Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman (born September 9, 1911 in New York , † August 2, 1972 in North Stratford, New Hampshire ) was an American author , playwright , poet , literary critic and psychotherapist . He achieved most notoriety as a social critic. He is also considered a co-founder of Gestalt therapy .
Life and career
Paul Goodman was born the fourth child to Jewish parents. The father left the family before he was born, so the mother had to work as a traveling salesman to support the family. Because of this, as a child, Goodman was largely cared for by his aunts and older sister. He attended the Hebrew School and graduated from high school in 1927 as the best of his class. Goodman then began studying philosophy at the City College of New York , which he graduated in 1931. After graduating, he wrote poetry, plays and short stories. He also attended courses at Columbia University .
In 1936, Goodman began postgraduate studies in literature and philosophy at the University of Chicago . During this time he worked as a research assistant and part-time teacher. In 1938, Goodman married his first wife, Virginia. His daughter Susan (* 1939) emerged from the marriage, which ended in 1943. In 1940 Goodman lost his job at the University of Chicago for openly having gay affairs with students and he returned to New York. First publications followed, such as his novella The Grand Piano , which was later the first part of the series The Empire City . In 1943 and 1944, Goodman was a teacher at a progressive boarding school where he was fired for homosexual behavior . He was postponed from military service in World War II . During this time, Goodman wrote articles for libertarian newspapers and journals. In 1945 he published The Facts of Live , a book of short stories. In the same year he married his second wife Sally. His son Matthew was born in 1946.
In 1946 Goodman published the novella The State of Nature , which later became the second part of The Empire City series . The following year he published Communitas , a book on urban planning that he had written with his brother Percival Goodman . He also published the book Kafka's Prayer that year . He spent the years 1948 and 1949 writing in New York and published the book The Break-Up of Our Camp , in which he processed his experiences in summer camps in short stories. Further publications were in 1950 the novella The Dead of Spring , later Part Three of the series The Empire City , and 1951 the novella Parents Day .
After Goodman had already gained experience with psychoanalysis in the mid-1940s , he deepened it in the early 1950s. In 1951 he published the book Gestalt Therapy with Fritz Perls and Ralph F. Hefferline . He was fired from a job at Black Mountain College , again for sexual misconduct . In 1951 he returned to New York to write and to devote himself to his therapeutic studies. In 1954, Goodman completed his dissertation at the University of Chicago, which was published under the title The Structure of Literature . During this time he continued to publish articles in various journals. The anarcho - pacifist and post-dramatic theater company The Living Theater began staging plays by Goodman, and a full edition of his multi-part novella The Empire City was published in 1959.
Goodman gained greater fame with his socially critical book Growing Up Absurd , published in 1960 . A period of relative prosperity set in and academic opportunities opened up, leading to teaching positions at various academic institutions. Among other things, he taught at Sarah Lawrence College and published Our Visit to Niagara , a collection of short stories. He bought a farm in North Stratford, New Hampshire, which became his second home. During this time, Goodman published various social and literary writings. In 1962 he completed The Community of Scholars , a review of academic teaching. He also published collective editions of his poems and articles. In 1963, Goodman's daughter Daisy was born and he became a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies . In the same year, the autobiographical novel Making Do appeared , followed by Compulsory Mis-education 1964 and People or Personnel 1965. In addition, Goodman took part in the peace protests of the 1960s and was invited by students to the San Francisco State College in 1966 to teach there .
Goodman had other teaching posts in London and at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa . He produced a number of critical programs in Canada, published other short stories and the collection of poetry Hawkweed . The death of his son Mathew in 1967 plunged Goodman into a deep depression. In the early 1970s, Goodman wrote New Reformation, Speaking and Language, and Little Prayers & Finite Experience . Due to heart disease, his health deteriorated and he died on August 2, 1972 in New Hampshire. The work Little Prayers and a collection of his poems were published after his death.
Views on sexuality
The openness with which Goodman wrote and spoke about his bisexual life and love affairs (particularly in his essay The Politics of Being Queer (1969)) proved to be one of the most important cultural stepping stones for the gay liberation movement that evolved in the early 1970s . However, his own views ran counter to the modern construction of homosexuality. He was of the opinion that both were sick: not having sex with a person of the opposite sex and not knowing homosexual joys.
He also believed that sexual relationships between men and boys are natural and healthy and can be the basis for long-term friendship. Goodman regretted that today's (1971) youth no longer have the "generous attitude" towards the sexual desires of the elderly that he had as a youth. Regarding his own sexual relations with boys, which the public condemned, he stated that it was actually obscene, that society made you feel like a criminal as shame for something that human beings really need.
Diagnosing the problems of modern education - the paralysis of the students' energy and the killing of their curiosity and creativity - he underlined that a good teacher-student relationship inevitably also has sexual aspects and that admitting and appropriately channeling the resulting tensions into one better education system. In an interview in 1971 he said about this: "The aspect of being in love between students and teachers seems to me to be an important one for the educational relationship in general."
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Widmer: Paul Goodman. P. 13.
- ↑ Leonard Rogoff In: Shatzky / Taub: Contemporary Jewish-American novelists. P. 128.
- ↑ a b c d Widmer: Paul Goodman. P. 14.
- ↑ a b Widmer: Paul Goodman. P. 15.
- ^ A b Paul Goodman: Thoughts of a Stone Age Conservative. In: Gestalt criticism. 2-2003. (Interview by Robert W. Glasgow in 1971 with Paul Goodman. First published in the American magazine Psychology Today , November 1971, Vol. 5, No. 6.) (online at: gestalt.de ) as of May 26, 2010)
Fonts (selection)
- Growing up in contradiction: On the alienation of youth in the administered world. Verlag Darmstädter Blätter, Darmstadt 1971, ISBN 3-87139-011-9 .
- Anarchist Manifesto. Pandora's box, Telgte-Westbevern 1977, ISBN 3-88178-007-6 .
- Taylor Stoehr (Ed.): Nature Heals - Psychological Essays. Edition Humanistic Psychology, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-926176-17-2 .
- Prayers and other things about me. Edition Humanistic Psychology, Cologne 1992, ISBN 3-926176-37-7 .
- Communitas - ways of life and life possibilities of human communities. Edition Humanistic Psychology, Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-926176-59-8 .
literature
- Stefan Blankertz: Critical Pragmatism: On Paul Goodman's Sociology. Pandora's box, Wetzlar 1983, ISBN 3-88178-054-8 .
- Peter Parisi (Ed.): Artist of the actual. Essays on Paul Goodman. Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, NJ, et al. a. 1986, ISBN 0-8108-1843-4 .
- Paul Goodman: The Doom of School. Frankfurt am Main 1975, ISBN 3-8072-3019-X .
Web links
- Literature by and about Paul Goodman in the catalog of the German National Library
- Biography (English)
- Biographical information and an interview by Robert W. Glasgow in 1971 by Stefan Blankertz
- Paul Goodman changed my life Documentary about Paul Goodman
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Goodman, Paul |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 9, 1911 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | new York |
| DATE OF DEATH | 2nd August 1972 |
| Place of death | North Stratford, New Hampshire |