Susan Fromberg Schaeffer (March 25, 1940 – August 26, 2011) was an American novelist and poet who was a Professor of English at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

for more than thirty years. She won numerous national writing awards and contributed book reviews for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Education and family

The daughter of wholesale clothier Irving and Edith (née Levine) Fromberg, Susan Fromberg was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and graduated from

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

's South Side High School in 1957. In the Fall, she enrolled at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1961, her master's in 1963, and her doctorate in 1966. The subject of her dissertation was a study of themes in the writings of

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

, in whom she found "the most intellectual novelist to write in English since James Joyce". After returning to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, she married a fellow English Professor, Neil Jerome Schaeffer (a Columbia University graduate, Chairman of the English Department at Brooklyn College, and a noted scholarly author in his own right) in 1970; they had two children, Benjamin (born 1973), and May (born 1977).

Publications

As of 2007, her published work included 14 novels, a collection of short stories plus others, six volumes of poetry and two children's books. She contributed frequently to the ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' and had a number of scholarly articles on writing published in journals. Her project "Memories Like Splintered Glass" was her first memoir. Her second novel ''Anya'' was based mainly on the biography of

Anya Savikin Brodman Anya, Ania or Anja is a given name. The names are feminine in most East European countries and unisex in several African countries. Origins and variant forms * Anya (Аня) is a Russian language, Russian diminutive of Anna (name), Anna. * An ...

, to whom Schaeffer gave only passing credit until an accommodation was reached after acrimonious public encounters between the author and her subject. ''The New York Times'' commented on her "gift for evoking complex characters in the grip of extreme psychological stress and physical suffering, notably in 'The Madness of a Seduced Woman' and the Vietnam War novel 'Buffalo Afternoon. As a poet, she was a finalist for the 1975

National Book Award for Poetry The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".

for her collection ''Granite Lady'', she won the O. Henry Award for short fiction three times (in 1978, 1997 and 2006).

Novels

*''Falling'', New York: Macmillan, 1973. *''Anya'', New York: Macmillan, 1974. *''Time in Its Flight'', New York: Doubleday, 1978. *''Love'', New York: Dutton, 1981. *''First Nights'', New York: Knopf, 1983. *''The Madness of a Seduced Woman'', New York: Dutton, 1984. *''Mainland'', New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985. *''The Injured Party'', New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986. *''Buffalo Afternoon'', New York: Knopf, 1989. *''Green Island'', Penguin Books, 1994. *''The Golden Rope'', New York: Knopf, 1996. *''The Autobiography of Foudini M. Cat'', New York: Knopf, 1997. *''The Snow Fox'', W.W. Norton, 2004. *''Poison'', W.W. Norton, 2006.

Short stories

*''The Queen of Egypt'', New York: Dutton, 1980. *"In the Hospital and Elsewhere", in ''

Prairie Schooner ''Prairie Schooner'' is a literary magazine published quarterly at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with the cooperation of UNL's English Department and the University of Nebraska Press. It is based in Lincoln, Nebraska and was first publi ...

'' (Lincoln, Nebraska), Winter 1981–82. *"Virginia; or, A Single Girl", in ''Prairie Schooner'' (Lincoln, Nebraska), Fall 1983.

Poetry

*''The Witch and the Weather Report'', New York: Seven Woods Press, 1972. *''Granite Lady'', New York: Macmillan, 1974. *''The Rhymes and Runes of the Toad'', New York: Macmillan, 1975. *''Alphabet for the Lost Years'', San Francisco: Gallimaufry, 1976. *''The Red, White, and Blue Poem'', Denver: The Ally, 1977. *''The Bible of the Beasts of the Little Field: Poems'', New York: Dutton, 1980.

Children's books

*''The Dragons of North Chittendon'', New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986. *''The Four Hoods and Great Dog'', New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988.

Career and personal life

After earning her master's degree and while working on her Ph.D., Fromberg instructed English at

Wright Junior College Wilbur Wright College, formerly known as Wright Junior College, is a public community college in Chicago. Part of the City Colleges of Chicago system, it offers two-year associate's degrees, as well as occupational training in IT, manufacturing, ...

in Chicago. She then began teaching at the

Illinois Institute of Technology The Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Illinois Tech and IIT, is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the m ...

and became an assistant professor of English after receiving her doctorate. She moved back to New York City in 1967 as an assistant professor at

, where her future husband was a colleague in the English department (among her students was

Ramona Lofton Ramona Lofton, better known by her pen name Sapphire, is an American author and performance poet. Early life Ramona Lofton was born in Fort Ord, California, one of four children of an Army couple who relocated within the United States and abroad ...

, a poet whom she encouraged to write a novel, ''

Push Push may refer to: * A type of force applied to an object Music * Mike Dierickx (born 1973), a Belgian producer also known as Push Albums * ''Push'' (Bros album), 1988 * ''Push'' (Gruntruck album), 1992 * ''Push'' (Jacky Terrasson album), 201 ...

'' being published in 1996 under Lofton's pen name "Sapphire"). Eventually, Push was adapted for the screen and Directed by Lee Daniels and was released as the film "Precious" in 2009 and was produced by Tyler Perry & Oprah Winfrey. It starred Mo'Nique and Mariah Carey & introduced Gabourey Sidibe to film audiences in her screen debut as the titular character Claireece "Precious" Jones. Mo'Nique won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Precious' mother, and Sidibe was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar at the 2010 Oscars. Fromberg became an associate professor in 1972, then professor of English in 1974. In 1985, she was named Broeklundian Professor at Brooklyn College. She retired from Brooklyn College in 1997. After retirement, she and her husband Neil, lived at their second home in Vermont full-time until 2002. In 2002, they returned to Chicago, living there temporarily until they sold their Brooklyn property and moved to Chicago permanently in 2004. Schaeffer was a visiting professor at her alma mater, the

from 2002 to 2009, teaching fiction and creative writing before illness forced her to stop teaching in March 2009. After a long illness, she died on August 26, 2011, of complications following a stroke, and was survived by Neil, Benjamin and May. Neil died in November 2014.

Honors

*''Granite Lady'' was nominated for a

in 1974. * Wallant award for ''Anya'': 1974 * O. Henry Award: 1978, 1997, 2006 *St. Lawrence Book Award: 1984 *

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

: 1984 *Centennial Review Award for poetry: 1985 *The University of Chicago Alumni Association awarded her their ''Professional Achievement Citation'' in 1996

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaeffer, Susan F. 1941 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American women academics American women novelists American women poets American women short story writers Brooklyn College faculty Jewish American novelists Jewish women writers South Side High School (Rockville Centre) alumni University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago faculty Wilbur Wright College faculty American children's writers American women children's writers Writers from Brooklyn Jewish American short story writers Jewish American children's writers