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George Mandel (11 February 1920 – 13 February 2021) was an American author and artist. His first novel is considered to be an early work of the east coast Beat Generation.[1] His novels, interviews, novellas, cartoons and short stories have been carried by major publishing houses, print magazines and collections. He was also active as a comic artist.[2]

Life and career

Mandel was a native of New York City.[1]

As a cartoonist, Mandel's inkings established the first masked female comicbook hero: The Woman in Red.[citation needed]

In 1968, he signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.[3]

He was a member of the Gourmet Club with Mel Brooks,[4] and was friends with William Styron[5] and was a childhood friend of Joseph Heller.[6]

Mandel died New York City in February 2021, two days after turning 101.[7]

Works

His first book, Flee the Angry Strangers (1952), was considered one of the first Beat novels.[1] His subsequent works include The Breakwater (1960), a coming-of-age novel and Proustian examination of pre-war Coney Island; a 1961 war novella Into the Woods of the World, and The Wax Boom (1962), a war novel. His novella Scapegoats (1970) is a commentary on New York City's racial tension and urban renewal. He further explored the theme in Crocodile Blood (1985), an epic about the rape of a native American Seminole and the rising complex of cultures across three generations in Florida. His early short story "The Beckoning Sea" was included in the 1958 anthology Protest: The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men.[8]

A darkly humorous piece, "Adjustments", appeared in a 1963 Alfred Hitchcock horror anthology[9] and short story "The Day the Time Changed" in a 1965 Saturday Evening Post. Also two cartoon books have been published: Beatville U.S.A. (1961) and Borderline Cases (1962).[citation needed]

The National World War II Museum added to its collection his essay "Men Weep," which he wrote in September 2014, when he was 94.[citation needed] It is an account of his service and his reaction to the Battle of the Bulge.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ a b c Varner, Paul (2012-06-21). Historical Dictionary of the Beat Movement. Scarecrow Press. p. 194. ISBN 9780810873971.
  2. ^ "George Mandel". Lambiek.net. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest", New York Post, January 30, 1968
  4. ^ "Eating With Their Mouths Open". The New York Times. November 3, 1985. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Styron, William; Styron, Rose; Gilpin, R. Blakeslee (4 December 2012). Selected Letters of William Styron. Random House. p. 296. ISBN 9780679645337.
  6. ^ Chalmers, Robert (September 29, 2011). "'My dad was diabolical': Erica Heller reveals the shocking truth about life with a literary giant". The Independent. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  7. ^ Comics.org: George Mandel (b. 1920)
  8. ^ Feldman, Gene and Gartneberg, Max (editors) (1958). Protest: The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men. New York: Citadel Press
  9. ^ Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories My Mother Never Told Me [ghost edited by Robert Arthur] ed. Alfred Hitchcock (Random House, 1963)
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