Nathan Asch
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Nathan Asch (July 10, 1902–December 23, 1964) was an American writer.


Biography

Nathan Asch was born in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
in 1902, the son of the Yiddish novelist
Sholem Asch Sholem Asch (, ; 1 November 1880 – 10 July 1957), also written Shalom Ash, was a Polish Jews, Polish-Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language who settled in the United States. Life and work Asch was born Szalom Asz in ...
and his wife Mathilda Szpiro. After living in France, Germany, and Switzerland, the family settled in the United States when Asch was 13 years old. In 1923, Asch moved to Paris where he met
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
. His first story "The Voice of the Office", published in the June 1924 edition of '' The Transatlantic Review,'' was praised by Hemingway. Asch worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood but quit to travel around the country by bus and report on the experiences of ordinary people during the Depression. Asch criticized Hollywood from a Marxist perspective, describing it as a place of "the last manufactory of bourgeois romanticism... with no newspapers, no opinions, ndno social consciousness". He drew on his bus trips in his book ''The Road: In Search of America,'' a book that combines literary fragments and reporting to depict American life in the 1930s. During the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, Asch collaborated with his friend Josephine Herbst on a play about the conflict called ''The Spanish Road'' but it was not produced due to Communist members of the Theatre Union who disagreed with the work's political viewpoint. Asch was associated with a circle of leftist literary critics, including
Muriel Rukeyser Muriel Rukeyser (December 15, 1913 – February 12, 1980) was an American poet, essayist, biographer, novelist, screenwriter and political activist. She wrote across genres and forms, addressing issues related to racial, gender and class justice ...
, Stanley Burnshaw, and Mike Gold. His four novels were initially popular in Germany, through Hermynia Zür Muhlen's translations but his books could not be published after 1936 in Germany or Austria since Asch was Jewish. With his books banned in Germany, Asch supported himself by writing for the
Federal Writers' Project The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers and to develop a history and overview of the United States, by state, cities and other jurisdictions. It was ...
. Asch, who had previously served in the Navy during World War I, was a technical sergeant during World War II, driving the photographer
Margaret Bourke-White Margaret Bourke-White (; June 14, 1904 – August 27, 1971) was an American documentary photography, documentary photographer and photojournalist. She was known as an architectural and commercial photographer for the first half of her career, ...
in a jeep. He did not publish any books after the war, but he taught writing workshops in
Marin County Marin County ( ) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is ac ...
. In contrast to his father's works, Nathan Asch's writing was considered to be more modernist and experimental. His works focused on "the victims of modern life", such as the middle-class office workers in ''The Office.'' Similarly, ''Pay Day'' is a modernist depiction of a twelve-hour period in a Manhattan office, on the day of the execution of
Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrants and anarchists who were controversially convicted of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parm ...
. Comparing the two novelists,
Malcolm Cowley Malcolm Cowley (August 24, 1898 – March 27, 1989) was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, ''Blue Juniata'' (1929), and his memoir, ''Exile's Return'' ( ...
said that Nathan Asch wrote "more lyrically...but lacked the father's simple vigor and breadth of conception". Since both men were writing at the same time, the two novelists had a complicated relationship, with Nathan Asch recalling that he "loved my father and hated him and had also been completely alienated from him." Nathan Asch wrote that he never learned to read Yiddish and could only read his father's books in translation.


Bibliography


Books

* ''The Office'' (Harcourt & Brace, 1925) * ''Love in Chartres'' (A. & C. Boni, 1927) * ''Pay Day'' (Brewer & Warren, 1930) * ''The Valley'' (Macmillan, 1935) * ''The Road: In Search of America'' (Norton, 1937)


Stories

* "The Voice of the Office," '' Transatlantic Review'', June 1924 * "Marc Kranz," ''Transatlantic Review'', August 1924 * "Gertrude Donovan," ''Transatlantic Review'', December 1924 * "The Bus-Boy," ''
New Masses ''New Masses'' (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). It was the successor to both '' The Masses'' (1911–1917) and ''The Liberator'' (1918–1924). ''New Masses'' was later merge ...
'', May 1926 * "The Country," ''American Caravan'', 1927 * "In the City," ''American Caravan'' 2, 1928 * "Bravery," ''
Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...
'', July 12, 1930 * "Dying in Carcassonne," '' Forum and Century'', November 1930 * "Moses," ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', April 2, 1932 * "Mary," '' Contact'', May 1932 * "Mr. Bromley's Tonsils," ''The New Yorker'', April 28, 1934 * "Truth, Beauty, and Efficiency," ''The New Yorker'', November 2, 1935 * "Route 61," ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'', January 15, 1936 * "Stopover," ''
Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a left-wing small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affi ...
'', March 1936 * "High Gear," ''Partisan Review'', April 1936 * "Be Careful, Mrs. Hopkins!" '' Life and Letters To-Day'', December 1936 * "Deep South," ''The New Yorker'', April 10, 1937 * "Copperhead," ''The New Yorker'', September 11, 1937 * "Heart's Desire," ''American Stuff'', 1937 * "5 to 7," ''The New Yorker'', May 18, 1940 * "The Works," ''The New Yorker'', July 27, 1940 * "The Secret," ''
Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Communications, Hearst magazine division. It is one of the "Seven Sisters (magazines), Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publicatio ...
'', December 1940 * "A Home for Emma," '' The Yale Review'', 1941-42 * "Late-Afternoon Sun," ''The New Yorker'', August 8, 1942 * "Barbara," ''
Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...
'', February 1943 * "The Lake," ''
Virginia Quarterly Review The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussio ...
'' 22.3, Summer 1946 * "Young Man on His Way," ''The New Yorker'', June 22, 1946 * "Inland, Western Sea," ''The New Yorker'', April 29, 1950 * "Business," ''American Aphrodite'', 1951 * "The Game," '' Commentary'', March 1953 * "Arthur," ''New Editions'' 1, Fall 1956 * "Women of Munich," ''Contact'', July-August 1964


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asch, Nathan 21st-century American novelists Writers from Warsaw 21st-century American writers Federal Writers' Project people 1902 births 1964 deaths Immigrants to the United States Jewish novelists American male novelists American male writers