Groucho Marx : the comedy of existence / Lee Siegel.
Material type:
TextSeries: Jewish lives (New Haven, Conn.)Publisher: New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2015]Copyright date: ©2015Description: viii, 162 pages : portrait ; 22 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 0300174454
- 9780300174458
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | Biography | Marx, G. S571 | Available | 33111008365039 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
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
Includes bibliographical references (pages 149-151) and index.
The cultural and psychological roots of Groucho Marx's genius are explored, uncovering the source of the performer's outrageous intellectual acuity and hilarious insolence toward convention and authority in his early upbringing and Marx family dynamics. -- Publisher's description.
Introduction: a fateful condition -- Nothing will come of nothing -- Human, all too human -- Fathers and sons -- Groucho and me: a match made in heaven -- Interlude: words -- Beyond the pleasure principle -- Groucho the Jewish aristocrat -- Groucho the Jewish outsider-philosopher -- Epilogue: gone today, here tomorrow.