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Off Center: Essay
- GenresEssays
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1980
34 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
14 books20 followersBarbara Grizzuti Harrison (14 September 1934 – 24 April 2002) was an American journalist, essayist and memoirist. She is best known for her autobiographical work, particularly her account of growing up as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and for her travel writing.
Her first book, Unlearning the Lie: Sexism in School, was published in 1969. Harrison was one of the first contributors to Ms. magazine.
Harrison became nationally known in 1978 when she published Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses, which combined childhood memoirs with a history of the Jehovah's Witness movement. Although Harrison expressed admiration for individual Witnesses and wrote sympathetically of their persecution, she portrayed the faith itself as harsh and tyrannical, racist and sexist.
Harrison wrote for many of the leading periodicals of her time, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, The Village Voice, The Nation, Ladies' Home Journal and Mother Jones magazine. Among the people she interviewed were Red Barber, Mario Cuomo, Jane Fonda, Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, Francis Ford Coppola, Nadia Comăneci, Alessandra Mussolini and Barbara Bush.
Harrison published two collections of her essays and interviews: Off Center (1980) and The Astonishing World (1992). Her 1992 Harper's essay "P.C. on the Grill", which lampooned the "philosophy" of popular TV chef The Frugal Gourmet, was included in the 1993 edition of Best American Essays.
Harrison also wrote numerous travel articles covering destinations all over the world. She published two books about her travels in Italy, Italian Days (1989) and The Islands of Italy: Sicily, Sardinia, and the Aeolian Islands (1991).
In 1984 Harrison published a novel, Foreign Bodies. She won an O. Henry Award for short fiction in 1989.
(from Wikipedia)
Her first book, Unlearning the Lie: Sexism in School, was published in 1969. Harrison was one of the first contributors to Ms. magazine.
Harrison became nationally known in 1978 when she published Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses, which combined childhood memoirs with a history of the Jehovah's Witness movement. Although Harrison expressed admiration for individual Witnesses and wrote sympathetically of their persecution, she portrayed the faith itself as harsh and tyrannical, racist and sexist.
Harrison wrote for many of the leading periodicals of her time, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, The Village Voice, The Nation, Ladies' Home Journal and Mother Jones magazine. Among the people she interviewed were Red Barber, Mario Cuomo, Jane Fonda, Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, Francis Ford Coppola, Nadia Comăneci, Alessandra Mussolini and Barbara Bush.
Harrison published two collections of her essays and interviews: Off Center (1980) and The Astonishing World (1992). Her 1992 Harper's essay "P.C. on the Grill", which lampooned the "philosophy" of popular TV chef The Frugal Gourmet, was included in the 1993 edition of Best American Essays.
Harrison also wrote numerous travel articles covering destinations all over the world. She published two books about her travels in Italy, Italian Days (1989) and The Islands of Italy: Sicily, Sardinia, and the Aeolian Islands (1991).
In 1984 Harrison published a novel, Foreign Bodies. She won an O. Henry Award for short fiction in 1989.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 14, 2016
Superior essays by a superior writer; Harrison is a must-read. She never got the pr / promo of Ayn Randy Diiddydun, but she sums up the Didion herein with a memorable essay you will never forget.
January 26, 2018
The worst essayist in the history of the written word; not only more mean-spirited than any human being should ever be, but the literary equivalent of a carp. I find her particular "brand" of journalism very mean-spirited, ultra-elitist, and unnecessarily cruel. There is no point in the spite she holds for the innocent; there is no true rage in her ire. She's simply rotten because she can be rotten and that seems to delight her.
To my way of thinking, and drawing on years as a small-time political journalist, there are plenty of ways to disagree with someone and not belittle them. Ms. Harrison never seemed to care enough to find those ways; she takes the cheap way out. Knowing her history and background, I can understand why she was so caustic, but reading her all I can picture is a hateful old woman banging away at a typewriter and thinking, "Look how clever I am!" and "I'll destroy this person's reputation because he dared to be popular while I'm an unknown swamp harpie!"
That's not the way it should be done.
To my way of thinking, and drawing on years as a small-time political journalist, there are plenty of ways to disagree with someone and not belittle them. Ms. Harrison never seemed to care enough to find those ways; she takes the cheap way out. Knowing her history and background, I can understand why she was so caustic, but reading her all I can picture is a hateful old woman banging away at a typewriter and thinking, "Look how clever I am!" and "I'll destroy this person's reputation because he dared to be popular while I'm an unknown swamp harpie!"
That's not the way it should be done.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews