Geoffrey O'Brien (born 1948

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) is an American poet, editor, book and film critic, translator, and cultural historian. In 1992, he joined the staff of the

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors ran ...

as executive editor, becoming editor-in-chief in 1998.

Biography

O'Brien was born in New York City and grew up in Great Neck, Long Island. His mother, Margaret O'Brien, née Owens, was a theater actress, and his father was Joseph O'Brien, one of the original

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Good Guys. O'Brien began publishing poetry and criticism in the 1960s. He has been a contributor to ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

'', ''

Film Comment ''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film Co ...

'', ''

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'' and ''The New York Times Book Review'', ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'', '' New Republic'', ''Bookforum'', and, especially, to the ''

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''. He has also been published in numerous other publications, including ''Filmmaker'', ''

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'', ''The Armchair Detective'', ''Bomb'', ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Gl ...

'', ''Fence'', GQ, ''The Los Angeles Times Book Review'', ''Men’s Vogue'', '' Mother Jones'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'', and Slate, and has contributed many essays for liner notes for The

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. In addition, his work has been included in numerous anthologies. He has served as editor of The Reader's Catalog (1987–1991), a faculty member of The Writing Program at

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, a contributing editor at

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, and was a member of the selection committee for The

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...

in 2003.

Literary style

Erudite but playful, O’Brien’s style as an essayist and reviewer is unique. Highly associative in approach, his dense, highbrow prose is often brought to bear upon the worlds of low-budget exploitation films and pulp fiction as well as more upscale and respectable venues of the cinematic, theater, literary, or popular music worlds. These wide-ranging pieces have been described as idiosyncratic “prose poems” and tend towards partial autobiography in which he recollects youthful experiences as reader or viewer which — although they may or may not have been shared by his own readership — can lead deeply into unexpected aspects of the material at hand.

Awards and accolades

* 1988

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and ...

* 1994 Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award (Criticism) * 1998 Fellow,

New York Institute for the Humanities The New York Institute for the Humanities (NYIH) is an academic organization founded by Richard Sennett in 1976 to promote the exchange of ideas between academics, writers, and the general public. The NYIH regularly holds seminars open to the publ ...

* 1999 Fellow,

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowships to professionals who have demonstrated exceptional ...

* 2002 Fellow,

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...

, Bellagio Study Center, Italy * 2011 Fellow, Bosch Public Policy Prize
American Academy in Berlin

Books

Reviews and cultural criticism

* (reprint 1997) * (reprint Counterpoint Press, 2002, ) * * *O'Brien, Geoffrey (1998), ''Bardic Deadlines: Reviewing Poetry 1984–1995'',

University of Michigan Press The University of Michigan Press is part of Michigan Publishing at the University of Michigan Library. It publishes 170 new titles each year in the humanities and social sciences. Titles from the press have earned numerous awards, including ...

. * (reprint Counterpoint Press, 2003, ) *O'Brien, Geoffrey (2001), ''Doing It: Five Performing Arts'',

(One of 5 authors) * * (Paperback title: ''Sonata for Jukebox: An Autobiography of My Ears'', Counterpoint Press, 2005, )

History

*O'Brien, Geoffrey (2010), ''The Fall of the House of Walworth: Madness and Murder in Gilded Age America'', Henry Holt.

Poetry

*O'Brien, Geoffrey (1983), ''Maciste in the valley of the Pagans'', Three Bears. * * * * * *O'Brien, Geoffrey (2015), ''In a Mist''

Anthology contributor

* * * *

Editor

*''The Reader's Catalog: An Annotated Listing of the 40,000 Best Books in Print in Over 300 Categories'' (1989; Second Edition, 1997) * ''American Poetry: The Twentieth Century'', The Library of America, 2000 **''Volume One: Henry Adams to Dorothy Parker'' **''Volume Two: E.E. Cummings to May Swenson'' * * Bartlett, John. ''

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'', often simply called ''Bartlett's'', is an American reference work that is the longest-lived and most widely distributed collection of quotations. The book was first issued in 1855 and is currently in its ninet ...

'', editions 18th (2012) and 19th (2022)

References

External links

Profile at The Whiting Foundation
* Geoffrey O'Brien's poe
"Six Political Criteria" in ''Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts'' (24.1)

"Geoffrey O’Brien", Luc Sante, ''BOMB'' 65/Fall 1998
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Geoffrey 1948 births Living people American essayists American film critics American humanists American literary critics American male essayists American male journalists American male poets Journalists from New York City The New York Review of Books people