Author picture

Leslie Epstein

Author of King of the Jews

14+ Works 461 Members 2 Reviews

About the Author

Leslie Epstein has written eight books of fiction and won an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Distinguished Achievement in Literature for his creation of Leib Goldkorn. (Bowker Author Biography)

Includes the name: Лесли Эпстайн

Works by Leslie Epstein

King of the Jews (1979) 200 copies, 1 review
Pandaemonium: A Novel (1997) 38 copies
Goldkorn Tales (1986) 30 copies
Pinto and Sons (1990) 20 copies, 1 review
Regina (1982) 10 copies
P. D. Kimerakov (1975) 6 copies
Der Narr von Hollywood. (1998) 2 copies

Associated Works

Writers on Writing, 2: More Collected Essays from the New York Times (2003) — Contributor — 190 copies, 3 reviews
The Best American Short Stories 1978 (1978) — Contributor — 27 copies
The Best American Short Stories 1977 (1977) — Contributor — 18 copies
New American Review #4 (1968) — Contributor — 14 copies
Scoring from Second: Writers on Baseball (2007) — Contributor — 11 copies
Antaeus No. 23, Autumn 1976 — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Epstein, Leslie
Legal name
Epstein, Leslie Donald
Birthdate
1938-05-04
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Los Angeles, California, USA
Places of residence
Pacific Palisades, California, USA
Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
Education
Yale University (BA|1960|DFA|1967)
University of Oxford (Dipl. 1962)
University of California, Los Angeles (MA|1963)
Occupations
novelist
book reviewer
professor
Relationships
Epstein, Julius J. (uncle)
Epstein, Philip G. (father)
Organizations
Boston University
Queens College, City University of New York
Awards and honors
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (Literature ∙ 1978)
Rhodes Scholarship
Fulbright Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Agent
Robin Straus Agency, Inc.
Short biography
Leslie Epstein was born in Los Angeles, California, to a family of well-known filmmakers. HIs father Philip G. Epstein and uncle Julius J. Epstein wrote the screenplays for numerous films, including Casablanca (1942). He graduated from Yale University and won a Rhodes Scholarship for study at Oxford University in England. He has written 10 novels including King of the Jews (1979), considered a classic of Holocaust literature. His book San Remo Drive: A Novel from Memory (2004) was based on his childhood growing up in Hollywood. He has written article for magazines such as Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and The Nation, as well as book reviews for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. He was the director of the Creative Writing Program at Boston University for 30 years, beginning in 1978.

Members

Reviews

I feel a bit bad for giving this a low rating, because I only stuck with the book for its first section. I had looked forward to reading it based on a NYT book review that I read at the time it was published. Probably if I had read it then, when my tastes were more in line with the more outsized, historical absurdity of the book, I would have enjoyed it more. I did find the sections I read very memorable and well drawn. It was the narrator, a wide-eyed and naive innocent, that I found most objectionable. Again, that's in large part because I find that point of view annoying. This book appears to have many things in common with Little Big Man, another sprawling, historical romp, and The Sot Weed Factor, both of which I love. But I just found the rhythms of the storytelling to be a bit off-putting. I will say, however, that I read through the first section for its descriptions of Boston in the 19th century, and those were quite interesting, especially if you live in the area. Epstein is a skilled writer, and therefore I feel that I can recommend the book for others, just not for myself.… (more)
 
Flagged
phredfrancis | Feb 8, 2014 |
Holocaust tale of blaming outrageous crimes on an uncredentialed Jewish doctor in Poland who was deemed the Messiah by the Nazis
 
Flagged
Folkshul | Jan 15, 2011 |

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Statistics

Works
14
Also by
8
Members
461
Popularity
#53,308
Rating
½ 3.5
Reviews
2
ISBNs
44
Languages
5

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