Vivian Gornick (born June 14, 1935) is an American

radical feminist Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other ...

critic, journalist, essayist, and memoirist.

Early Life and Education

In 1957 Gornick received a bachelor of arts degree from

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 ...

and in 1960 a master of arts degree from

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 ...

Career

Gornick was a reporter for the ''

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 ...

'' from 1969 to 1977. Her work has also appeared in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

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 ...

,'' the ''

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', and many other publications. In 1969, the radical feminist group

New York Radical Feminists New York Radical Feminists (NYRF) was a radical feminist group founded by Shulamith Firestone and Anne Koedt in 1969, after they had left Redstockings and The Feminists, respectively. Firestone's and Koedt's desire to start this new group was ...

was founded by

Shulamith Firestone Shulamith Bath Shmuel Ben Ari Firestone (born Feuerstein; January 7, 1945 – August 28, 2012) was a Canadian-American radical feminist writer and activist. Firestone was a central figure in the early development of radical feminism and second-w ...

and

Anne Koedt Anne Koedt (born 1941) is an American radical feminist activist and author of "The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm", a 1970 classic feminist work on women's sexuality. She was connected to the group New York Radical Women and was a founding member ...

; Firestone's and Koedt's desire to start this new group was aided by Gornick's 1969 ''

'' article, "The Next Great Moment in History Is Theirs". The end of this essay announced the formation of the group and included a contact address and phone number, raising considerable national interest from prospective members. (Reprinted in: V Gornick. (1978). ''Essays in Feminism''. Harper and Row. .) Gornick has also published eleven books; the most recent, ''The Odd Woman and the City'', was published in May, 2015. She teaches writing at

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

. For the 2007–2008 academic year, she was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute 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 ...

, and in 2015 she served as the Bedell Distinguished Visiting Professor in the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...

's Nonfiction Writing Program. In March 2021 Gornick was awarded the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for nonfiction.

Bibliography

Books

*''Woman in Sexist Society: Studies in Power and Powerlessness'' (1971; edited with Barbara K. Moran) *''In Search of Ali Mahmoud: an American Woman in Egypt'' (1973, Saturday Review Press) (Nominated for the 1974

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

) *''The Romance of American Communism'' (1977, Basic Books; new edition 2020) *''Essays in Feminism'' (1978,

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

) *''Women in Science: Portraits from a World in Transition'' (1983,

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publi ...

) *''Fierce Attachments: A Memoir'' (1987,

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

) *''Approaching Eye Level'' (1996, Beacon Press) *''The End of the Novel of Love'' (1997, Beacon Press; Nominated for the 1997

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...

'' (2005, Farrar, Straus and Giroux) *''The Men in My Life'' (2008, MIT Press; National Book Critics Circle Award finalist for criticism) *''Women in Science: Then and Now'' (2009, The Feminist Press at CUNY) *''The Ancient Dream'' (Sep/Oct 2010, Boston Review) *''

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

: Revolution as a Way of Life.'' (2011, Yale University Press; Finalist for the 2011 National Jewish Book Award) * ''The Odd Woman and the City'' (May 2015,

) *''Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader'' (2020, Farrar, Straus and Giroux) *''Taking a Long Look: Essays on Culture, Literature, and Feminism in Our Time'' (2021,

Verso ' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. Etymology The terms are shortened from Latin ...

)"''Taking a Long Look: Essays on Culture, Literature, and Feminism in Our Time'', by Vivian Gornick"
''VersoBooks.com''. Retrieved 2022-03-28.

Essays and reporting

* "What Independence Has Come to Mean to Me" (2002) ''The Bitch in the House: 26 Women Tell the Truth about Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood and Marriage.'' William Morrow. ISBN 978-0060936464

Book reviews

References

External links

* * *
"The Next Great Moment in History Is Theirs"
1969 ''Village Voice'' article {{DEFAULTSORT:Gornick, Vivian 1935 births Living people 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women American essayists American expatriates in Egypt American feminist writers American women essayists Jewish American writers The Nation (U.S. magazine) people The New Republic people New York Radical Feminists members Radcliffe fellows Radical feminists The Village Voice people Women memoirists