Lester Goran

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Lester Goran (born May 16, 1928 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , USA , † February 6, 2014 in Coral Gables , Florida ) was an American writer. He became known for his work on growing up poor youth in his hometown of Pittsburgh.

Life

Goran grew up in a slum near the University of Pittsburgh . Even if the university was nearby, Goran was a working class. In his work it becomes clear that he was strongly influenced by this culture, especially by the hustle and bustle in the Irish pubs .

Goran attended Fifth Avenue High School and Schenley High School in his teens . He then studied at the University of Pittsburgh , where he completed his bachelor's degree in 1951 and his master's degree in 1960 . Goran did his military service with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Military Police .

He was married to Edythe McDowell and had three children with her.

Career

Goran has been a faculty member at the University of Miami at Coral Gables , Florida since 1960 . In 1974 he got the title of professor in English. In his works he mainly dealt with his own past and upbringing. In Tales from the Irish Club: A Collection of Short Stories , Goran described the environment of his childhood in a series of short stories . The influence of Irish-American culture can be felt here.

The sequel to Tales from the Irish Club was She Loved Me Once , another collection of short stories. Critics hailed She Loved Me Once as a clean portrayal of Goran's childhood. In his novel Bing Crosby's Last Song , he looked at Pittsburgh from the perspective of its main character, Daly Racklin. The novel is set shortly before the murder of John F. Kennedy and Daly's heart problems and the possible loss of his home. Critics, including the Library Journal, judged the work to be more of a "nostalgic snapshot" than a true novel. Nevertheless, the book received praise from most of the critics.

Works

  • 1960: Mechanic Avenue paratroopers
  • 1962: Maria Light
  • 1964: The Candy Butcher's Farewell
  • 1966: The stranger in the snow
  • 1968: The Demon in the Sun Ice Cream Parlor
  • 1971: The Keeper of Secrets
  • 1985: Miss Beautiful
  • 1994: The Bright Streets of Surfside: The Memoir of a Friendship with Isaac Bashevis Singer
  • 1996: Tales from the Irish Club: A Collection of Short Stories
  • 1997: She Loved Me Once, and Other Stories
  • 1998: Bing Crosby's Last Song
  • 1999: Outlaws of the Purple Cow and Other Stories

credentials

  • Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 244: American Short-Story Writers since World War II, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 2001.
  • Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reprinted in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Goran, Lester
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , USA
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 2014
Place of death Coral Gables , Florida , USA