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Paul Goodman (1911–1972) was an American writer and public intellectual best known for his 1960s works of social criticism. Goodman was prolific across numerous literary genres and non-fiction topics, including the arts, civil rights, decentralization, democracy, education, media, politics, psychology, technology, urban planning, and war. As a
humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...
and self-styled
man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, ei ...
, his works often addressed a common theme of the individual citizen's duties in the larger society, and the responsibility to exercise
autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one' ...
, act creatively, and realize one's own
human nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...
. Born to a Jewish family in New York City, Goodman was raised by his aunts and sister and attended
City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
. As an aspiring writer, he wrote and published poems and fiction before receiving his doctorate from the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. He returned to writing in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and took sporadic magazine writing and teaching jobs, several of which he lost for his overt bisexuality and
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
draft resistance Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...
. Goodman discovered
anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
and wrote for
libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
journals. His radicalism was rooted in psychological theory. He co-wrote the theory behind Gestalt therapy based on
Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian doctor of medicine and a psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several influential books, most ...
's radical Freudianism and held psychoanalytic sessions through the 1950s while continuing to write prolifically. His 1960 book of social criticism, '' Growing Up Absurd'', established his importance as a mainstream, antiestablishment cultural theorist. Goodman became known as "the philosopher of the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights ...
" and his anarchistic disposition was influential in
1960s counterculture The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world in the 1960s and has been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights mo ...
and the free school movement. Despite being the foremost American intellectual of non-
Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
radicalism in his time, his celebrity did not endure far beyond his life. Goodman is remembered for his utopian proposals and principled belief in human potential.


Life

Goodman was born in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on September 9, 1911, to Augusta and Barnette Goodman. His
Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
ancestors had emigrated to New York from Germany a century earlier, well before the Eastern European wave. His grandfather had fought in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
and the family was "relatively prosperous". Goodman's
insolvent In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet in ...
father abandoned the family prior to his birth, making Paul their fourth and last child, after Alice (1902–1969) and Percival (1904–1989). Their mother worked as a women's clothes traveling saleswoman, which left Goodman to be raised mostly by his aunts and sister in New York City's Washington Heights with
petty bourgeois ''Petite bourgeoisie'' (, literally 'small bourgeoisie'; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a French term that refers to a social class composed of semi-autonomous peasants and small-scale merchants whose politico-economic ideological st ...
values. He attended
Hebrew school Hebrew school is Jewish education focusing on topics of Jewish history, learning the Hebrew language, and finally learning their Torah Portion, in preparation for the ceremony in Judaism of entering adulthood, known as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Hebr ...
and the city's public schools, where he excelled and developed a strong affinity with
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Goodman performed well in literature and languages during his time at Townsend Harris Hall High School and graduated atop his class in 1927. He started at
City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
the same year, where he majored in philosophy, was influenced by philosopher
Morris Raphael Cohen Morris Raphael Cohen ( be, Мо́рыс Рафаэ́ль Ко́эн; July 25, 1880 – January 28, 1947) was an American philosopher, lawyer, and legal scholar who united pragmatism with logical positivism and linguistic analysis. This union c ...
, and found both lifelong friends and his intellectual
social circle In the social sciences, a social group can be defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varietie ...
. Goodman came to identify with "community anarchism" since reading
Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...
as an undergraduate, and kept the affiliation throughout his life. He graduated with a
bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...
in 1931, early in the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. As an aspiring writer, Goodman wrote and published poems, essays, stories, and a play while living with his sister Alice, who supported him. Only a few were published. He did not keep a regular job, but read scripts for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
and taught drama at a
Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
youth camp during the summers 1934 through 1936. Unable to afford tuition, Goodman
audited An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...
graduate classes at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and traveled to some classes at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
. When Columbia philosophy professor
Richard McKeon Richard McKeon (; April 26, 1900 – March 31, 1985) was an American philosopher and longtime professor at the University of Chicago. His ideas formed the basis for the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Life, times, and influences McKe ...
moved to the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, he invited Goodman to attend and lecture. Between 1936 and 1940, Goodman was a
graduate student Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and s ...
in literature and philosophy, a research assistant, and part-time instructor. He took his preliminary exams in 1940, but was forced out for "nonconformist sexual behavior", a charge that would recur multiple times in his teaching career. By this point of his life, Goodman was married and continued to
cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...
for young men, as an active
bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...
. Homesick and absent his doctorate, Goodman returned to writing in New York City, where he was affiliated with the literary
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...
. Goodman worked on his dissertation, though it would take 14 years to publish. Unable to find work as a teacher, he reviewed films in '' Partisan Review'' and in the next two years, published his first book of poetry (1941) and novel (''The Grand Piano'', 1942). He taught at
Manumit Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...
, a progressive
boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...
, in 1943 and 1944, but was let go for "homosexual behavior". ''Partisan Review'' too removed Goodman for his bisexuality and
draft resistance Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...
advocacy. (Goodman himself was deferred and rejected from the World War II draft.)
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
politicized Goodman from an avant-garde author into a vocal pacifist and decentralist. His exploration of
anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
led him to publish in the
libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
journals of New York's Why? Group and
Dwight Macdonald Dwight Macdonald (March 24, 1906 – December 19, 1982) was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, literary critic, philosopher, and activist. Macdonald was a member of the New York Intellectuals and editor of their leftist mag ...
's ''
Politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
''. Goodman's collected anarchist essays from this period, " The May Pamphlet", undergird the libertarian social criticism he would pursue for the rest of his life.


Gestalt therapy

Aside from anarchism, the late 1940s marked Goodman's expansion into psychoanalytic therapy and urban planning. In 1945, Goodman started a second
common-law marriage Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, or marriage by habit and repute, is a legal framework where a couple may be considered married without having formally registered their relation as a civi ...
that would last until his death. Apart from teaching gigs at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...
night school and a summer at Black Mountain College, the family lived in poverty on his wife's salary. By 1946, Goodman was a popular yet "marginal" figure in New York bohemia and he began to participate in psychoanalytic therapy with Alexander Lowen. Through contact with
Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian doctor of medicine and a psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several influential books, most ...
, he began a self-psychoanalysis. Around the same time, Goodman and his brother, the architect Percival, wrote '' Communitas'' (1947). It argued that rural and urban living had not been functionally integrated and became known as a major work of urban planning following Goodman's eventual celebrity. Fritz and Lore Perls contacted Goodman after reading his writing on Reich and began a friendship that yielded the Gestalt therapy movement. Goodman authored the theoretical chapter of their co-written '' Gestalt Therapy'' (1951). In the early 1950s, he continued with his psychoanalytic sessions and began his own occasional, unlicensed practice. He continued in this occupation through 1960, taking patients, running
groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
, and leading classes at the Gestalt Therapy Institutes. During this psychoanalytic period, Goodman continued to consider himself foremost an artist and wrote prolifically even as his lack of wider recognition weathered his resolve. Before starting with Gestalt therapy, Goodman published the novel ''State of Nature'', the book of anarchist and aesthetic essays ''Art and Social Nature'', and the academic
monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monogra ...
''
Kafka's Prayer ''Kafka's Prayer'' is a 1947 book-length analysis of the novelist Franz Kafka and his works by Paul Goodman. Using Freudian and Reichian psychoanalysis, Goodman assesses the philosophical and religious significance of Kafka's aphoristic state ...
''. He spent 1948 and 1949 writing in New York and published ''The Break-Up of Our Camp'', a short story collection, followed by two novels: the 1950 ''The Dead of Spring'' and the 1951 '' Parents' Day''. He returned to his writing and therapy practice in New York City in 1951 and received his Ph.D. in 1954 from the University of Chicago, whose press published his dissertation as ''
The Structure of Literature ''The Structure of Literature'' is a book of literary criticism written by Paul Goodman and published by the University of Chicago Press in 1954. Background ''The Structure of Literature'' is a work of literary criticism, a professionalized ...
'' the same year.
The Living Theatre The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter ...
staged his theatrical work. Mid-decade, Goodman entered a life crisis when publishers did not want his
epic novel Epic is a genre of narrative defined by heroic or legendary adventures presented in a long format. Grant, John, and John Clute. 1997. "Arabian fantasy." ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy''. London: Orbit Books. . . Originating in the form of epic poe ...
''
The Empire City ''The Empire City'' is a 1959 epic novel by Paul Goodman. Publication Goodman began work on his epic, ''The Empire City'', upon returning to New York City in 1939 from his graduate work at the University of Chicago. Throughout his studies ...
'', a new lay therapist licensing law excluded Goodman, and his daughter contracted
polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sy ...
. He embarked to Europe in 1958 where, through reflections on American social ills and respect for Swiss patriotism, Goodman became zealously concerned with improving America. He read the
founding fathers The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...
and resolved to write patriotic social criticism that would appeal to his fellow citizens rather than criticize from the sidelines. Throughout the late 1950s, Goodman continued to publish in journals including '' Commentary'', '' Dissent'', ''
Liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...
'' (for which he became an unofficial editor), and '' The Kenyon Review''. ''The Empire City'' was published in 1959. His work had brought little money or fame up to this point. It was a low point of his life that would soon change dramatically.


Social criticism

Goodman's 1960 study of alienated youth in America, '' Growing Up Absurd'', established his importance as a mainstream cultural theorist and pillar of leftist thought during the counterculture. Released to moderate acclaim, it became the major book by which 1960s American youth understood themselves. The book of social criticism assured the young that they were right to feel disaffected about growing up into a society without meaningful community, spirit, sex, or work. He proposed alternatives in topics across the humanist spectrum from family, school, and work, through media, political activism, psychotherapy, quality of life, racial justice, and religion. In contrast to contemporaneous mores, Goodman praised traditional, simple values, such as honor, faith, and vocation, and the humanist history of art and heroes as providing hope for a more meaningful society. Goodman's frank vindications and outsider credentials resonated with the young. Throughout the sixties, Goodman would direct his work towards them as a father figure. Impressed by his personal integrity and the open defiance by which he lived his life, they came to regard him as a model for free life in a bureaucratic country and he came to regarded himself as their Dutch uncle. He spoke regularly on college campuses, discussing tactics with students, and seeking to cultivate youth movements, such as Students for a Democratic Society and the
Berkeley Free Speech Movement The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a massive, long-lasting student protest which took place during the 1964–65 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. The Movement was informally under the central leadership of Be ...
, that would take up his political message. As an early ally, he had a particular affinity for the Berkeley movement, which he identified as anarchist in character. Goodman became known both as the movement's philosopher and as "the philosopher of the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights ...
". While he continued to write for " little magazines", Goodman now reached mainstream audiences and began to make money. Multiple publishers were engaged in reissuing his books, reclaiming his backlog of unpublished fiction, and publishing his new social commentary. He continued to publish at least a book a year for the rest of his life, including critiques of education ('' The Community of Scholars'' and '' Compulsory Miseducation''), a treatise on decentralization ('' People or Personnel''), a "memoir-novel" ('' Making Do''), and collections of poetry, sketch stories, and previous articles. He produced a collection of critical broadcasts he had given in Canada as '' Like a Conquered Province''. His books from this period influenced the
free university A free university is an organization offering uncredited, public classes without restrictions to who can teach or learn. They differ in structure. In 1980 in the United States, about half were associated with a traditional university, about a ...
and free school movements. On the intellectual speaking circuit, Goodman was in high demand. Goodman taught in a variety of academic institutions. He was the Washington Institute for Policy Studies's first visiting scholar before serving multiple semester-long university appointments in New York, London, and Hawaii. He was the Knapp Distinguished Scholar in urban affairs at the
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wisc ...
and became the first San Francisco State College professor to be hired by students, paid by a student self-imposed tax. While continuing to lecture, Goodman participated in the
1960s counterculture The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world in the 1960s and has been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights mo ...
war protests and
draft resistance Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...
, including the first mass
draft-card burning Draft-card burning was a symbol of protest performed by thousands of young men in the United States and Australia in the 1960s and early 1970s. The first draft-card burners were American men taking part in the opposition to United States involvem ...
. Goodman's son, a
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
student, was also active in draft resistance and was under investigation by the FBI before his accidental mountaineering death in 1967, which launched Goodman into a prolonged depression. Towards the end of the decade, vanguardist groups turned on Goodman, believing his politics to stifle their revolutionary fervor. They began to heckle and vilify him. Goodman, who enjoyed polemics, was undeterred by their words but dispirited by the movement's turn towards insurrectionary politics. In the early 70s, Goodman wrote works that summarized his experience, such as '' New Reformation'' and '' Little Prayers & Finite Experience''. His health worsened due to a heart condition, and Goodman died of a heart attack in New Hampshire on August 2, 1972, at the age of 60. His in-progress works (''Little Prayers'' and '' Collected Poems'') were published posthumously.


Literature

Though he was prolific across many literary forms and topical categories, as a humanist, he thought of his writing as serving one common subject—"the organism and the environment"—and one common, pragmatic aim: that the writing should effect a change. Indeed, Goodman's poetry, fiction, drama, literary criticism, urban planning, psychological, cultural, and educational theory addressed the theme of the individual citizen's duties in the larger society, especially the responsibility to exercise free action and creativity. While his fiction and poetry was noted in his time, following ''Growing Up Absurd'' success, he diverted his attention from literature and spent his final decade pursuing the social and cultural criticism that forms the basis of his legacy. As an avant-garde litterateur, Goodman's work was frequently experimental. Goodman's prose has, at times, been commonly criticized for its sloppiness or impenetrability.


Thought and influence

Goodman believed that humans were inherently creative, communal, and loving, except when societal institutions alienate individuals from their natural selves, such as making them suppress their impulses to serve the institution. Goodman's oeuvre addressed humanism broadly across multiple disciplines and sociopolitical topics including the arts, civil planning, civil rights and liberties, decentralization and self-regulation, democracy, education, ethics, media, technology, "return to the land", war, and peace. When criticized for prioritizing breadth over depth, Goodman would reply that his interests did not break neatly into disciplines and that his works concerned the common topics of human nature and community as derived from his concrete experience. He fashioned himself a
man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, ei ...
and artist-humanist, i.e., a public thinker who writes about
the human condition ''The Human Condition'', first published in 1958, is Hannah Arendt's account of how "human activities" should be and have been understood throughout Western history. Arendt is interested in the ''vita activa'' (active life) as contrasted with t ...
and who creates not as a visual artist but by discharging his duties as a citizen. Goodman's wide interests reflected a concept he believed, acted on, and titled one of his books''The Society I Live In Is Mine''that everything is everyone's business. Goodman was prolific in sharing specific ideas for improving society to match his aims, and actively advocated for them in frequent lectures, letters, op-eds, and media appearances. Goodman's intellectual development followed three phases. His experience in marginal subcommunities, small anarchist publications, and bohemian New York City through the 1940s formed his core, radical principles, such as decentralization and pacifism. His first transformation was in psychological theory, as Goodman moved past the theories of Wilhelm Reich to develop Gestalt therapy with Fritz Perls. His second transformation opened his approach to social criticism. He resolved to write positively, patriotically, and accessibly about reform for a larger audience rather than simply resisting conformity and "drawing the line" between himself and societal pressures. This approach was foundational to building the New Left.


Politics and social thought

Goodman was most famous as a political thinker and social critic. Following his ascent with ''Growing Up Absurd'' (1960), his books spoke to young radicals, whom he encouraged to reclaim
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
's radical democracy as their anarchist birthright. Goodman's anarchist politics of the forties had an afterlife influence in the politics of the sixties' New Left. His World War II-era essays on the draft, moral law, civic duty, and resistance against violence were re-purposed for youth grappling with the Vietnam War. Even as American activism grew increasingly violent in the late 1960s, Goodman retained hope that a new
populism Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
, almost religious in nature, would bring about a consensus to live more humanely. His political beliefs shifted little over his life, though his message as a social critic had been fueled by his pre-1960 experiences as a Gestalt therapist and dissatisfaction with his role as an artist. As a decentralist, Goodman was skeptical of power and believed that human fallibility required power to be deconcentrated to reduce its harm. "Anarchists", Goodman wrote, "want to increase intrinsic functioning and diminish extrinsic power". His "peasant anarchism" was less dogma than disposition: he held that the small things in life (little property, food, sex) were paramount, while power worship, central planning, and ideology were perilous. He rejected grand schemes to reorganize the world and instead argued for decentralized counter-institutions across society to downscale societal organization into small, community-based units that better served immediate needs. Goodman blamed political centralization and a
power elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. ...
for withering populism and creating a "psychology of powerlessness". He advocated for alternative systems of order that eschewed "top-down direction, standard rules, and extrinsic rewards like salary and status". Goodman often referenced classical republican ideology, such as improvised, local political decision-making and principles like honor and craftsmanship. He defined political action as any novel individual initiative (e.g., policy, enterprise, idea) without wide acceptance. Civil liberty, to Goodman, was less about
freedom from Freedom From is a record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which primarily focuses on the international noise underground genre. The label was founded in 1996 with its first official release by a San Francisco three-piece named Job. Up u ...
coercive institutions, as commonly articulated in anarchist politics, and more about freedom to initiate within a community, as is necessary for the community's continued evolution. He believed individual initiative—human ardor and animal drives—and the everyday conflict it creates to be the foundation of communities and a quality to be promoted. Love and the creative rivalry of fraternity, wrote Goodman, is what spurs the individual initiative to do what none could do alone. Goodman followed in the tradition of Enlightenment
rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...
. Like
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
in '' What Is Enlightenment?'' (one of Goodman's favorite essays), Goodman structured his core beliefs around
autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one' ...
: the human ability to pursue one's own initiative and follow through, as distinct from "freedom". Influenced by
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
, Goodman additionally advocated for
self-actualization Self-actualization, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is the highest level of psychological development, where personal potential is fully realized after basic bodily and ego needs have been fulfilled. Self-actualization was coined by the organism ...
through participating in societal discourse, rather than using politics solely to choose leaders and divvy resources. He adhered to Deweyan pragmatism—the pursuit of practical knowledge to guide one's actions—and spoke about its misappropriation in American society. Goodman praised classless, everyday, democratic values associated with American frontier culture. He lionized American radicals who championed such values. Goodman was interested in radicalism native to the United States, such as populism and Randolph Bourne's anarcho-pacifism, and distanced himself from Marxism and European radicalism. Goodman is associated with the New York Intellectuals circle of college-educated, secular Jews, despite his political differences with the group. Goodman's anarchist politics alienated him from his Marxist peers in the 1930s and 40s as well as later when their thought became increasingly conservative. He criticized the intellectuals as having first
sold out "Selling out", or "sold out" in the past tense, is a common expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles by forgoing the long-term benefits of the collective or group in exchange for personal g ...
to Communism and then to the "organized system". Goodman's affiliations with the New York Intellectuals provided much of his early publishing connections and success, especially as he saw rejection from the literary establishment. Goodman found fonder camaraderie among anarchists and experimentalists such as the Why? Group and the Living Theater. Goodman's role as a New York Intellectual cultural figure was satirized alongside his coterie in Delmore Schwartz's ''
The World Is a Wedding "The World Is a Wedding" is a short story by Delmore Schwartz Delmore Schwartz (December 8, 1913 – July 11, 1966) was an American poet and short story writer. Early life Schwartz was born in 1913 in Brooklyn, New York, where he also grew u ...
'' and namechecked in
Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
's '' Annie Hall''. Despite early interest in the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
, Goodman was not as involved with its youth activists.


Psychology

Goodman's radicalism was based in psychological theory, his views on which evolved throughout his life. He first adopted radical Freudianism based in fixed human instincts and the politics of Wilhelm Reich. Goodman believed that natural human instinct (akin to Freud's id) served to help humans resist alienation, advertising, propaganda, and will to conform. He moved away from Reichian individualistic id psychology towards a view of the nonconforming self integrated with society. Several factors precipitated this change. First, Reich, a Marxist, criticized Goodman's anarchist interpretation of his work. Second, as a follower of Aristotle, belief in a soul pursuing its intrinsic
telos Telos (; ) is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the final cause of a natural organ or entity, or of a work of human art. Intentional actualization of potential or inherent purpose,"Telos.''Philosophy Terms'' Retrieved 3 May 2020. ...
fit Goodman's idea of socialization better than the Freudian conflict model. Third, as a follower of Kant, Goodman believed in the self as a synthesized combination of internal
human nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...
and the external world. As he developed these thoughts, Goodman met Fritz Perls in 1946. The pair together challenged Reich and developed the theory of Gestalt therapy atop traits of Reich's radical Freudianism. Gestalt therapy emphasizes the living present over the past and conscious activity over the unconsciousness of dreams. The therapy is based in finding and confronting unresolved issues in one's habitual behavior and social environment to become a truer, more self-aware version of oneself. It encourages clients to embrace spontaneity and active engagement in their present lives. Unlike the silent Freudian analyst, Goodman played an active, confrontational role as therapist. He believed his role was less to cure sickness than to adjust clients to their realities in accordance with their own desires by revealing their blocked potential. The therapist, to Goodman, should act as a "fellow citizen" with a responsibility to reflect the shared, societal sources of these blockages. These themes, of present engagement and of duty to identify shared ills, provided a theory of human nature and community that became the political basis of Goodman's New Left vision and subsequent career in social criticism. Goodman's collective therapy sessions functioned as mutual criticism on par with Oneida Community communal self-improvement meetings.


Education

Goodman's thoughts on education came from his interest in
progressive education Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''p ...
and his experience with the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and free university movement. Goodman invokes "human nature" as multifaceted and unearthed by new culture, institutions, and proposals. He offers no common definition of "human nature" and suggests that no common definition is needed even when claiming that some action is "against human nature". Goodman contends that humans are animals with tendencies and that a "human nature" forms between the human and an environment he deems suitable: a continually reinvented "free" society with a culture developed from and for the search for human powers. When denied this uninhibited growth, human nature is shackled, culture purged, and education impossible, regardless of the physical institution of schooling. To Goodman, education aims to form a common humanity and, in turn, create a "worthwhile" world. He figured that "natural" human development has similar aims, which is to say that education and "growing up" are identical. "Mis-education", in comparison, has less to do with education or growing up, and is rather a
brainwashing Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwashin ...
process of inculcating a singular worldview that discounts personal experience and feelings, with fearfulness and insecurity towards other worldviews. As outlined in ''Growing Up Absurd'', a dearth of "worthwhile opportunities" in a society precludes both education and growing up. Goodman contended that a lack of community, patriotism, and honor stunts the normal development of human nature and leads to "resigned or fatalistic" youth. This resignation leads youth to "role play" the qualities expected of them. Goodman's books on education extol the medieval university and advocated for alternative institutions of instruction. He advocates for replacing compulsory schooling with various forms of education more specific to individual interests, including the choice to not attend any school. He argues that the busyness of American high schools and extracurricular activities preclude students from developing their individual interests, and that students should spend years away from schooling before working towards a liberal arts college degree. Goodman believes in dismantling large educational institutions to create small college federations. Goodman saw himself as continuing the work started by
John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the fi ...
. His works on American school social criticism were among the first in a 1960s body of literature that became known as the romantic critics of education. Critics of public schools borrowed his ideas for years after the 1960 publication of ''Growing Up Absurd'', and Goodman's ideas on education reverberated for decades.


Personal life

While Goodman anchored himself to larger traditions—characterized by some as a Renaissance man, a citizen of the world, a "child of the Enlightenment", and a man of letters—he also considered himself an American patriot, with fond affection for "our beautiful libertarian, pluralist and populist experiment". He valued what he called the provincial virtues of the country's national character, such as dutifulness, frugality, honesty, prudence, and self-reliance. He also valued curiosity, lust, and willingness to break rules for self-evident good. Both of Goodman's marriages were common law; neither was state-officiated. Goodman was married to Virginia Miller between 1938 and 1943. Their daughter, Susan (1939), was born in Chicago. Between 1945 and his death, Goodman was married to Sally Duchsten. Their son, Mathew Ready, was born in 1946. They lived below the poverty line on her salary as a secretary, supplemented by Goodman's sporadic teaching assignments. With the proceeds from ''Growing Up Absurd'' (1960), his wife left her job and Goodman bought a farmhouse outside of
North Stratford, New Hampshire North Stratford is an unincorporated community in the town of Stratford in Coos County, New Hampshire, United States. It is located in the northwest corner of the town, along the Connecticut River and adjacent to Bloomfield, Vermont. North S ...
, which they used as an occasional home. His third child, Daisy, was born in 1963. Towards the end of his life, despite entering money through his fame, his family lived an unadorned life in an apartment on the
Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
of New York City. Throughout his life, Goodman lost jobs for reasons related to his sexuality. By the time he was in Chicago and married, Goodman was an active bisexual who cruised bars and parks for young men. He was fired from his teaching position there for not taking his cruising off-campus. He was dismissed from the ''Partisan Review'', the progressive boarding school Manumit, and Black Mountain College for reasons related to his homosexuality or bisexuality. Goodman was known for his paradoxical identity and contrarian stances. He was, at once, an iconoclastic anarchist and a "neolithic conservative", a figurehead of the political left and regularly critical of it, an everyman who roamed New York for sex and
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...
and a self-described defender of Western civilization who held Aristotle and Kropotkin as his forebears. ''Growing Up Absurd'' professes his belief in the simultaneous paramountcy of both radical individuation and communalism. He believed in liberating coalitions but broke from black power and
gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , ...
movements or coalitions whose collective power diminished individual autonomy. In his life, Goodman's professed egalitarianism and humanism sometimes clashed with his personal pretensions, intellectual arrogance, and "impatient imperviousness". While admirable that Goodman stuck to his unfashionable conviction,
Irving Howe Irving Howe (; June 11, 1920 – May 5, 1993) was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America. Early years Howe was born as Irving Horenstein in The Bronx, New York. He was the son of ...
wrote, Goodman also had an air of "asphyxiating self-righteousness". Goodman's unmannered physical presence was a core piece of his presentation and idiosyncratic celebrity as a social gadfly, partly since Goodman himself championed a lack of separation between public and private lives.


Legacy

In his time, Goodman was the foremost American intellectual within non-Marxist, Western radicalism, but he did not fit neatly into categories within the intellectual community. Though he wrote learnedly on topics spanning 21 different sections of the
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...
by the time of his death, he went largely unaccepted in these disciplines, owing partly to his resistance to specialize, his ornery personality, and his unrefined writing quality. His work went unrecognized in academic canon. As literary critic Kingsley Widmer put it, Goodman had not produced a singular
masterwork A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
. Writing on Goodman's death,
Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay " Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. He ...
described his intellect as underappreciated and his literary voice as the most "convincing, genuine, ndsingular" since
D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
's. She lamented how "Goodman was always taken for granted even by his admirers", praised his literary breadth, and predicted that his poetry would eventually find widespread appreciation. Sontag called Goodman the "most important American writer" of her last twenty years. Literary critic
Adam Kirsch Adam Kirsch (born 1976) is an American poet and literary critic. He is on the seminar faculty of Columbia University's Center for American Studies, and has taught at YIVO. Life and career Kirsch was born in Los Angeles in 1976. He is the son of ...
later wrote that this was an eccentric opinion both for the time and 2012. Author Kerry Howley, panning Goodman's prose at the time of his 2010
PM Press PM Press is an independent publisher, founded in 2007, that specializes in radical, Marxist and anarchist literature, as well as crime fiction, graphic novels, music CDs, and political documentaries. It has offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, ...
republications, decried Sontag's and others' defense of Goodman, writing that "rarely in history has such a long list of luminaries come together to apologize for a single body of work". Some of Goodman's ideas have been assimilated into mainstream thought: local community autonomy and decentralization, better balance between rural and urban life, morality-led technological advances, break-up of regimented schooling, art in mass media, and a culture less focused on a wasteful standard of living. Over time, the idea of "the system" entered common language and ceased to be a rallying cry. Goodman bridged the 1950s era of mass conformity and repression into the 1960s era of youth counterculture in his encouragement of dissent. His systemic societal critique was adopted by 1960s New Left radicals, and his ''Growing Up Absurd'' changed American public dialogue to focus "on the discontents of the young and the lack of humane values in much of our technocracy". His influence never took hold in the wider public. Goodman's public interest peaked with his late 1960s youth readership and waned as quickly as it came. Within decades Goodman was largely forgotten from public consciousness. Goodman's subsequent obscurity was itself the subject of a 2011 documentary. His literary executor wrote that much of Goodman's effectiveness relied on his electric, cantankerous presence. As a figure, Goodman remains remembered for his utopian proposals and principled belief in human potential, and among scholars of the New York Intellectuals. Harvard University's Houghton Library acquired Goodman's papers in 1989. Though known for his social criticism in his life, Goodman's literary executor Taylor Stoehr wrote in the 1990s that future generations would likely appreciate Goodman foremost for his poetry and fiction, which are also the works for which Goodman wished to be known. Writing years later, Stoehr thought that the poems, some stories, and ''The Empire City'' would have the most future currency. Though Stoehr considered Goodman's social commentary just "as fresh in the nineties as ... in the sixties", everything but ''Communitas'' and ''Growing Up Absurd'' had gone
out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a boo ...
. Later, however, in 2010, PM Press republished ''New Reformation, The Empire City, Drawing the Line Again'', and a ''Paul Goodman Reader'', all edited by Taylor Stoehr. Stoehr's extensive notes and drafts for a comprehensive Goodman biography are also at the Houghton Library. Stoehr's book ''Here Now Next'' describes Goodman's life during the time he and Fritz Perls collaborated.


Selected bibliography

* '' The May Pamphlet'' (1946) * ''
Kafka's Prayer ''Kafka's Prayer'' is a 1947 book-length analysis of the novelist Franz Kafka and his works by Paul Goodman. Using Freudian and Reichian psychoanalysis, Goodman assesses the philosophical and religious significance of Kafka's aphoristic state ...
'' (1947) * '' Communitas'' (1947) * '' Gestalt Therapy'' (1951) * '' Parents' Day'' (1951) * ''
The Structure of Literature ''The Structure of Literature'' is a book of literary criticism written by Paul Goodman and published by the University of Chicago Press in 1954. Background ''The Structure of Literature'' is a work of literary criticism, a professionalized ...
'' (1954) * ''
The Empire City ''The Empire City'' is a 1959 epic novel by Paul Goodman. Publication Goodman began work on his epic, ''The Empire City'', upon returning to New York City in 1939 from his graduate work at the University of Chicago. Throughout his studies ...
'' (1959) * '' Growing Up Absurd'' (1960) * '' Utopian Essays and Practical Proposals'' (1962) * '' The Community of Scholars'' (1962) * '' Making Do'' (1963) * '' Compulsory Miseducation'' (1964) * '' People or Personnel'' (1965) * '' Five Years'' (1966) * '' Like a Conquered Province'' (1967) * '' New Reformation'' (1970) * '' Speaking and Language'' (1971) * '' Little Prayers and Finite Experience'' (1972) * '' Collected Poems'' (1973)


See also

* List of American anarchists * List of Jewish anarchists *
List of peace activists This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work wi ...


Notes


References

* Previously published as * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Later republished in Sontag's * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Public domain books
at
HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locall ...
*
Finding aid to video interviews about Paul Goodman at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Paul 1911 births 1972 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American poets Advocates of unschooling and homeschooling American anarchists American anti-capitalists American educational theorists American LGBT novelists American LGBT poets American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American male poets American male short story writers American pacifists American people of German-Jewish descent American political writers American people of Sephardic-Jewish descent American short story writers American sociologists Anarchist writers Anarcho-pacifists Bisexual men Bisexual writers Black Mountain College faculty City College of New York alumni Gestalt therapy LGBT people from New York (state) New Left Novelists from New York (state) Social critics University of Chicago alumni Urban theorists Writers from New York City