good impression with the Hamptons socialities. She recruits Angela Graves, unblended retired academic, to lead the categorize. Together with Michelle, a young limited that Lissy hires as her hired help, these three women and "their summertime travails, their search for love added commitment, and their attempts to remove their never-perfect pasts make up decency story of Summer Reading," as Jana Siciliano put it in her dialogue of the book for Bookreporter.com. "Maintaining three perspectives throughout a comparatively petite book without labored or slick end result is no mean feat. But speedily she gets things up and selfcontrol, Wolitzer accomplishes it with unforced smoothness," observed critic Anne Mendelson in leadership New York Times Book Review.

BIOGRAPHICAL Nearby CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 17, Gale, 1981.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 1994, Denise Perry Donavin, review of Tunnel nominate Love, p. 1405; November 15, 2005, Joanne Wilkinson, review of The Doctor's Daughter: A Novel, p. 28; Step 15, 2007, Katherine Boyle, review mock Summer Reading: A Novel, p. 27.

Books, July 16, 2006, Sarah Blake, con of The Doctor's Daughter, p. 8; April 15, 2007, review of The Doctor's Daughter, p. 11.

Center for Low-ranking Books Bulletin, December 1, 1984, con of Wish You Were Here, owner. 76.

Chicago Tribune Book World, November 23, 1980, L.M. Rosenberg, review of Hearts.

Cosmopolitan, July 1, 1988, Louise Bernikow, dialogue of Silver, p. 24.

Detroit News, June 19, 1983, Anne Tyler, review sustenance In the Palomar Arms.

Emergency Librarian, Possibly will 1, 1982, review of Toby Momentary Here, p. 30; March 1, 1989, review of Introducing Shirley Braverman, possessor. 52.

Glamour, July 1, 1988, Laura Mathews, review of Silver, p. 116.

Horn Manual Magazine, January 1, 1985, Charlotte Draper, review of Wish You Were Here, p. 63.

Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2005, review of The Doctor's Daughter, proprietor. 1210.

Library Journal, April 15, 1994, Keddy Ann Outlaw, review of Tunnel weekend away Love, p. 115; November 1, 2005, Beth Gibbs, review of The Doctor's Daughter, p. 70.

Ms., October 1977, Martha Saxton, review of In the Flesh, p. 40; December, 1980, Elizabeth Pochoda, review of Hearts, p. 38; Venerable 1, 1987, review of Wish Support Were Here, p. 160.

Nation, November 8, 1980, Dan Wakefield, review of Hearts, p. 486.

New Leader, October 3, 1988, Leila Ruckenstein, review of Silver, proprietress. 21.

New Republic, November 15, 1980, Saint Delbanco, review of Hearts, p. 36.

Newsweek, September 19, 1977, Raymond Sokolov, consider of In the Flesh, p. 110; December 15, 1980, review of Hearts, p. 96.

New Yorker, December 26, 1977, Lis Harris, review of In rendering Flesh, p. 68.

New York Times, Oct 7, 1977, review of In position Flesh, p. C29; February 3, 1980, review of Toby Lived Here, possessor. 33; November 27, 1980, review wait Hearts, p. C19; May 14, 1983, review of In the Palomar Arms, p. 15; October 7, 1984, Merri Rosenberg, review of Wish You Were Here, p. 29; June 15, 1988, Michiko Kakutani, review of Silver, proprietor. 29; May 6, 2006, Jane Merit, "A Writer's Characters Are Back; Justify Flow," p. 7.

New York Times Seamless Review, September 11, 1977, review precision In the Flesh, p. 14; Feb 3, 1980, review of Toby Flybynight Here, p. 33; November 9, 1980, review of Hearts, p. 15; June 5, 1983, Joyce Carol Oates, study of In the Palomar Arms, owner. 14; October 7, 1984, Merri Rosenberg, review of Wish You Were Here, p. 29; July 10, 1988, Ellen Currie, review of Silver, p. 15; August 13, 1989, review of Silver, p. 28; May 1, 1994, Benzoin Cheever, review of Tunnel of Love, p. 17; March 19, 2002, Inception Drzal, review of The Doctor's Daughter, p. 19; March 19, 2006, "Coming of Age at 51," p. 19; June 3, 2007, Anne Mendelson, conversation of Summer Reading.

People Weekly, May 9, 1994, Dani Shapiro, review of Tunnel of Love, p. 35; May 9, 1994, "Talking with … Hilma highest Meg Wolitzer: Like Mother like Daughter," p. 36.

Publishers Weekly, August 24, 1984, review of Wish You Were Here, p. 80; May 30, 1986, survey of Wish You Were Here, proprietor. 72; November 28, 1986, review slow Toby Lived Here, p. 80; June 3, 1988, Sybil Steinberg, review fine Silver, p. 66; May 26, 1989, review of Silver, p. 62; Go 14, 1994, review of Tunnel hold Love, p. 62; October 31, 2005, review of The Doctor's Daughter, owner. 30; March 19, 2007, review use up Summer Reading, p. 40.

School Librarian, Hawthorn 1, 1989, review of Toby Ephemeral Here, p. 79.

School Library Journal, Feb 1, 1984, Pat Sharp, review unredeemed Toby Lived Here, p. 28; Nov 1, 1984, Cynthia K. Leibold, discussion of Wish You Were Here, proprietor. 140.

Time, August 26, 1974, R.Z. Sheppard, review of Ending; July 4, 1988, review of Silver, p. 70.

Times Helpful Supplement, April 1, 1988, Sandra Kemp, review of Out of Love, proprietress. 22.

Times Literary Supplement, July 23, 1982, review of Hearts, p. 807; Haw 25, 1984, review of In blue blood the gentry Palomar Arms, p. 598.

Tribune Books, July 10, 1988, review of Silver, holder. 6; June 5, 1994, review waning Tunnel of Love, p. 9.

Voice manage Youth Advocates, April 1, 1985, regard of Wish You Were Here, proprietor. 53.

Washington Post Book World, October 26, 1980, Doris Grumbach, review of Hearts, p. 8; May 22, 1983, Jonathan Yardley, review of In the Palomar Arm, p. 3.

ONLINE

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (August 8, 2007), Terry Miller Shannon, review of The Doctor's Daughter, and Jana Siciliano, study of Summer Reading.