Bernard Kops

Fantasist, London Jew, Apocalyptic Humorist

AvWilliam Baker,Jeanette Roberts Shumaker

Inbunden, Engelska, 2013

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Beskrivning

This is the first book-length study of the work of contemporary writer Bernard Kops. Born on November 28, 1926 to Dutch-Jewish immigrants, Bernard Kops became famous after the production of his play The Hamlet of Stepney Green: A Sad Comedy with Some Songs in 1958. This play, like much of his work, focuses on the conflicts between young and old. Identified as an “angry young man,” Kops, like his contemporaries John Osborne, Shelagh Delaney, and Harold Pinter, belonged to the so-called new wave of British drama that emerged in the mid-1950s.Kops went on to create important documentaries about the Blitz and living in London during the early 1940s. He has written two autobiographies, over ten novels, many journalistic pieces, and more than forty plays for TV, stage, and radio. A prolific poet, Kops has authored a long pamphlet poem and eight poetry collections. Now in his mid-80s, the prolific and versatile Kops still produces, his creativity undimmed by age.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2013-12-18
Mått:159 x 238 x 20 mm
Vikt:390 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:168
Förlag:Associated University Presses
ISBN:9781611476569

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Mer om författaren

William Baker is University Board of Trustees professor and distinguished research professor in the Department of English at Northern Illinois University.Jeanette Roberts Shumaker is a professor of English at San Diego State University, Imperial Valley. She publishes on Victorian fiction, Anglo-Jewish writers, and Irish writers.

Recensioner i media

William Baker and Jeanette Roberts Shumaker offer a view of the vast range of a fearless, fascinating writer. The book deals with Kops’s writing of memoir, novels, stage and radio plays and poems, and examines themes such as Jewish identity, aging, family, sex and mental illness. Kops sees the latter as a form of imprisonment, most notably in his 1981 play, Ezra, which has poetic-genius-turned-wartime-antisemitic-propagandist Ezra Pound ranting inside a literal cage. Kops himself was institutionalised for a period, when he wrote poetry that Baker and Shumaker describe as a means of portraying characters who 'escape their pain through destructive self-delusions'. Delusion is a word that often occurs in discussions of Kops’s prolific output and, in this regard, Baker and Shumaker quote one critic’s observation that reality for Kops is 'one long, manic vaudeville act'. Kops can certainly switch rapidly — from prose to poetry, fantasy to realism, theme to theme — and not always waiting for his audience to keep pace. All is underpinned by a sharp-edged humour bred in the harsh but warm conditions of his beloved East End. And, even though he has moved some way from The Hamlet of Stepney Green, his first play, it is as part of the 'new wave' of 1950s dramatists along with fellow Jewish writers Harold Pinter and Arnold Wesker, that his reputation rests. Baker and Shumaker’s book is a useful guide into the much broader territory that Kops inhabits.

Innehållsförteckning

ContentsAcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroductionChapter One: The Writer’s IChapter Two: The Role and Function of FamilyChapter Three: Identity Formation, Self-Discovery, and AgingChapter Four: Jewish Identity within British CultureChapter Five: Sex and PoliticsChapter Six: Issues of Mental HealthChapter Seven: Kops on Kops: The InterviewsAppendix: More Radio PlaysBibliographyIndexAbout the Authors