February 04, 2009
Gabriel Brownstein discovered his love
for the written word as a child reading stories from the pages of
J.D. Salinger, Philip Roth and James Baldwin. His passion for
literature and short stories led him to his career as a critically
acclaimed writer and an Assistant Professor of English at St.
John’s University.
In 2002, Professor Brownstein published his first collection of
short stories titled, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt.
3W, which earned him a Hemingway
Foundation/PEN award. Brownstein joined St. John’s University
after the release of his first novel, Man from the Beyond
in September 2005.
“I put that first collection in an apartment building because
I grew up in an apartment building,” says Mr. Brownstein.
“But an apartment building is natural for stories—it’s like an
anthology of lives. I’m a New York writer; I write about New
Yorkers who are busy trying to figure each other out.”
In that first collection, Brownstein (who has written numerous
essays and book reviews for the Boston Globe and the
Village Voice) plays upon famous stories and myths of
literary giants such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Isaac Bashevis Singer
and Nathaniel Hawthorne. He transforms the plots and characters
with tales of fantasy and misfortune. Inspired by these stories,
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt 3W creates a
quirky, creative narrative set in a dreary west-side Manhattan
apartment, where young Davey Birnbaum watches the lives of the
inhabitants unfold.
Last month, one of the stories from that collection, “The Dead
Fiddler, Apt 5E”, a story that draws upon literary connections to
Singer’s, was featured in a staged-reading adaptation themed, “The
Life Cycles of Jews: Little Disturbances and Enormous Changes,”
performed by Obie–winning and Tony-nominated actress Kathleen
Chalfant at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan.
“It was really fun to have my story performed and a little
nerve-wracking to be on stage with real actors,” notes Professor
Brownstein. “But in the end it went very well.”
Brownstein credits the great writers that inspired him as a child,
the elements of New York City and his students for making him a
better writer and teacher.
“I have no choice but to write about real-life experiences, the
people I know, the neighbors from my past,” Professor Brownstein
explains. “Even in my novel, which was about Harry Houdini and
Arthur Conan Doyle, I included a lot from my own life. My
imagination naturally comes out of the things that I’ve
lived.”
As an English Professor in St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences, he finds immense satisfaction in conjuring up imagery,
fantasy and fiction in the fervent minds of students. He teaches
every class as if it were his first, with eagerness and new
approaches to understanding the English language and creative
writing.
“The really fun thing about teaching is teaching good students,” he
says. “When students make a breakthrough, it’s thrilling and I am
excited to talk about the literary works I love with people who are
really interested in it.”
“Expressing your love for a particular author is always a
challenge,” he reports. “To go to people with something you love
and ask, here, don’t you love this too? is wonderful when they do,
but when they don’t, it can be a little frustrating.”
Brownstein wants students who may be interested in creative writing
to read and enjoy it, to look for challenging things to read.
“Think about your inspirations, be proud of your work and always
continue to evolve and grow,” he adds.
Reflecting on his two published books, he notes that “there are
always things as a writer that one can improve upon, but my first
novel, The Man from Beyond, continues to hold a special
place in my heart because it’s a novel I always wanted to write–a
look at the mystery of New York.”
When asked if society reads enough literature, he replies: “People
should read short stories; they don’t read enough short
stories.” “I don’t know why, they don’t appear in many
magazines anymore, are hard to find in literary journals,
collections of short stories, don’t get a lot of acclaim—so I want
everyone to support collective works of literature.”