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Alison Lurie

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For the rapper Allison Jayne Lurie, seeFan 3.

Alison Lurie
Alison Lurie in 1987
Alison Lurie in 1987
BornAlison Stewart Lurie
(1926-09-03)September 3, 1926
Chicago,Illinois,U.S.
DiedDecember 3, 2020(2020-12-03)(aged 94)
Ithaca, New York,U.S.
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • academic
EducationHarvard University(BA)
Period1962–2020
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for Fiction(1985)
Spouse
Jonathan Bishop
​
​
(m.1948;div.1985)​

Edward Hower
Children3

Alison Stewart Lurie(September 3, 1926 – December 3, 2020) was an American novelist and academic. She won thePulitzer Prize for Fictionfor her 1984 novelForeign Affairs.Although better known as a novelist, she wrote many non-fiction books and articles, particularly onchildren's literatureand thesemiotics of dress.

Life[edit]

Alison Stewart Lurie was born on September 3, 1926, in Chicago,[1]and raised inWhite Plains, New York.Her father Harry Lawrence Lurie was a sociologist, and her mother Bernice Lurie (néeStewart) was a journalist and book critic.[2]Her father was born in Latvia and her mother was born in Scotland.[3]Her father was the first executive director of the National Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.[4]Due to complications with aforceps delivery,she was born deaf in one ear and with damage to her facial muscles.[5]She attended a boarding school inDarien, Connecticut,[5]and graduated fromRadcliffe CollegeofHarvard Universityin 1947 with abachelor's degreein history and literature.[2]

Lurie met literary scholar Jonathan Peale Bishop while in college,[6]and they married in 1948.[2]Bishop later taught atAmherst CollegeandCornell University,and Lurie moved along with him. They had three sons and divorced in 1984. She then married the writer Edward Hower. She spent part of her time in London, part inIthaca, New York,and part inKey West, Florida.[2]

In 1970, Lurie began to teach in the English department at Cornell, where she was tenured in 1979. She taughtchildren's literatureand writing. In 1976, she was named the F. J. Whiton Professor of American Literature at Cornell,[7][8]and upon retirement,professor emerita.[9]In 1981, she publishedThe Language of Clothes,a non-fiction book about thesemiotics of dress.Her discussion inLanguage of Clotheshas been compared toRoland Barthes'The Fashion System(1985).[10]

Lurie died from natural causes while under hospice care in Ithaca on December 3, 2020, at age 94.[2][9][11]

Lurie's personal papers are archived at Cornell University.[12]

Themes[edit]

Lurie's novels often featured professors in starring roles, and were frequentlyset at academic institutions.[13]With their light touch and focus on portraying the emotions of well-educated adulterers, her works bear more resemblance to some 20th-century British authors (such asKingsley AmisandDavid Lodge) rather than to the major American authors of her generation.[14]A 2003 profile of Lurie, styled as a review of herBoys and Girls Forever,a work of criticism, observed that Lurie's works are often "witty and astutecomedies of manners".[6]Lurie noted that her writing was grounded in a "desire to laugh at things".[8]

Literary criticJohn W. Aldridgegave a mixed assessment of Lurie's oeuvre inThe American Novel and the Way We Live Now(1983). He notes that Lurie's work "has a satirical edge that, when it is not employed in hacking away at the obvious, is often eviscerating", but also remarks that "there is… something hobbled and hamstrung about her engagement in experience".[15][16]

Although better known as a novelist, she wrote many non-fiction books and articles, particularly on children's literature and the semiotics of dress.[1]

Bibliography[edit]

Novels[edit]

Children's collections[edit]

  • The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales(1975)[19]
  • Clever Gretchen and Other Forgotten Folktales(1980)[2]
  • Fabulous Beasts[19]
  • The Heavenly Zoo[19]
  • The Black Geese[19]
  • The Cat Agent(2023)[20]

Non-fiction[edit]

  • The Language of Clothes(1981)[2]
  • Don't Tell the Grown-Ups(1990)[2]
  • Familiar Spirits(2001)[2]
  • Boys and Girls Forever(2003)[2]
  • The Language of Houses: How Buildings Speak to Us(2014):[21]
  • Words and Worlds: From Autobiographies to Zippers(2019)[22]

Awards and honors[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^abRollyson 2012,p. 133.
  2. ^abcdefghijklmnopqrsFox, Margalit(December 3, 2020)."Alison Lurie, Tart-Voiced Novelist of Manners, Dies at 94".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.RetrievedDecember 3,2020.
  3. ^"Alison Lurie, novelist who dissected human relationships in a time of social change – obituary".The Telegraph.December 4, 2020.ISSN0307-1235.Archivedfrom the original on December 8, 2020.RetrievedDecember 7,2020.
  4. ^Ivry, Benjamin (December 5, 2020)."How Alison Lurie inherited her Jewish sense of social consciousness".The Forward.Archivedfrom the original on April 16, 2021.RetrievedDecember 7,2020.
  5. ^abcdeConnelly, Phoebe (December 3, 2020)."Alison Lurie, Pulitzer-winning novelist of mordant wit and boundless empathy, dies at 94".The Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.
  6. ^abWroe, Nicholas (October 25, 2003)."Young at heart".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on August 26, 2019.RetrievedDecember 4,2020.
  7. ^Aloi, Daniel (September 12, 2013)."Alison Lurie to read short works from a long career".Cornell Chronicle.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.
  8. ^abSmith, Sarah A. (December 4, 2020)."Alison Lurie obituary".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.RetrievedDecember 4,2020.
  9. ^abItalie, Hillel (December 3, 2020)."Alison Lurie, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of 'Foreign Affairs,' dead at 94".USA Today.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.RetrievedDecember 4,2020.
  10. ^Edwards 2010,p. 26.
  11. ^Italie, Hillel (December 3, 2020)."Alison Lurie, prize winning novelist, dead at 94".The Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.Archived fromthe originalon December 8, 2020.RetrievedDecember 7,2020.
  12. ^"Alison Lurie Papers, #14-12-2572. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library".RetrievedApril 1,2024.
  13. ^"Alison Lurie".Encyclopædia Britannica.December 3, 2020.Archivedfrom the original on March 24, 2020.RetrievedDecember 4,2020.
  14. ^Gussow, Mel(September 5, 1998)."Comedies of Manners, Laced With Morals".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.RetrievedDecember 4,2020.
  15. ^Aldridge 1983,p. 85.
  16. ^Aldridge, John,"How Good is Alison Lurie?,"Commentary,January 1975, retrieved September 3, 2023.
  17. ^Levin, Martin (January 16, 1966)."Reader's Report".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.RetrievedDecember 4,2020.
  18. ^Truax, Alice (October 30, 2005)."'Truth and Consequences': Suffering Fools ".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archivedfrom the original on April 15, 2022.RetrievedJanuary 21,2021.
  19. ^abcd"Alison's Children's Collections".Alisonlurie.Archivedfrom the original on July 20, 2019.RetrievedDecember 4,2020.
  20. ^"The Cat Agent".Cayuga Lake Books.November 18, 2022.Archivedfrom the original on January 23, 2023.RetrievedJanuary 23,2023.
  21. ^"The Language of Houses: How Buildings Speak to Us".Publishers Weekly.June 16, 2014.Archivedfrom the original on September 25, 2020.RetrievedDecember 4,2020.
  22. ^abcLucas, Tyler (May 18, 2019)."Alison Lurie's newest book finds a new means".Ithaca Times.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.
  23. ^"Alison Lurie".John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.
  24. ^Chandler, Mark (December 4, 2020)."A Pulitzer winner Alison Lurie dies, aged 94".The Bookseller.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.
  25. ^"Academy Members".American Academy of Arts and Letters.Archivedfrom the original on October 8, 2020.
  26. ^"Alison Lurie".American Academy of Arts and Sciences.2020.Archivedfrom the original on December 5, 2020.
  27. ^MacLeod, Donald (June 21, 2006)."Michael Douglas leads cast of honorary graduates".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2020.
  28. ^"Honorary Graduates of the University of Nottingham"(PDF).University of Nottingham.October 2018.Archived(PDF)from the original on December 4, 2020.
  29. ^Dawson, Jonathan (August 29, 2012)."Retired Cornell English Professor Named New York State Author".The Cornell Daily Sun.Archivedfrom the original on October 26, 2020.RetrievedDecember 4,2020.

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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