Gabriel Josipovici
Gabriel Josipovici is a prominent British author and literary critic, born on October 8, 1940, in Nice, France, to a family of Romanian and Russian Jewish descent. After his early childhood in Egypt, he moved to England at age fifteen to complete his education. He earned a first-class honors degree in English literature from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, in 1961, and began a career in academia, notably teaching at the University of Sussex and later serving as the Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative Literature at Oxford.
Josipovici is recognized for his innovative narratives and was one of the leading figures in postmodern British literature. His first novel, *The Inventory*, published in 1968, explores themes of reality and memory through fragmented storytelling, reflecting his interest in authors like Franz Kafka and Virginia Woolf. His criticism often challenges conventional realism and traditional forms, yet is admired for its intellectual rigor and stylistic clarity. Throughout his career, he has received various accolades, including the London Sunday Times award for his play *Evidence of Intimacy*. More recently, he has published essays during the COVID-19 lockdowns in *100 Days* and combined fiction and non-fiction in *Partita/A Winter in Zürau*. Josipovici is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the British Academy, underscoring his significant impact on contemporary literature.
Gabriel Josipovici
French-born British novelist, short-fiction writer, playwright, and nonfiction writer.
- Born: October 8, 1940
- Place of Birth: Nice, France
Biography
Gabriel Josipovici was born on October 8, 1940, in Nice, France. His father, Jean, who was of Romanian Jewish descent, and his mother, Sacha Rabinovitch, who was the daughter of a Russian Jewish doctor, had been studying in France when Josipovici was born, but they separated when he was three years old. Josipovici’s mother was originally from Egypt, and she took her son back to that country after the end of World War II. They settled in Maadi, Egypt, where Josipovici attended English schools.
At the age of fifteen, he went to England to finish school at Cheltenham College, attending classes there from 1956 through 1957. His mother joined him in England in 1956. Following his graduation, he took a year off to explore the cultural resources of England, and then entered St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, in 1958, having been awarded a government scholarship to read English literature. He earned a first-class honors degree there in 1961, and almost immediately embarked on an academic career, teaching English at the University of Sussex in Brighton. In 1996, he served as the Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Oxford and retired from his full-time position at the University of Sussex in 1998.
Josipovici achieved immediate literary success with his first novel, The Inventory, published in 1968. The book presents the reader with a unique view of reality and memory, developed through the actions of its main character, a young man who takes inventory of a dead man’s belongings. As a literary critic, Josipovici evidenced interest in narrative fragmentation, discontinuity, repetition, and spiraling, all of which are present in the works of writers such as Franz Kafka and Virginia Woolf. These narrative principles are present in Josipovici’s own fiction, often functioning as a means of compelling the reader to share in his protagonists’ struggles to find meaning in life. He is widely considered to be one of the leading postmodern British novelists.
Josipovici’s nonfiction has also received critical attention. His literary criticism has been praised by many reviewers who cite Josipovici’s lucid style, the depth of his familiarity with a wide variety of literature, and the vitality of his concern for art. Some of Josipovici’s ideas are controversial, such as his blanket rejection of realism and dismissal of traditional forms. However, even those who disagree with Josipovici’s ideas still seem to admire his erudition and his passion.
Josipovici is an elected fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the British Academy. He received the London Sunday Times award in 1970 for his play, Evidence of Intimacy, and the South East Arts Literature Prize in 1978 for The Lessons of Modernism, and Other Essays. In 2007, he was invited by the University of London to give the Coffin Lecture on Literature; the lecture was published in 2010 under the title of What Ever Happened to Modernism? These honors reflect the prevailing view that Josipovici is a highly regarded literary critic and leading experimental fiction writer.
In 2021, he published 100 Days, a collection of essays Josipovici wrote over the span of one hundred days during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns. In 2024, he published Partita/A Winter in Zürau, a unique combination of fiction and non-fiction in one novel.
Author Works
Drama:
Vergil Dying, pr. 1979, pb. 1981
Evidence of Intimacy, pr. 1970
Long Fiction:
The Inventory, 1968
Words, 1971
The Present, 1975
Migrations, 1977
The Echo Chamber, 1980
The Air We Breathe, 1981
Conversations in Another Room, 1984
Contre-Jour: A Triptych After Pierre Bonnard, 1986
The Big Glass, 1991
In a Hotel Garden, 1993
Moo Pak, 1994
Now, 1998
Goldberg: Variations, 2002
Nur ein scherz, 2005 (Only Joking, 2010)
Everything Passes, 2006
After and Making Mistakes, 2009
Infinity: The Story of a Moment, 2012
Hotel Andromeda, 2014
Partita, as part of a double novel, 2024
Nonfiction:
The World and the Book: A Study of Modern Fiction, 1971
The Lessons of Modernism, and Other Essays, 1977
Writing and the Body, 1982
The Mirror of Criticism: Selected Reviews, 1977–82, 1983
The Book of God: A Response to the Bible, 1988
Text and Voice: Essays 1981–1991, 1992
Touch, 1996
On Trust: Art and the Temptations of Suspicion, 1999
A Life: Sacha Rabinovitch, 1910-1996, 2001
The Singer on the Shore: Essays 1991–1994, 2006
What Ever Happened to Modernism?, 2010
100 Days, 2021
A Winter in Zürau, as part of a double novel, 2024
Short Fiction:
Mobius the Stripper: Stories and Short Plays, 1974
Four Stories, 1977
In the Fertile Land, 1987
Heart's Wings & Other Stories, 2010
Bibliography
Alberge, Dalya. "Feted British Authors are Limited, Arrogant and Self-Satisfied, Says Leading Academic." The Guardian, 28 July 2010, www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jul/28/gabriel-josipovici-dismisses-english-authors. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Fludernik, Monika. Echoes and Mirrorings: Gabriel Josipovici's Creative Oeuvre. New York: Lang, 2000.
Josipovici, Gabriel. Interview by Michael Signorelli. Cruelest Month, 26 Feb. 2007, cruelestmonth.typepad.com/cruelestmonth/2007/02/an‗interview‗ga.html. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Josipovici, Gabriel. "The Mind of the Modern: An Interview with Gabriel Josipovici." Interview by Victoria Best. Numéro Cinq, 1 Dec. 2015, numerocinqmagazine.com/2015/12/01/the-mind-of-the-modern-an-interview-with-gabriel-josipovici-victoria-best/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Stawiarski, Marcin, ed. Critical Perspectives on Gabriel Josipovici. Spec. issue of Revue LISA 12.2 (2014), journals.openedition.org/lisa/5735?lang=en. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
"Works." Gabriel Josipovici Official Website, 2024, www.gabrieljosipovici.org/works.shtml. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.