Dan Schneider (writer)

Dan Schneider (born 1965) is an American poet and critic of literature and film who runs the criticism and literary website ''Cosmoetica''.

Biography

Schneider was born in 1965 to a family from Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin. He is of Norwegian ancestry. His parents placed him for adoption, and he grew up with a working-class family in the Glendale- Ridgewood neighborhoods of Queens, New York. He claimed to have witnessed a murder at age six. He attended Franklin K. Lane High School, where he was part of a gang. After graduating from high school, he began writing poetry to court women while he was working as a dairy manager in a Finast grocery store. In 1987, he paid to print 2,000 copies of his first poetry book, ''Od Infinitum''.

In 1991, he and his adopted mother moved to Minnesota after learning that his biological family lived there, although his birth mother had died. While living in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Schneider became involved in local poetry readings and poetry slams. He heavily criticized the poetry community in the Twin Cities, and journalist Brad Zellar noted that Schneider's criticisms sometimes involved personal attacks and public confrontations, including an instance in which Schneider interrupted an event for Robert Bly. He was kicked out of a local poetry group and also banned from some poetry readings and venues because of his outbursts and interruptions during events.

Schneider's writings have been published in outlets including ''Monsters and Critics'', ''HackWriters'', and ''BlogCritics''. In 2008, the literature textbook ''Contemporary Fiction: The Novel Since 1990'' excerpted Schneider's negative review of British author Zadie Smith's novel ''White Teeth'' for ''HackWriters'' alongside a positive review from ''The New York Times'' as part of a discussion assignment on divided opinions among book reviewers.

''Cosmoetica'' website

Schneider runs the website ''Cosmoetica'', which the ''Dictionary of Midwestern Literature'' included in a list of several significant Illinois-based literary magazines outside of academia. ''New York Times'' poetry columnist David Orr featured the site in the 2004 article "Where to Find Digital Lit" alongside 16 other online-only literary sites, including ''Bookslut'', FanFiction.net, and Foetry.com.

Schneider also publishes interviews on his site with authors, poets, scientists and others such as James Berardinelli, James Emanuel, and Chris Impey. In the introduction to a special edition of ''Fire!!! The Multimedia Journal of Black Studies'', Ronald Bailey noted Schneider's interview with Emanuel as an "important source" on the poet. An Emanuel quote from the interview also appeared in the poet's ''New York Times'' obituary.

Critical response

Several writers have commented on Schneider's critical writings on ''Cosmoetica''. In the '' Quarterly Literary Review Singapore'', Cyril Wong wrote: "I think it is high time every lover of contemporary poetry reads Dan Schneider's essays," which he described as "literary entertainment of the most vindictive and oddly cathartic kind." Writing in ''The New York Times'', David Orr said of Schneider and ''Cosmoetica'': "If you were looking for someone willing to call T. S. Eliot '1 of the most grossly overrated writers in the history of the world, & the English language,' Schneider is your man. His site includes similarly jolly commentary on a large number of contemporary writers." Roger Ebert wrote a 2009 blog post on '' RogerEbert.com'' responding to Schneider's positive and negative assessments of his critical style and calling Schneider a "considerable critic."

Schneider's poetry has been praised by Waswo X. Waswo.

References

External links

Cosmoetica
Schneider's website of poetry, writings, and criticism.
Schneider's personal page
at Blogcritics

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Dan
1965 births
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American poets
American adoptees
American film critics
American literary critics
American male bloggers
American male essayists
American male poets
Literary critics of English
Living people
People from Ridgewood, Queens
Poets from Minnesota
Poets from New York City
Poets from Texas
Writers from Queens, New York