Mark Helprin
Mark Helprin | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, U.S. | June 28, 1947
Alma mater | |
Occupations |
|
Spouse | Lisa (Kennedy) Helprin |
Children | 2 |
Parent(s) | Eleanor Lynn, Morris Helprin |
Website | markhelprin |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Israel |
Service/ |
Mark Helprin (born June 28, 1947) is an American-Israeli
Biography
Helprin was born in
Novels, short stories and periodicals
Helprin states that his literary creation "always starts with something very small". "I can sit down to write a story just by thinking of the first two words of a
His first novel, published in 1977, was
Helprin has published three books of short stories: A Dove of the East & Other Stories (1975), Ellis Island & Other Stories (1981), and The Pacific and Other Stories (2004). He has written three children's books, all of which are illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg: Swan Lake, A City in Winter, and The Veil of Snows. His works have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Helprin's writing has appeared in The New Yorker for two decades. He writes essays and a column for the Claremont Review of Books. His writings, including political op-eds, have appeared in The Wall Street Journal (for which he was a contributing editor until 2006), The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Criterion, National Review, American Heritage, and other publications.
Controversy
A 16 October 1992 article in
Helprin wrote an op-ed published in the May 20, 2007 issue of The New York Times, in which he argued that intellectual property rights should be assigned to an author or artist as far as Congress could practically extend them.[6] The overwhelmingly negative response to his position in the blogosphere and elsewhere was reported on The New York Times's blog the next day.[7] Helprin was said to be shocked by the response.[8]
In April 2009, HarperCollins published Helprin's "writer's manifesto", Digital Barbarism. In May, Lawrence Lessig penned a review of the book entitled "The Solipsist and the Internet" in which he described the book as a response to the "digital putdown" heaped upon Helprin's New York Times op-ed.[9] Lessig called Helprin's writing "insanely sloppy"[10] and also criticized HarperCollins for publishing a book "riddled with the most basic errors of fact."[9]
In response to such criticisms, Helprin wrote a long defense of his book in the September 21, 2009 edition of National Review, which concluded: "Digital Barbarism is not as much a defense of copyright as it is an attack upon a distortion of culture that has become a false savior in an age of many false saviors. Despite its lack of mechanical perfections, humanity, as stumbling and awkward as it is, is far superior to the machine. It always has been and always will be, and this conviction must never be surrendered. But surrender these days is incremental, seems painless, and comes so quietly that warnings are drowned in silence."[11]
Honors and accomplishments
A Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and a former
He is also a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy. In 1996 he served as a foreign policy advisor and speechwriter to presidential candidate Bob Dole.
In May 2006, the
In 2006 Helprin received the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. This award is presented annually by the Tulsa Library Trust.
On November 8, 2010, in New York City, Helprin was awarded the 2010 Salvatori Prize in the American Founding by the Claremont Institute.
A City in Winter won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella in 1997.
Works
- A Dove of the East and Other Stories (1975)
- Refiner's Fire (1977)
- Ellis Island and Other Stories (1981)
- Winter's Tale (1983)
- Swan Lake (Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg) (1989)
- A Soldier of the Great War (1991)
- Memoir From Antproof Case (1995)
- A City in Winter (Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg) (1996)
- The Veil of Snows (Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg) (1997)
- The Pacific and Other Stories (2004)
- Freddy and Fredericka (2005)
- Digital Barbarism: A Writer's Manifesto (2009)
- A Kingdom Far and Clear: The Complete Swan Lake Trilogy (2010) – The collection of Swan Lake, A City in Winter, and The Veil of Snows in one volume.
- In Sunlight and In Shadow(2012)
- Paris In the Present Tense (2017)
- The Ocean and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (2023)
Notes
- ^ http://markhelprin.com/about
- ^ a b c Lambert, Craig (May–June 2005). "Literary Warrior: Mark Helprin's fictional marvels and political heterodoxies". Harvard Magazine Inc. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-15-603107-3.
- ^ interview with Mark Helprin by Scott Simon on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition
- ^ Helprin, Mark (October 16, 1992). "I Dodged the Draft and I Was Wrong" (PDF). The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
- ^ Helprin, Mark (May 20, 2007). "A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn't Its Copyright?". The New York Times.
- ^ Nizza, Mike (May 21, 2007). "To the Editor: Please See Wiki". The Lede (blog). The New York Times.
- ^ "'Digital Barbarism' Wages Online Copyright Battle". All Things Considered. NPR. April 26, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
Contains book excerpt, Chapter 5
. - ^ a b Lessig, Lawrence (May 20, 2009). "The Solipsist and the Internet". Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^ Lessig, Lawrence (May 28, 2009). "Et tu, KK? (aka, No, Kevin, This Is Not 'Socialism')". Retrieved May 30, 2009.
I threw away a week I didn't have penning an insanely long review (as I described it), of Mark Helprin's insanely sloppy Digital Barbarism.
- ^ Helprin, Mark (September 21, 2009). "In Defense of the Book: A Reply to the Critics of Digital Barbarism". National Review. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ "Past Winners". Jewish Book Council. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
- ^ "What Is the Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years?". New York Times. May 21, 2006.
External links
- A Mark Helprin Bibliography
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Helprin's page at the Claremont Institute
- 2006 interview with Mark Helprin by Kelly Jane Torrance of Doublethink magazine
- James Linville (Spring 1993). "Mark Helprin, The Art of Fiction No. 132". The Paris Review. Spring 1993 (126).
- Audio interview with Mark Helprin at National Review Online
- Library of Economics and Liberty.