Howard Fast

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Howard Melvin Fast (born November 11, 1914 in New York , † March 12, 2003 in Old Greenwich , Connecticut ) was an American writer. He wrote mainly historical novels, biographies and dramas; quite a few became bestsellers. Some appeared under pseudonyms , including E. V. Cunningham . First an advocate and researcher of the North American ideal of freedom, then a fighter against economic and social inequality, Fast had committed himself to communism with Soviet characteristics and the Communist Party of the USA around 1940 affiliated, but renounced it publicly in 1957.

Life

Almost grew up as the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in poor proletarian circumstances. He was less than 10 years old when his mother died. As a child and adolescent, he was a newspaper seller, beggar, thief, and casual worker, and he financed his high school attendance himself. He dropped out of a subsidized study at the New York Art Academy after just one year. A job in a public library opened up the world of literature for him. By his own admission he warmed primarily by Jack London's The Iron Heel for socialist ideas. Fast published his first novel, Two Valleys , at the age of 19 in 1933 . Four years later he married Bette Cohen († 1994). The marriage had two children. He entered into a second marriage to Mercedes O'Connor at an old age.

In 1939, the "champion of the progressive US novel" (Eric Homberger) achieved a million print run for the first time with Conceived in Liberty: A Novel of Valley Forge . One was taken with the rousing pace and the convincing dramaturgy of his stories.

From 1942 to 1944, Fast served in the overseas service of the US Office of War Information , then he was a foreign correspondent for the magazines Esquire and Coronet . After the war ended, the FBI targeted him . Communist Party member Fast (registered from 1944 to 1957) had, among other activities, campaigned for a Popular Front hospital at the time of the Spanish Civil War , but refused to reveal the names of party members at his hearing before the infamous McCarthy Committee . This was punished with three months in prison. His books were banned from all public libraries. In addition, he came on the "blacklist" (blacklist) , so that he had to publish his Spartacus novel himself first.

In 1952, Fast was run as a New York candidate for the American Labor Party for Congress . He had a column in the Daily Worker , a Communist Party newspaper . Fast was very popular at this time in the Soviet Union and other states of the Eastern Bloc , and its book editions were correspondingly high. In 1954 he received the International Stalin Peace Prize . After Khrushchev's speech at the 20th party congress of the CPSU (1956) and the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956, Fast left the Communist Party. This made him unpopular in communist circles.

Among other things, Fast was shocked by the extent of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, which he had greatly underestimated. He processed his disillusionment in the novel Der nackte Gott (1957). No apostate communist before him had written more bitterly about his personal experiences, professor David Sanders stated in the Washington Post at the time. However, I almost stressed that he was not ashamed of his actions. He fought against the war, the oppression of the Indians and the blacks and social injustice. He is proud of his books. “ I regret that in some of my political articles I went overboard - but by and large I stood by what I wrote. ”Homberger also confirms that, despite his disappointment, Fast did not become a“ professional anti-communist ”(in contrast to Arthur Koestler or Julián Gorkin ).

Fast's last novel ( Greenwich ) was published in 2000. He died in 2003 at the age of 88.

effect

In 1957, Fast mentioned that 20 million copies of his books had been printed so far. In total, he has published over 80 books, translated into 82 languages ​​and numerous film adaptations, including Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus from 1960.

In addition to "political thrillers" such as Spartacus or Freedom Road (1944, about a colored US senator who fights the Ku Klux Klan ) and many short stories, Fast wrote - mostly after his time in the Communist Party and under his pseudonym EV Cunningham - also criminal - and science fiction novels. Most critics see Fast as having three main creative periods. The radical liberal period, in which he made a name for himself with novels about personalities such as George Washington and Thomas Paine , was followed by the communist period (1943–1956) - for Kindler's Neues Literaturlexikon a "literary point of unproductive" period, although you among others the filmed world success Spartacus arose. The main work of the third period, apparently a kind of synthesis, considered Kindler in 1977 with The Immigrants introduced novel tetralogy of "immigration and Akkulturrationsproblematik".

According to Kindlers , the Paine novel, published in 1943, was the high point of the first period and almost avoided "the usual clichés of the historical novel", but the method of presentation and characterization were "too simple and action-oriented to do justice to the historical figures and events" . For Mervyn Rothstein, on the other hand, Fast achieved his “breakthrough” with this “lively portrait of one of the most extraordinary characters of the 18th century”, as the playwright Elmer Rice put it when it appeared in the New York Times Book Revue . Eric Homberger almost sees himself as a self-portrait in Fast's novel about the propagandists of the North American and French revolutions. Paine and Fast have faced similar hostile attacks and betrayal by comrades. Homberger even brings the book close to Koestler's solar eclipse , although Fast wrote it when he was just joining the Communist Party, i.e. not being expelled from it.

The Israeli author Daniel Gavron , who was friends with Fast, judged in his obituary that Fast was not a "great" writer; for the sake of his political convictions he was too schooled and painted in black and white. Nevertheless, he must be considered a “superb” storyteller.

Works (selection)

  • Two Valleys . Dial Press, New York 1933.
  • Strange Yesterday . Dodd, Mead & Co., New York 1934.
  • Place in the City . Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York 1937.
  • Conceived in Liberty: A Novel of Valley Forge . Simon & Schuster, New York 1941.
  • The Last Frontier . Duell, Sloan & Pearce 1941 (German. The last frontier . Dietz, Berlin / East 1951).
  • The Unvanquished . Duel, Sloan & Pearce, New York 1942.
  • Citizen Tom Paine . Duell, Sloan & Pearce, New York 1943 (German citizen Tom Paine . Dietz, Berlin / East 1953).
  • Freedom Road . Duell, Pearce & Sloan, New York 1944 (German road to freedom . New life publishing house, Berlin / East 1948).
  • The American: A Middle Western Legend . Duell, Sloan & Pearce, New York 1946 (Literary Guild selection, August 1946).
  • Clarkton . Duell, Sloan & Pearce, New York 1947 ( Clarkton: Ein Roman . Dietz, Berlin / Ost 1949, online ).
  • The Children . Duel, Sloan & Pearce, New York 1947.
  • Patrick Henry and the Frigate's Keel, and other stories of a young nation . Duell, Sloan & Pearce, New York 1948 (Ger. Patrick Henry and the frigate keel, and other stories from a young nation . Dietz, Berlin / Ost 1953). Anthology of historical stories.
  • My Glorious Brothers . Little, Brown & Co., Boston 1948.
  • The Proud and the Free . Little, Brown & Co., Boston 1950 (Ger. The proud and the free . Dietz, Berlin / Ost 1957).
  • Spartacus . Self-published by the author, New York 1951 (German: Spartacus . Dietz, Berlin / Ost 1953) - ISBN 3-293-20326-4 .
  • Fallen Angel . Little, Brown & Co., Boston 1952. (German: The 27th floor . Knaur Taschenbuch 110, Munich & Zurich 1965).
  • The passion of Sacco and Vanzetti , a New England legend . Blue Heron Press, New York 1953
  • The Last Supper and Other Stories . Blue Heron Press, New York 1955 (Eng. The Last Supper and other stories from yesterday and today . Dietz, Berlin / Ost 1957).
  • April morning . Crown Publishers, New York 1961.
  • Lydia . Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY 1964 (Ger. Lydia . Droemersche Verlagsanstalt Th. Knaur Nachf. Munich, Zurich 1969).
  • The Edge of Tomorrow . Bantam, New York 1961 (science fiction short stories), (German The new people . Goldmanns Zukunftsromane Vol. 40, Munich 1963 & Goldmanns Weltraum-Taschenbücher 066, Munich 1966).
  • Power . Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY, 1962 (Eng. Temptation of Power . Rheinische Verlags-Anstalt, Wiesbaden 1965).
  • Sally . Wm. Morrow & Co., New York 1967 (Ger. Sally . Munich & Zurich 1973) - ISBN 3-426-00394-5 .
  • The Hessian . Wm. Morrow & Co., New York 1972 (German: The drum boy . Molden, Vienna 1975; as Der Sohn der Söldner , Vienna 1978).
  • Millie . Wm. Morrow & Co., New York 1973 (German Milly . MüncDhen / Zurich 1974) - ISBN 3-426-00444-5 .
  • Max . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1982 (German Max . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1985; 1988) - ISBN 3-499-12352-5 .
  • The pledge . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1988 (Ger. Der Unbeirrbaren Rowohlt, Reinbek 1991) - ISBN 3-499-12714-8 .
  • The Confession of Joe Cullen . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1989 (Ger. The Confession of Joe Cullen . Reinbek 1992) - ISBN 3-499-12827-6 .
  • Redemption . Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York 1999
  • Greenwich . Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York 2000
Novels about the Lavette family
  • The immigrants . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1977 (Ger. The immigrants . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1979; 1983) - ISBN 3-499-15106-5
  • Second generation . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1978 (Ger. The Descendants . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1980; 1983) - ISBN 3-499-15262-2
  • The Establishment . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1979 (Ger. Die Arrivierten . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1981; 1986) - ISBN 3-499-15696-2
  • The Legacy . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1981 (Ger. The heirs . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1983; 1986) - ISBN 3-499-15765-9
  • The Immigrant's Daughter . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1985 (Ger. The Immigrant's Daughter . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1987; 1989) - ISBN 3-499-12701-6
  • An independent woman . Harcourt Brace & Co., New York 1997
Non-fiction and essays
  • The Story of the Jews in the United States . Jewish Information Series , no.1, New York 1942.
  • Tito and His People . Contemporary Publishers, Winnipeg, Alberta, 1944
  • Intellectuals in the fight for peace. Masses & Mainstream, New York 1949.
  • Literature and Reality . International Publishers, New York 1950.
  • Peekskill USA . Civil Rights Congress, New York 1951.
  • The Naked God: The Writer and the Communist Party Praeger, New York 1957.
  • The Jews: Story of a People . Dial Press, Ney York 1968
  • The Art of Zen Meditation . Peace Press, Culver City, Calif., 1977 (Ger. The Art of Zen Meditation . Zurich 1980, NA 1993) - ISBN 3-453-13411-7
  • Being Red: A Memoir . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1990.
  • War and Peace: Observations on Our Times . ME Sharpe, Armonk, NY, 1993. Essays from the New York Observer.

Film adaptations (selection)

script

literature

Biographies
  • Hershel D. Meyer: History and Consience. The case of Howard Fast . New York 1958
  • Frank Campenni: Citizen Howard Fast: A Critical Biography . University of Wisconsin, 1971
  • Alan M. Wald: The Legacy of Howard Fast . In: Ders .: The Responsibility of Intellectuals: Selected Essays on Marxist Traditions in Cultural Commitment . Humanities Press, 1992
  • Alan Wald, Alan Filreis: A Conversation with Howard Fast (March 1994). In: Prospects , 20, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 511-523
  • Andrew McDonald: Howard Fast: a critical companion . Greenwood Press, Westport CT 1996
Lexicons

Web links

Commons : Howard Fast  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b spartacus , accessed July 10, 2011
  2. ↑ a b c Homberger / Guardian , accessed July 10, 2011
  3. ↑ Bernstein / Washington Post , accessed July 10, 2011
  4. ^ A b c spartacus / New York Times, February 1, 1957 , accessed July 10, 2011
  5. ^ Bernstein, Washington Post , accessed July 10, 2011
  6. ^ Rothstein, NYT , accessed July 10, 2011
  7. ↑ Kindler's New Literature Lexicon in the Munich 1988 edition
  8. ^ Rothstein / NYT , accessed July 10, 2011
  9. ^ Gavron / Haaretz , accessed July 10, 2011
  10. ↑ Dramatization: Citizen Tom Paine: A Play in Two Acts , Boston 1986
  11. ↑ The novel was published in the USA under the pseudonym 'Walter Ericson', as Fast was on the 'Black List' of undesirable authors during the McCarthy period. The German edition was published under Fast's name.
  12. ↑ Record The passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, a New England legend on hathitrust-Digital Library
  13. ↑ For this novel, Fast received the Grand prix de littérature policière in 1973
  14. ↑ Dedicated to Paul Robeson , on the Peekskill riots
  15. ↑ According to spartacus , accessed on July 10, 2011, John Gates, editor-in-chief of the KP-Blatt Daily Worker stated: "Fast's book, The Naked God, contains considerable truth, but it suffers from his weakness of portraying people as either good guys or bad guys. I am far from the angel he depicts and the others are not quite the devils he makes them out. The reality is more subtle, complex and contradictory. But the Daily Worker, to its credit, never joined in the torrent of abuse from the Left that was heaped on Fast. His reaction to his Communist experience has been highly charged with emotion, but not without cause. At the very least, as a man who had given his whole life and career to communism, Fast deserves more understanding and compassion from the Left. " For more information about gates see engl. Wikipedia , accessed July 10, 2011
  16. ↑ According to Gavron / Haaretz , accessed on July 10, 2011, John Kenneth Galbraith found this book "the finest political biography of the era".
  17. ↑ trussel , accessed July 10, 2011
  18. ↑ trussel , accessed July 10, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Almost, Howard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Almost, Howard Melvin (full name); Cunningham, EV (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH New York , USA
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 2003
Place of death Old Greenwich , Connecticut, USA