Leonard Michaels | |
|---|---|
 Leonard Michaels | |
| Born | January 2, 1933 New York City, New York, United States |
| Died | May 10, 2003 (aged 70) California, U.S. |
| Education | University of Michigan |
| Occupations |
|
Leonard Michaels (January 2, 1933 – May 10, 2003) was an American writer of short stories, novels, and essays, and a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.
Michaels was born in New York City to Jewish parents; his father was born in Poland. He attended New York University and was awarded a BA degree, and then earned an MA and PhD in English literature from the University of Michigan. After receiving his PhD, Michaels moved to Berkeley, California, and become professor of English at the University of California.
In 1969, Michaels' first book was published – Going Places, a collection of sexually charged short stories.
His follow-up book, another collection of short stories titled I Would Have Saved Them If I Could, was published in 1975.
Michaels' first novel, released in 1981, was The Men's Club. It is a comedy that simultaneously attacks and celebrates the absurdities of men as they gather in an urban support group. In 1986, the novel was made into a film of the same name, directed by Peter Medak with the screenplay by Michaels and starring Roy Scheider, Harvey Keitel, Stockard Channing, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Frank Langella.
Michaels' second and last novel was published in 1992. Titled Sylvia, it is a fictionalized memoir of his first wife, Sylvia Bloch, who died by suicide. Sylvia is described in the book as "abnormally bright" but prone to violent rages, "like a madwoman imitating a college student." Sylvia incorporates passages from Michaels' diary, selections of which were published under the title Time Out of Mind in 1999.
Michaels became a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine in the 1990s.
He was a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.
Michaels took part in anti-Vietnam war protests in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He is interred at Oakmont Memorial Park, in Lafayette, California.
Michaels had a daughter with his third wife, the poet Brenda Hillman. His son Jesse Michaels (from his second marriage) was the vocalist and primary lyricist in the punk rock band Operation Ivy in the late 1980s.
