Noah Gordon, 95, dies; American novelist with an audience overseas
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, November 22, 2024


Noah Gordon, 95, dies; American novelist with an audience overseas
His first book, “The Rabbi,” was a best seller in the U.S. Almost all his other novels were best sellers, too — but in Western Europe.

by Sam Roberts



NEW YORK, NY.- Noah Gordon, an American author who was virtually unknown at home but whose novels about history, medicine and Jewish identity transformed him into a literary luminary abroad, died Monday at his home in Dedham, Massachusetts. He was 95.

His death was confirmed by his wife, Lorraine Gordon.

Noah Gordon’s debut novel, “The Rabbi” (1965), which dealt with the title character’s marriage to a minister’s daughter, was lodged for 26 weeks on The New York Times’ bestseller list. But most of his subsequent eight books fared less successfully when they were published domestically, although they have proliferated since as e-books.

“When I began, my market was America: You either made it in America or didn’t make it,” he told the Times in 1996. “Well, now your market is the world.”

Michael Gordon, his son and literary agent, said in an email that his father’s books have sold some 25 million copies in 34 languages.

Noah Gordon’s “The Physician” (1986) — the first book in a dynastic trilogy that began in 11th century Persia, continued during the U.S. Civil War with “Shaman” (1992) and ended with a modern female doctor dealing with the morality of abortion in “Matters of Choice” (1996) — had an initial print run of only 10,000 copies in the United States.

But it eventually sold some 10 million copies, including more than 6 million in Germany, where, in the 1990s, six of Gordon’s novels were on bestseller lists simultaneously.

In 2013, “The Physician” was adapted into a German film, in English, starring Tom Payne, Stellan Skarsgard and Ben Kingsley. An award-winning musical based on the book is about to tour Spain.

The novel, based on meticulous research, follows the odyssey of an 11th century Scottish protagonist, Robert Jeremy Cole, who wants to study medicine in the Middle East, where medical schools were reputed to be more advanced than those in Western Europe. Since Christians were barred from Islamic schools, Cole disguises himself as a Jew.

The book’s success, even abroad, was a fluke. Just before the publication date, Gordon’s editor at Simon & Schuster left and his agent retired. But Karl H. Blessing, who worked for Droemer Knaur, a German publisher, was captivated by the book and invested heavily in promoting it.

“While Gordon has been published in 38 countries, Spain and Germany, where he is most popular, are two countries that grapple with a history of antisemitism,” Andrew Silverstein wrote in the Forward this year. “While not all of Gordon’s eight books have Jewish themes, most do, and his Jewishness is well known, which may play a role in his popularity in these two countries.”




Gordon won Spain’s Silver Basque Prize twice for bestselling book, in 1992 and 1995. His novels were also popular in Italy and Brazil.

His last novel, “The Winemaker,” a story of factions dueling for the Spanish throne at the end of the 19th century, was published in 2012.

Gordon's “Shaman” won the James Fenimore Cooper Prize from the Society of American Historians as the best historical novel of 1991 and 1992. Peter Blauner praised it in The New York Times Book Review, writing that Gordon “throws in all the twists and turns readers expect in a historical drama, but he takes the corners with a measured sense of pace and irony.” It was a bestseller only in Europe, however.

Gordon was born Nov. 11, 1926, in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Robert Gordon, a pawnbroker who had immigrated from Russia, and Rose (Melnikoff) Gordon, a sales representative.

He served in the Army during World War II, but the war ended before he was scheduled to be shipped to the Pacific. He enrolled in Boston University on the GI Bill, his parents hoping he would study to become a doctor. But he lasted one semester in a pre-med course before switching his major to journalism.

“Ever since childhood I had nursed two ambitions of my own,” Gordon wrote on his website. “I wanted to be a newspaperman, and I yearned to write the kind of novels that made me love books.”

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism in 1950, then remained at the university to earn a master’s in English and creative writing the next year. He moved to New York City and worked as an editor for Avon Publishing and then at a picture magazine named Focus.

He married Lorraine Seay, who was a student at Clark University when they met in Boston. In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by two daughters, Lise Gordon (who worked with him on the screenplay for “The Physician”) and Jamie Beth Gordon; and four grandchildren. A sister and brother died before him.

After several years, the couple returned to Massachusetts, where Gordon worked for the Worcester Telegram. He was then named science editor of the Boston Herald after writing articles, on his own initiative, about medical breakthroughs. He began working on “The Rabbi” in his spare time while editing a medical journal when his agent said a publisher had agreed to a modest advance for “The Rabbi.”

He wrote his second novel, “The Death Committee,” about three young doctors at a Boston hospital, while editing another publication, the Journal of Human Stress. (“The Death Committee” was also a Times bestseller, although just briefly.) He gave up editing in 1975 and began his third novel, “The Jerusalem Diamond.”

For years he wrote from a farmhouse in Ashfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, until moving back to Boston in 1995.

“Each morning I go to my computer in anticipation of the emails I receive from readers in many countries,” Gordon wrote on his website. “I am grateful to every reader, for enabling me to spend my life as a scribbler of tales.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

November 27, 2021

Saving history with sandbags: Climate change threatens the Smithsonian

Tributes and mourning in US home of first Thanksgiving

Bernd and Hilla Becher's unique photography of Welsh industrial structures acquired by National Museum Wales

Stephen Sondheim, titan of the American musical, is dead at 91

Crypto donors pay $1 mn in fees for failed US Constitution bid

Christie's France announces highlights included in its Post War and Contemporary Art sale

Ketterer Kunst presents a masterpiece by Jawlensky not seen in public in the last century

He's the brusque Mr. fix-it for Mexico City's accordions

Art Institute of Chicago opens an exhibition of works by Ray Johnson

'Dracula' lobby card emerges from the shadows to star in movie posters auction

Habda Rashid appointed Curator of Modern and Contemporary British Art

'Dr. Strange' No. 1 original art, Promise Collection power Heritage's Comics & Comic Art Auction past $17.8 million

Cuba inaugurates center to preserve Castro writings

Latin America's women writers ride wave of acclaim

Noah Gordon, 95, dies; American novelist with an audience overseas

Ballroom takes root in Colombia. But who is it for?

They adapted 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' and their personal beliefs

Kariamu Welsh, pioneer of African dance studies, dies at 72

This year's 'Nutcracker' kids: Taller, older and savoring it all

Now open: Golden shells and the gentle mastery of Japanese lacquer at NGV International

MIA Fair will stage its 11th edition in Milan from April 29 to May 1

Yorkshire Sculpture Park announces retirement of founding director Peter Murray CBE

'I savor everything': A soprano's star turn at the Met Opera

Morphy's welcomes holiday season with bounteous Nov. 30-Dec. 2 Toys & Collectibles Auction

Black Friday vs Cyber Monday: Which Will Give Best Shopping Deals?

How to Make Everyday Decisions in Sustainability




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful