Leslie Epstein (1938–2025)
Author of King of the Jews
About the Author
Leslie Epstein has written eight books of fiction and won an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Distinguished Achievement in Literature for his creation of Leib Goldkorn. (Bowker Author Biography)
Works by Leslie Epstein
Associated Works
Writers on Writing, 2: More Collected Essays from the New York Times (2003) — Contributor — 199 copies, 3 reviews
Antaeus No. 23, Autumn 1976 — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Epstein, Leslie
- Legal name
- Epstein, Leslie Donald
- Birthdate
- 1938-05-04
- Date of death
- 2025-05-18
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Yale University (BA|1960|DFA|1967)
University of Oxford (Dipl. 1962)
University of California, Los Angeles (MA|1963) - Occupations
- novelist
book reviewer
professor - Organizations
- Boston University
Queens College, City University of New York - Awards and honors
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (Literature ∙ 1978)
Rhodes Scholarship
Fulbright Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship - Agent
- Robin Straus Agency, Inc.
- Relationships
- Epstein, Julius J. (uncle)
Epstein, Philip G. (father) - Short biography
- Leslie Epstein was born in Los Angeles, California, to a family of well-known filmmakers. HIs father Philip G. Epstein and uncle Julius J. Epstein wrote the screenplays for numerous films, including Casablanca (1942). He graduated from Yale University and won a Rhodes Scholarship for study at Oxford University in England. He has written 10 novels including King of the Jews (1979), considered a classic of Holocaust literature. His book San Remo Drive: A Novel from Memory (2004) was based on his childhood growing up in Hollywood. He has written article for magazines such as Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and The Nation, as well as book reviews for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. He was the director of the Creative Writing Program at Boston University for 30 years, beginning in 1978.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Places of residence
- Pacific Palisades, California, USA
Brookline, Massachusetts, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- California, USA
Members
Reviews
I feel a bit bad for giving this a low rating, because I only stuck with the book for its first section. I had looked forward to reading it based on a NYT book review that I read at the time it was published. Probably if I had read it then, when my tastes were more in line with the more outsized, historical absurdity of the book, I would have enjoyed it more. I did find the sections I read very memorable and well drawn. It was the narrator, a wide-eyed and naive innocent, that I found most show more objectionable. Again, that's in large part because I find that point of view annoying. This book appears to have many things in common with Little Big Man, another sprawling, historical romp, and The Sot Weed Factor, both of which I love. But I just found the rhythms of the storytelling to be a bit off-putting. I will say, however, that I read through the first section for its descriptions of Boston in the 19th century, and those were quite interesting, especially if you live in the area. Epstein is a skilled writer, and therefore I feel that I can recommend the book for others, just not for myself. show less
Holocaust tale of blaming outrageous crimes on an uncredentialed Jewish doctor in Poland who was deemed the Messiah by the Nazis
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Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 14
- Also by
- 8
- Members
- 487
- Popularity
- #50,714
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 44
- Languages
- 5