Daphne Merkin

Daphne Miriam Merkin (born 30 May 1954 in New York City) is an American literary critic, essayist and novelist. Merkin is a graduate of Barnard College. She also attended Columbia University's graduate program in English literature.[1]

She began her career as a book critic for Commentary magazine,[1] The New Republic, and The New Leader, where she wrote a book column and later, a movie column.[1] In 1986, she became an editor with the publishing house of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. In 1997, after Tina Brown became editor of The New Yorker, Merkin became a film critic for the magazine. She also wrote extensively on books and became known for her frank forays into autobiography; her personal essays dealt with subjects ranging from her battle with depression, to her predilection for spanking,[2] to the unacknowledged complexities of growing up rich on Park Avenue. In 2005, she joined The New York Times Magazine as a contributing writer. She is the author of a novel, Enchantment (1984)[1] as well as two collections of essays, Dreaming of Hitler (1997)[3] and The Fame Lunches (2014).[4]

Her father was the philanthropist Hermann Merkin. Her brother is J. Ezra Merkin, a hedge fund manager and philanthropist who was embroiled in the Bernard Madoff scandal.[5]

Merkin teaches writing at the 92nd Street Y.[6] She married and divorced Michael Brod, and lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with her daughter, Zoe. She also is a contributing editor to Tablet Magazine.[7]

See also


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Joel Shatzky, Michael Taub (1997). Contemporary Jewish-American novelists: a bio-critical sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 216–222. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  2. ↑ Daphne Merkin, (February 26, 1996). "Unlikely Obsession". The New Yorker. p. 98. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  3. ↑ "Sneak Peeks: Dreaming of Hitler," Salon, June 10, 1997
  4. ↑ "Kirkus Review, July 2014 Issue" Kirkus, June 12, 2014
  5. ↑ "Behind a Byline, Family Ties," New York Times, April 11, 2009
  6. ↑ "A Voice of One's Own ," 92y.org
  7. ↑ Tablet Magazine

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