Books about New York City
Sparknotes
This link to Sparknotes shows the results of a search for books
which have the term "New York City". You will find over 400 books involving, to some extent, New York City. Along with
the list you will find study guides to help you with your reading. If the
full-text of a book is available online there will be a link to it along
side the study notes.
Most of the books listed in Sparknotes can be found by
searching the
St.
John's Library Catalog. Books can be sent between the Queens and
Staten Island campus libraries. Ask at the Circulation Desks.
Literary Organizations/Movements (a
selected list)
Algonquin
Round Table"The period that followed the end of World War I
was one of gaiety and optimism, and it sparked a new era of creativity
in American culture. Surely one of the most profound -- and outrageous
-- influences on the times was the group of a dozen or so tastemakers
who lunched together at New York City’s Algonquin Hotel. For more than a
decade they met daily and came to be known as the Algonquin Round
Table."
Harlem
RenaissanceHarlem Renaissance (HR) is the name given to the
period from the end of World War I and through the middle of the 1930s
Depression, during which a group of African-American writers, centered in
Harlem, produced a remarkable body of literature (poetry, fiction, drama,
and essay), art and music.
Authors with Ties to New York City (a selected list)
Aleichem, Sholem
(1859-1916)
Became known worldwide as the
Yiddish humorist who wrote the stories upon which the musical
"Fiddler on the Roof" is based. He died in The Bronx in 1916.
Auden.
W.H. (Wystan Hugh) (1907-1973)
Divided
most of the second half of his life between residences in New York City
and Austria. He died in Vienna in 1973.
Baldwin,
James (1924- )
and this site
from PBS.Born in New York City in Harlem.
Brown,
Claude (1937- )
Manchild in the
Promised Land, is a best selling autobiography about his youth in
Harlem, New York.
Capote,
Truman (1924-1984)
In his mid-teens,
Capote was sent to New York to live with his mother and her new husband.
One of his most popular works is,
Breakfast at Tiffany's, made
even more popular when it was made into a movie with Audry Hepburn.
Cather,
Willa (1873-1947)
"New York University's
Kimmel Center occupies the site of Cather's first residence at 60
Washington Square South."
Corso,
Gregory (1930–2001)
Born on March 26,
1930 in New York. "As a writer in the 1950's and 60's, Corso became a
key member of the Beat movement."
Crane,
Stephen (1871-1900)
"Left college after
two semesters and moved on to a bohemian life in New York City. There he
wandered through slums, observing and developing a strong sympathy for
the underclass of boozers and prostitutes that inhabited the Bowery.
Doctorow,
E.L. (1931 - )
One of the country's
leading novelists, grew up in the Bronx neighborhood near Mount Eden
Avenue and the Grand Concourse on Eastburn Avenue in the 1930s.
Ellison,
Ralph (1914-1994)
Author of the Invisible
Man. "In 1936 he moved to New York City, met the novelist Richard
Wright, and became associated with the Federal Writers' Project,
publishing short stories and articles in such magazines as New Challenge
and New Masses."
Emerson,
Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)
Arguably the most
influential American author of the nineteenth century. Spent a good deal
of time on Staten Island visiting his brother, who was a Richmond County
Judge.
Fitzgerald, F.
Scott (1896-1940)
Fitzgerald lived and
worked for a time in New York City. His most famous work,
The Great
Gatsby, is set in and around the city.
Freneau,
Philip (1752-1832)
Was an assistant
editor of a New York paper during the early years of the United States.
His literary efforts were often secondary to his efforts in supporting
the newly formed government.
Ginsberg,
Allen (1926-1997)
In his later
years he became a Distinguished Professor at Brooklyn College.
Gorey,
Edward (1925-2000)
Author and illustrator
lived for many years in NYC, and from 1957 through 1982, he is reputed
to have attended every performance of the New York City Ballet.
Hughes,
Langston (1902-1967)
"In his memory, his
residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem, New York City, has been
given landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission, and
East 127th Street was renamed "Langston Hughes Place."
Irving,
Washington (1783-1859)
Born in New
York City.
James,
Henry (1843-1916)
Born in New York City.
Jones,
LeRoi (Amiri Bakara) (1934- )
Founded the
Black Repertory Theatre in Harlem in 1965.
Kerouac,
Jack (1922-1969)
Author of
On the Road lived for a time on Cross Bay Blvd in Ozone Park.
McCullers,
Carson ( 1917-1967)
Author who moved to
New York City in 1934 and enrolled in a creative writing course at
Columbia University
Mailer,
Norman (1923- )
In 1927 his family moved
to the Eastern Parkway section of Brooklyn, where he attended P.S. 161
and Boys' High School.
Melville,
Herman ( 1819-1891)
Author of Moby Dick; born in New
York City.
Millay,
Edna St. Vincent ( 1892-1950)
Selected
Works"...moved to New York's Greenwich Village, where she led a
notoriously Bohemian life. She lived in a nine-foot-wide attic and wrote
anything she could find an editor willing to accept."
Moore,
Marianne (1887-1972)
Moved to New York in
1918 and became widely known for her literary works.
O'Neill,
Eugene ( 1888-1953)
The only American playwright to win
the Nobel Prize for literature, was born in a Broadway hotel room in New
York City on October 16, 1888
Poe, Edgar
Allan ( 1809-1849)
Already a noted
literary critic, poet and author, he rented a small cottage in Fordham
in 1846.
Rand, Ayn
(1905-1982)
Author who lived in New York City from
1951 until her death in 1982.
Riis,
Jacob (1849-1914)
Worked as a police
reporter for the New York Tribune in 1877. In the 1880s his work
gravitated towards reform and he worked with other New York reformers
then crusading for better living conditions for the thousands of
immigrants flocking to New York. See,
How the
Other Half Lives
Salinger,
J.D. (1919- )
Author of
Catcher in
the Rye, Salinger was born in New York City.
Thomas, Piri
(1928- )
Born Juan Pedro Tomas, of Puerto Rican
and Cuban parents \ in New York City's Spanish Harlem.
Twain, Mark ( 1835-1910)
A great American writer lived in several
New York City neighborhoods.
Wasserstein,
Wendy (1950- )
Playwright who was born
and raised in New York City.
An
interview
Wharton,
Edith (1862-1937)
One of the major
figures in American literary history she was born in New York City.
Whitman,
Walt (1819-1892)
Attended
public school in Brooklyn.
