Gilbert Sorrentino (April 27, 1929 – May 18, 2006) was an American novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, and editor. In over twenty-five works of fiction and poetry, Sorrentino gleefully and innovatively explored the comic and formal possibilities of language and literature. His insistence on the primacy of language and his forays into metafiction mark him as a postmodernist – and obvious heir to modernists such as James Joyce, William Carlos Williams, Flann O'Brien, and Edward Dahlberg – but his ear for American speech and attention to the particularities of place, especially of his native Brooklyn, ground his experiments in a sprawling, minutely observed vision of American life. April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 248 days remaining. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (139th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Metafiction is a kind of fiction which self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. ... Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated pomo) is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ... This article focuses on the cultural movement labeled modernism or the modern movement. See also: Modernism (Roman Catholicism) or Modernist Christianity; Modernismo for specific art movement(s) in Spain and Catalonia. ... James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish name Séamas Seoighe; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an expatriate Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... William Carlos Williams Dr. William Carlos Williams (sometimes known as WCW) (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963), was an American poet closely associated with Modernism and Imagism. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Myles na gCopaleen. ... Edward Dahlberg (1900-1977) was an American novelist and essayist. ... A map of New York City, highlighting Brooklyn. ...

Life

Gilbert Sorrentino was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1929. In 1956, Sorrentino founded the literary magazine Neon with friends from Brooklyn College, including childhood friend Hubert Selby Jr. He edited Neon from 1956 to 1960, then served as editor for Kulchur from 1961 to 1963. After working closely with Selby on the manuscript of Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964) – "This book is dedicated, with love, to Gil" – Sorrentino was an editor at Grove Press from 1965 to 1970. His editorial projects at Grove included The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Hubert Selby, Jr. ... Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. ... The Autobiography of Malcolm X cover The Autobiography of Malcolm X was written by Alex Haley between 1964 and 1965, based on interviews conducted shortly before Malcolms death (and with an epilogue for after it), and was published in 1965. ...

Sorrentino was a professor of English at Stanford University from 1982 to 1999; his students included the novelist Jeffrey Eugenides (The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex). His son, Christopher Sorrentino, is the author of the novels Sound on Sound and Trance. The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University (or simply Stanford), is a private university located approximately 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco in an [1] of Santa Clara County. ... Jeffrey Eugenides [] (born March 8, 1960, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American novelist and short story writer of Greek and Irish origins. ...

Writing

Sorrentino's first novel, The Sky Changes, was published in 1966. Notable among his many other novels are Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things, Blue Pastoral, and Mulligan Stew. The latter novel, a humorous postmodern romp, riffs on the metafictional possibilities introduced in Flann O'Brien's novel At Swim-Two-Birds, and is one of Sorrentino's most popular works. 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century... Metafiction is a kind of fiction which self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Myles na gCopaleen. ... At Swim-Two-Birds is a novel by Irish novelist Flann OBrien (one pen-name of Brian ONolan) published in 1939. ...

Bibliography

Fiction

• The Sky Changes (1966)
• Steelwork (1970)
• Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things (1971)
• Splendide-Hôtel (1973)
• Flawless Play Restored: The Masque of Fungo (1974)
• Mulligan Stew (1979)
• Aberration of Starlight (1980)
• Crystal Vision (1981)
• Blue Pastoral (1983)
• Odd Number (1985)
• Rose Theatre (1987)
• Misterioso (1989)
• Under the Shadow (1991)
• Red the Fiend (1995)
• Gold Fools (1999)
• Little Casino (2002)
• The Moon in its Flight (short fiction, 2004)
• Lunar Follies (2005)
• A Strange Commonplace (2006)

Poetry

• The Darkness Surrounds Us (1960)
• Black and White (1964)
• The Perfect Fiction (1968)
• Corrosive Sublimate (1971)
• A Dozen Oranges (1976)
• White Sail (1977)
• Sulpiciae Elegidia: Elegiacs of Sulpicia (1977)
• The Orangery (1978)
• Selected Poems 1958-1980 (1981)
• A Beehive Arranged on Humane Principles (1986)

Criticism

• Something Said (1984)

External links

• Dalkey Archive Press's Sorrentino page
• A biographical and critical essay by Gerald Howard, in BookForum
• Audio files of Sorrentino reading and talking about his work
• A long 1974 interview, republished in 2006
• A 1994 interview
• Stanford's page on the Gilbert Sorrentino Papers