John Jacob Clayton (born January 5, 1935) is an American fiction writer, teacher, and editor. He has published four novels including Mitzvah Man[1] (Texas Tech University Press), and Kuperman's Fire[2] (Permanent Press), as well as five collections of short fiction including Minyan: Ten Interwoven Stories[3][4] (Paragon House) and Many Seconds into the Future[5][6][7] (Texas Tech University Press). He was editor for the Heath Introduction to Fiction,[8] a college anthology published in six editions from 1977 to 1999.
John J. Clayton
Born
John Jacob Clayton (1935-01-05) January 5, 1935 (age 88) New York City, U.S.
Clayton was born and raised in Manhattan, the only child of Jewish parents Charles Clayton, born Charles Cohen, and Leah Kaufman. His father, born in Montreal, was the son of immigrants from Odessa, who settled in Chicago. His mother, born as Leibe Barlok in Orhei, Bessarabia, immigrated to the U.S. in 1906, and her family settled in Rochester, New York. Clayton graduated from Columbia University with a B.A.,[9]New York University with an M.A. and Indiana University with a PhD. His doctoral thesis Saul Bellow: In Defense of Man,[10] published by University of Indiana Press in 1968 was one of the first books of criticism of Bellow's work. In the early 1960s Clayton taught at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, then in Germany for the University of Maryland in Europe.[11] From 1964-1969 he lived in Brookline, Massachusetts, and taught at Boston University.[12] In Fall 1969 he arrived at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,[13] where as professor he taught American and British modern literature and creative writing for over thirty years.
LiteratureEdit
Clayton's early fiction rendered family life, separation, divorce and childrearing and their attendant tensions, heartbreak and growth. It also dealt with disillusion with political involvement as in his O.Henry prize-winning story "Cambridge is Sinking".[14] Since the early 1990s Clayton's novels and short stories have explored the universal themes of loss and spiritual redemption, acceptance, fading ideals, as well as with contemporary struggles of Jewish life and family.[15] In 2016 Richard L. Rubenstein wrote of Clayton's collection of linked short stories: "If I were asked whether there is one single book I would recommend to anyone interested in learning about the world of contemporary American Jews, I would unhesitatingly recommend John J. Clayton's Minyan.[16] " Of the novel Kuperman's FireThane Rosenbaum wrote: "Clayton is a masterful observer of the modern world, with all its fears and neuroses—the threats that plague us from afar and from within, and the corruptions that contaminate not only our institutions, but also our spirits."
Clayton married in 1956 and had two children, Laura and Josh Clayton-Felt (1967-2000), a singer-songwriter who performed lead vocals and guitar for School of Fish. Clayton had two subsequent marriages, and two more sons. [17] Clayton was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2016.
Parkinson's Blues: Stories of My Life Paragon House, 2020
ReferencesEdit
^Myers, D.G. "It's a Mitzvah," Review of Mitzvah ManCommentary January 1, 2012. Retrieved on February 4, 2017.
^Cohen, Joshua. "New Time Religion," Review of Wrestling with Angels: New and Collected Stories and Kuperman's FireThe Forward October 7, 2007. Retrieved on February 4, 2017.
^Pffarer, Steve. "Divorce and Its Children," Review of MinyanValley Advocate September 12, 2016. Retrieved on February 9, 2017.
^Stahl, Sheryl. Review of Many Seconds into the FutureAssociation of Jewish Libraries November/December 2014. Retrieved on February 4, 2017.
^Metsch, Penny. Review of Many Seconds into the FutureJewish Book Council 2014. Retrieved on February 4, 2017.
^Pinsker, Sanford. "Many Seconds into the Future" Hadassah Magazine, June 16, 2014. Retrieved on February 9, 2017.
^Long, Gareth (December 2012). Review of Heath Introduction to Fiction (6th ed.). Retrieved February 11, 2017.
^"Columbia College Today". College.columbia.edu. June 18, 2008. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
^Markels, Julian (1970). ""Bellow's Humanism," Review of Saul Bellow: In Defense of Man". Novel: A Forum on Fiction. JSTOR 1345301.
^"Clayton, John J. 1935– - Dictionary definition of Clayton, John J. 1935–". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
^"A Gathering With Author John Clayton | The Episcopal Church at Yale". Campuspress.yale.edu. October 26, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
^"UMass Amherst Professor John Clayton Publishes Novel and Prize-Winning Collection of Short Stories | Office of News & Media Relations". Umass.edu. April 8, 1998. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
^John J. Clayton (1972). "Cambridge Is Sinking!". The Massachusetts Review. The Massachusetts Review, Inc. 13 (4): 618–632. JSTOR 25088290.
^Pffarer, Steve. "Divorce and Its Children," Review of MinyanValley Advocate September 12, 2016. Retrieved on July 10, 2017.
^Hostein, Lisa (January 24, 2013). "Guide to Jewish Literature - October/November 2016". Hadassah Magazine. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
Interview with John Clayton by Bill Roorbach, 2011
Writer's Voice in-depth author conversation with Francesca Rheannon on collected stories Wrestling with Angels, 2007
August 28, 2023
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This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification Please help by adding reliable sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page especially if potentially libelous Find sources John J Clayton news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view Please discuss further on the talk page July 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed July 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article uses bare URLs which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting such as Reflinks documentation reFill documentation and Citation bot documentation August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message John Jacob Clayton born January 5 1935 is an American fiction writer teacher and editor He has published four novels including Mitzvah Man 1 Texas Tech University Press and Kuperman s Fire 2 Permanent Press as well as five collections of short fiction including Minyan Ten Interwoven Stories 3 4 Paragon House and Many Seconds into the Future 5 6 7 Texas Tech University Press He was editor for the Heath Introduction to Fiction 8 a college anthology published in six editions from 1977 to 1999 John J ClaytonBornJohn Jacob Clayton 1935 01 05 January 5 1935 age 88 New York City U S OccupationWriterEducationColumbia University BA New York University MA Indiana University PhD Period1969 presentGenreLiterary fiction Contents 1 Life 2 Literature 3 Personal life 4 Works 5 References 6 External linksLife EditClayton was born and raised in Manhattan the only child of Jewish parents Charles Clayton born Charles Cohen and Leah Kaufman His father born in Montreal was the son of immigrants from Odessa who settled in Chicago His mother born as Leibe Barlok in Orhei Bessarabia immigrated to the U S in 1906 and her family settled in Rochester New York Clayton graduated from Columbia University with a B A 9 New York University with an M A and Indiana University with a PhD His doctoral thesis Saul Bellow In Defense of Man 10 published by University of Indiana Press in 1968 was one of the first books of criticism of Bellow s work In the early 1960s Clayton taught at the University of Victoria British Columbia then in Germany for the University of Maryland in Europe 11 From 1964 1969 he lived in Brookline Massachusetts and taught at Boston University 12 In Fall 1969 he arrived at the University of Massachusetts Amherst 13 where as professor he taught American and British modern literature and creative writing for over thirty years Literature EditClayton s early fiction rendered family life separation divorce and childrearing and their attendant tensions heartbreak and growth It also dealt with disillusion with political involvement as in his O Henry prize winning story Cambridge is Sinking 14 Since the early 1990s Clayton s novels and short stories have explored the universal themes of loss and spiritual redemption acceptance fading ideals as well as with contemporary struggles of Jewish life and family 15 In 2016 Richard L Rubenstein wrote of Clayton s collection of linked short stories If I were asked whether there is one single book I would recommend to anyone interested in learning about the world of contemporary American Jews I would unhesitatingly recommend John J Clayton s Minyan 16 Of the novel Kuperman s Fire Thane Rosenbaum wrote Clayton is a masterful observer of the modern world with all its fears and neuroses the threats that plague us from afar and from within and the corruptions that contaminate not only our institutions but also our spirits Clayton s fiction literary criticism memoir and journalism have appeared in a wide range of literary and popular magazines and newspapers including Virginia Quarterly Review AGNI magazine The Sewanee Review The Georgia Review TriQuarterly The Missouri Review Michigan Quarterly Review Denver Quarterly The Antioch Review Fiction magazine Witness magazine Playboy Chronicle of Higher Education and The Washington Post magazine Beginning in 2003 Commentary magazine has published over twenty of Clayton s stories and memoir piecesPersonal life EditClayton married in 1956 and had two children Laura and Josh Clayton Felt 1967 2000 a singer songwriter who performed lead vocals and guitar for School of Fish Clayton had two subsequent marriages and two more sons 17 Clayton was diagnosed with Parkinson s disease in 2016 Works EditNovelsMitzvah Man Texas Tech University Press 2011 Kuperman s Fire Permanent Press 2007 Blackstone Audio 2007 The Man I Never Wanted to Be 18 Permanent Press 1998 What Are Friends For 19 Little Brown and Company Boston 1979 Short story collectionsMinyan Ten Interwoven Stories Paragon House 2016 Many Seconds into the Future Texas Tech University Press 2014 Wrestling with Angels New and Collected Stories Toby Press subsidiary of Koren Publishers Jerusalem September 2007 and Amazon Publishing 2011 Radiance Ten Stories 20 Ohio State University Press 1998 Bodies of the Rich 21 University of Illinois Press 1984 Criticism and anthologyGestures of Healing Anxiety and the Modern Novel University of Massachusetts Press 1991 Saul Bellow In Defense of Man University of Indiana Press 1968 Second edition revised 1979 Heath Introduction to Fiction D C Heath and Company Six editions 1977 1999 Non fictionParkinson s Blues Stories of My Life Paragon House 2020References Edit Myers D G It s a Mitzvah Review of Mitzvah Man Commentary January 1 2012 Retrieved on February 4 2017 Cohen Joshua New Time Religion Review of Wrestling with Angels New and Collected Stories and Kuperman s Fire The Forward October 7 2007 Retrieved on February 4 2017 Pffarer Steve Divorce and Its Children Review of Minyan Valley Advocate September 12 2016 Retrieved on February 9 2017 Weisblat Tinky Working and Praying Together Review of Minyan The Recorder Massachusetts newspaper October 7 2016 Retrieved on February 4 2017 Stahl Sheryl Review of Many Seconds into the Future Association of Jewish Libraries November December 2014 Retrieved on February 4 2017 Metsch Penny Review of Many Seconds into the Future Jewish Book Council 2014 Retrieved on February 4 2017 Pinsker Sanford Many Seconds into the Future Hadassah Magazine June 16 2014 Retrieved on February 9 2017 Long Gareth December 2012 Review ofHeath Introduction to Fiction 6th ed Retrieved February 11 2017 Columbia College Today College columbia edu June 18 2008 Retrieved July 10 2017 Markels Julian 1970 Bellow s Humanism Review of Saul Bellow In Defense of Man Novel A Forum on Fiction JSTOR 1345301 Clayton John J 1935 Dictionary definition of Clayton John J 1935 Encyclopedia com Retrieved July 10 2017 A Gathering With Author John Clayton The Episcopal Church at Yale Campuspress yale edu October 26 2013 Retrieved July 10 2017 UMass Amherst Professor John Clayton Publishes Novel and Prize Winning Collection of Short Stories Office of News amp Media Relations Umass edu April 8 1998 Retrieved July 10 2017 John J Clayton 1972 Cambridge Is Sinking The Massachusetts Review The Massachusetts Review Inc 13 4 618 632 JSTOR 25088290 Pffarer Steve Divorce and Its Children Review of Minyan Valley Advocate September 12 2016 Retrieved on July 10 2017 Hostein Lisa January 24 2013 Guide to Jewish Literature October November 2016 Hadassah Magazine Retrieved July 10 2017 https www gazettenet com Leverett writer John Clayton Parkinson s Blues 36810795 Review of The Man I Never Wanted to Be Publishers Weekly December 1 1998 Retrieved on February 12 2017 Broyard Anatole A Kiss without Irony Review of What are Friends For The New York Times April 14 1979 Retrieved on February 9 2017 Farrell Patrick Review of Radiance Ten Stories The New York Times Book Review October 25 1998 Retrieved on February 9 2017 Bell Donald H Review of Bodies of the Rich The New York Times Book Review October 7 1984 Retrieved on February 9 2017 External links EditAuthor s website Author Archive at Commentary Magazine Author Archive at AGNI online Interview with John Clayton by Bill Roorbach 2011 Writer s Voice in depth author conversation with Francesca Rheannon on collected stories Wrestling with Angels 2007 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title John J Clayton amp oldid 1166858002, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
