1.
Paul Auster
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His books have been translated into more than forty languages. Paul Auster was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Jewish middle-class parents of Polish descent, Queenie and he is the older cousin of conservative columnist Lawrence Auster. He grew up in South Orange, New Jersey and Newark, after graduating from Columbia University in 1970, he moved to Paris, France where he earned a living translating French literature. Since returning to the U. S. in 1974, he has published poems, essays and these books are not conventional detective stories organized around a mystery and a series of clues. Rather, he uses the form to address existential issues and questions of identity, space, language. Comparing the two works, Auster said, I believe the world is filled with strange events, reality is a great deal more mysterious than we ever give it credit for. In that sense, the Trilogy grows directly out of The Invention of Solitude, Austers heroes often find themselves obliged to work as part of someone elses inscrutable and larger-than-life schemes. In 1995, Auster wrote and co-directed the films Smoke and Blue in the Face, Austers more recent works, Oracle Night, The Brooklyn Follies, and the novella Travels in the Scriptorium, have also met critical acclaim. He was on the PEN American Center Board of Trustees from 2004-2009, I guess I’m getting to the point where I tell myself if I can’t write another book it’s not a tragedy. Does it matter if I publish 16 or 17 novels, unless it’s absolutely urgent, there’s no point in writing. In 2012, Auster was quoted as saying in an interview that he would not visit Turkey to protest its treatment of journalists, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan replied, As if we need you. Who cares if you come or not, lacans theory declares that we enter the world through words, that we observe the world through our senses, but the world we sense is structured in our mind through language. Thus our unconscious also is structured as a language and this leaves us with a sense of anomaly, we can only perceive the world through language, but we have the feeling that something is missing. This is the sense of being outside language, the world can only be constructed through language, but it always leaves something uncovered, something that cannot be told or be thought of, and may only be sensed. This is one of the themes of Paul Austers writing. Lacan is considered to be one of the key figures of French poststructuralism, the common factor of both ideas is the question of the meaning of symbols for human beings. Austers protagonists are often writers who establish meaning in their lives through writing, edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Beckett and Herman Melville have also had a strong influence on Austers writing. Not only do their characters reappear in Austers work, Auster also uses variations on the themes of these writers and he writes, This idea of contrasts, contradictions, paradox, I think, gets very much to the heart of what novel writing is for me
2.
John Ashbery
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John Lawrence Ashbery is an American poet. He has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and won every major American award for poetry. Renowned for its complexity and opacity, Ashberys work still proves controversial. Ashbery has stated that he wishes his work to be accessible to as people as possible. At the same time, he joked that some critics still view him as a harebrained, homegrown surrealist whose poetry defies even the rules. Ashbery was born in Rochester, New York, the son of Helen, a teacher, and Chester Frederick Ashbery. He was raised on a farm near Lake Ontario, his brother died when they were children, Ashbery was educated at Deerfield Academy, an all-boys school, where he read such poets as W. H. Auden and Dylan Thomas and began writing poetry. Two of his poems were published in Poetry magazine under the name of a classmate who had submitted them without Ashberys knowledge or permission. Ashbery also published a handful of poems, including a sonnet about his love for a fellow student, and a piece of short fiction in the school newspaper. His first ambition was to be a painter, from the age of 11 until he was 15 Ashbery took weekly classes at the art museum in Rochester. Ashbery graduated in 1949 with an A. B. cum laude, from Harvard College, where he was a member of the Harvard Advocate, the literary magazine. He wrote his thesis on the poetry of W. H. Auden. At Harvard he befriended fellow writers Kenneth Koch, Barbara Epstein, V. R. Lang, Frank OHara and Edward Gorey, Ashbery went on to study briefly at New York University, and received an M. A. from Columbia in 1951. After working as a copywriter in New York from 1951 to 1955, from the mid-1950s and he was an editor of the 12 issues of Art and Literature and the New Poetry issue of Harry Mathews Locus Solus. After returning to the United States, he continued his career as an art critic for New York, several years later, he began a stint as an editor at Partisan Review, serving from 1976 to 1980. During the fall of 1963, Ashbery became acquainted with Andy Warhol at a poetry reading at the Literary Theatre in New York. He had previously written favorable reviews of Warhols art, Ashbery returned to New York near the end of 1965 and was welcomed with a large party at the Factory. He became close friends with poet Gerard Malanga, Warhols assistant, in 1967 his poem Europe was used as the central text in Eric Salzmans Foxes and Hedgehogs as part of the New Image of Sound series at Hunter College, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies
3.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
4.
Brooklyn
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Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015. It borders the borough of Queens at the end of Long Island. Today, if New York City dissolved, Brooklyn would rank as the third-most populous city in the U. S. behind Los Angeles, the borough continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves, Brooklyns official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght which translates from early modern Dutch as Unity makes strength. Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years, the neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North Americas first tidal mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today, however, the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furmans early compilation, what is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1,1683 and this tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. On August 27,1776 was fought the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park. The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay for the entire 19th century, the first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York, Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems and it later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19,1842, on May 14,1849 the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on September 5,1938 it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle
5.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
7.
Marty Markowitz
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Martin Marty Markowitz is a former Borough President of Brooklyn, New York City. He was first elected in 2001 after serving 23 years as a New York State Senator and his third and final term ended in December 2013. He was born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in a Jewish family. His father, Robert, was a waiter at Sids, a kosher delicatessen but died when Marty was nine years old, his mother, Dorothy, Markowitz graduated from Wingate High School in Brooklyns Prospect Lefferts Gardens section in 1962. He took night classes at Brooklyn College for nine years, Markowitz began his public service career in 1971, at the age of 26, by forming the Flatbush Tenants Council in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush. The organization grew into Brooklyn Housing & Family Services, which is the largest tenants advocacy organization operating in New York State today. He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1979 to 2001, sitting in the 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th, 189th, 190th, 191st, 192nd, 193rd and 194th New York State Legislatures. He was known for creating a series of oceanfront concerts and other rather than drafting legislation. Markowitz first ran for Borough President in 1985, but failed to unseat the incumbent Howard Golden, Markowitz subsequently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for failing to disclose a campaign contribution, he was fined and performed community service. As borough presidents have little real power within city government, Markowitz used the office to be an advocate for Brooklyn, promoting mainstream tourism. In the 2005 New York City mayoral election, he also endorsed Republican incumbent Michael Bloomberg, during the Blackout of 2003, he stood on the Brooklyn Bridge as throngs of fellow Brooklynites trudged home from work in Manhattan, holding a megaphone and cheering Welcome home to Brooklyn. He repeated this during the 2005 New York City transit strike, inviting Brooklynites into Borough Hall for warm drinks and he frequently spoke at public schools in Brooklyn on occasions such as performances and graduations. Markowitz called for demolition of the residences at Admirals Row, saying they are damaged beyond repair, however, the Beardsley / Crawford & Stearns report commissioned by the National Guard as part of the Section 106 review of the property disputes this claim. Markowitz continued promoting affordable housing, as he had in the Senate and he agitated to save Starrett City, the nations largest federally-subsidized housing complex, and keep it affordable forever. As a longtime advocate for seniors, Markowitz campaigned to keep Brooklyn senior centers open when they were threatened with closures due to budget cuts. His office was instrumental in creating two new schools in Brooklyn, the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media and the Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance. He has supported Brooklyn’s cultural community, including the BAM Cultural District and Issue Project Room, Markowitz has worked to establish Brooklyn’s first-ever LGBT Center for Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Community Pride Center board has been formed to determine a location, former Brooklyn female district leader Renee Collymore worked for him as an executive assistant
8.
Borough president
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A borough president is an elective office in each of the five boroughs of New York City. Borough presidents currently have little power in New York City government and they generally act as advocates for their boroughs at the mayoral agencies, the city council, the New York State government, public corporations, and private businesses. Their authorizing law is codified in title 4, sections 81 to 85 of the New York City Charter, Borough presidents currently have a relatively small discretionary budget for projects within their boroughs. They also act as advocates for their boroughs at mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York State government, public corporations, Borough presidents are currently elected by popular vote to four-year terms, and can serve up to three consecutive terms. Borough presidents influence the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure by appointing NYC community boards, each of the five boroughs has a borough board. They are composed of the president, council members from the borough. Community boards advise on land use and zoning, participate in the city budget process, community boards act in an advisory capacity, and have no authority to make or enforce laws. On January 1,1898, the boroughs of Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, as part of the consolidation, all town and county governments within the city were dissolved, and their powers were given to the city and the boroughs. The boroughs assumed most county functions, but did not replace them, the eastern two-thirds of Queens County was not part of the borough of Queens. The initial city charter established the five borough president offices with terms of four years, the salaries of the presidents of Manhattan, The Bronx, and Brooklyn were $5,000, and those of Queens and Richmond were $3,000. The borough presidents were subject to removal for cause by the mayor, with approval by the governor, in a later writers words, the offices of the borough presidents were created to preserve local pride and affection for the old municipalities after consolidation. Borough presidents gradually gained more authority, assisting in the formulation of more aspects of the city budget and controlling land use, contracts, and franchise powers. Although some borough presidents served for decades, the position was used as a stepping-stone to other elective offices such as judgeships or, in the case of Robert F. Wagner. On March 22,1989, the Supreme Court of the United States, the city charter was quickly revised and passed in a referendum that fall, and the Board of Estimate was abolished. The offices of the presidents were retained, but with greatly reduced power. The borough budgets became the responsibility of the mayor and City Council, Borough presidents currently have a relatively small discretionary budget for projects within their boroughs. The two major remaining appointments of the presidents are one member each on the City Planning Commission. Borough presidents generally adopt specific projects to promote while in office and they also act as advocates for their boroughs at mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York State government, public corporations, and private businesses
9.
Boroughs of New York City
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New York City, in the U. S. state of New York, is composed of five county-level administrative entities called boroughs. They are Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, each borough is coextensive with a county of New York State. The county governments were dissolved when New York City consolidated in 1898, along all city, town. The term borough was adopted to describe a form of administration for each of the five fundamental constituent parts of the newly consolidated city in 1898. Under the 1898 City Charter adopted by the New York State Legislature, the term is also used by politicians to counter a frequent focus on Manhattan and thereby to place all five boroughs on equal footing. In the same vein, the outer boroughs refers to all of the boroughs excluding Manhattan. All of the boroughs were created in 1898 during consolidation, when the current boundaries were established. Ultimately in 1914, the present-day separate Bronx County became the last county to be created in the State of New York, the borough of Queens consists of what formerly was only the western part of a then-larger Queens County. The borough of Staten Island was officially the borough of Richmond until the name was changed in 1975 to reflect its common appellation, there are hundreds of distinct neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs of New York City, many with a definable history and character to call their own. Manhattan is the geographically smallest and most densely populated borough and is home to Central Park and most of the citys skyscrapers. Manhattans population density of 72,033 people per mile in 2015 makes it the highest of any county in the United States. Manhattan is often described as the financial and cultural center of the world, most of the borough is situated on Manhattan Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River. Manhattan Island is loosely divided into Lower, Midtown, and Uptown regions, Uptown Manhattan is divided by Central Park into the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, and above the park is Harlem. The borough also includes a neighborhood on the United States mainland. New York Citys remaining four boroughs are collectively referred to as the outer boroughs, Brooklyn, on the western tip of Long Island, is the citys most populous borough. Brooklyn is known for its cultural, social, and ethnic diversity, an independent art scene, distinct neighborhoods, downtown Brooklyn is the only central core neighborhood in the outer boroughs. The borough has a long beachfront shoreline including Coney Island, established in the 1870s as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the country, marine Park and Prospect Park are the two largest parks in Brooklyn. Historically a collection of towns and villages founded by the Dutch
10.
Joan Didion
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Joan Didion is an American author best known for her novels and her literary journalism. Her novels and essays explore the disintegration of American morals and cultural chaos, a sense of anxiety or dread permeates much of her work. Joan Didion was born and raised in Sacramento, California, to parents Frank Reese, Didion recalls writing things down as early as age five, though she claims that she never saw herself as a writer until after being published. With this, she identified herself as being a shy, bookish child, then, in 1943 or early 1944, her family settled back in Sacramento, and her father went to Detroit to settle defense contracts for World War I and II. Didion wrote in her 2003 memoir Where I Was From that moving so often made her feel like a perpetual outsider, in 1956, Didion graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. During her senior year, she won first place in an essay contest sponsored by Vogue, in two years at Vogue, Didion worked her way up from promotional copywriter to associate feature editor. While there, she wrote her first novel, Run, River, Play It As It Lays, set in Hollywood, was published in 1970 and A Book of Common Prayer was published in 1977. In 1979, she published The White Album, another collection of pieces from Life, Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post, The New York Times. Her 1983 essay, Salvador, was written after a trip to El Salvador with her husband. Her 1987 nonfiction book, Miami, looked at the Cuban expatriate community in Miami, in 1992, she published After Henry, a collection of twelve geographical essays. In 1996, she published The Last Thing He Wanted, a romantic thriller, Dunne and Didion worked closely together for most of their careers, and indeed much of their writing is intertwined. With Dunne, Didion co-wrote a number of screenplays, including an adaptation of her novel Play It As It Lays for a film that starred Anthony Perkins and she and Dunne also spent eight years adapting the biography of journalist Jessica Savitch into the film Up Close & Personal. She went on a tour following the release of this memoir, doing many readings. She has said that she found the process very therapeutic during her period of mourning, in 2007, she began working on a one-woman adaptation of The Year of Magical Thinking. Produced by Scott Rudin, this Broadway play featured Vanessa Redgrave, although at first she was hesitant about writing a play, she has since found this new genre to be quite exciting. Didion wrote early drafts of the screenplay for an HBO biopic directed by Robert Benton on The Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, sources say it may trace the papers dogged reportage on the Watergate scandal which led to President Richard Nixons resignation. However, Didion is no longer working on that project, in 2011, Knopf published Blue Nights, a memoir about aging. The book focuses on Didions daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, who died just before her previous memoir and it addresses their relationship with “stunning frankness. ”More generally, the book deals with the anxieties Didion experienced about adopting and raising a child, and also about the aging process
