Members save with free shipping everyday! See details
English0300174454
26.0
In Stock
Overview
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a trenchant examination of an iconic American figure that explores the cultural and psychological roots of his comic genius Born Julius Marx in 1890, the brilliant comic actor who would later be known as Groucho was the most verbal of the famed comedy team, the Marx Brothers, his broad slapstick portrayals elevated by ingenious wordplay and double entendre. In his spirited biography of this beloved American iconoclast, Lee Siegel views the life of Groucho through the lens of his work on stage, screen, and television. The author uncovers the roots of the performer’s outrageous intellectual acuity and hilarious insolence toward convention and authority in Groucho’s early upbringing and Marx family dynamics. The first critical biography of Groucho Marx to approach his work analytically, this fascinating study draws unique connections between Groucho’s comedy and his life, concentrating primarily on the brothers’ classic films as a means of understanding and appreciating Julius the man. Unlike previous uncritical and mostly reverential biographies, Siegel’s “bio-commentary” makes a distinctive contribution to the field of Groucho studies by attempting to tell the story of his life in terms of his work, and vice versa. About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award. More praise for Jewish Lives: "Excellent" –New York Times "Exemplary" –Wall Street Journal "Distinguished" –New Yorker "Superb" –The Guardian
Lee Siegel, author of six books and the recipient of a National Magazine Award, has written about culture and politics for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications.
How do experts spot masterpieces? Paintings are not always signed or noted in historical records,
so how can we tell an obscure gem from an altered image? Scientists, conservators and art historians use a range of methods to examine the ...
Frames often catch the eye and arouse the curiosity of visitors to galleries and museums,
yet labels and catalogues rarely comment on them. Nicholas Penny conveys his interest in the history of frames, the design and techniques of frame-making, what ...
Known as the master of French Romanticism for his energetic paintings, Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) was
also a consummate draftsman. This handsome book, one of the few to explore this topic in depth, provides new insight into Delacroix’s drawing practice, paying ...
A powerful treatise that demonstrates the existence of altruism in nature, with surprising implications for
human society Does altruism exist? Or is human nature entirely selfish? In this eloquent and accessible book, famed biologist David Sloan Wilson provides new answers ...
This fascinating book depicts the long-running battle within the fundamentalist movement over the roles of
men and women both within the church and outside it. Drawing on interviews as well as on written sources, Margaret Lamberts Bendroth surveys the complicated ...
An examination of the real reasons for 9/11 that will provoke fundamental rethinking of the
War on Terrorism After September 11, Americans agonized over why nineteen men hated the United States enough to kill three thousand civilians in an unprovoked ...
A long-overdue publication that restores Wilfred to the art-historical canon Lumia presents a long-overdue reevaluation of
the groundbreaking artist Thomas Wilfred (1889–1968), whose unprecedented works prefigured light art in America. As early as 1919, many years before the advent of consumer ...
Matthew Barney: Redoubt is a comprehensive catalogue of the artist’s newest project, which centers on
a two-hour film that creates a complex portrait of the American landscape by layering classical, cosmological, and American myths about humanity’s place in the natural ...
