Arthur Krystal

Arthur Krystal (born December 12, 1947, in Stockholm, Sweden) is an American essayist, editor, and screenwriter living in New York City. Krystal's parents, Shloime and Mila Krystal, both from Warsaw, Poland, survived World War II in Russia and immigrated to the United States in 1952. He attended the Bronx High School of Science from 1963 to 1965, the University of Wisconsin at Madison from 1965 to 1969, and Columbia University in 1970. After working at a series of jobs, he became a part-time editor at Basic Books in New York City. Krystal has written for publications including The American Scholar, Harper's Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, the Times Literary Supplement, The Wall Street Journal, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Washington Post Book World, New York Newsday, the Village Voice, the New Criterion, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Sports Illustrated, Art & Antiques, the Encyclopædia Britannica, and Collier's Encyclopedia. His first book of essays, Agitations: Essays on Life and Literature (2002) was a finalist for the 2003 PEN Award for the "Art of the Essay". The essay "When Writers Speak", which appeared in The New York Times Book Review, was included in The Best American Essays 2010, edited by Christopher Hitchens. Many of Krystal's essays have stirred up controversy for their insistence that intellectual work not be limited or defined by sociopolitical concerns when executed in good faith. Krystal co-wrote the HBO film Thick as Thieves (1998) and wrote the documentary Secrets of the Code (2006). This Thing We Call Literature. Oxford University Press. 2016. Except When I Write: Reflections of a Recovering Critic. Oxford University Press. 2011. The Half-Life of an American Essayist. David R. Godine, Publisher. 2007 Agitations: Essays on Life and Literature. Yale University Press. 2002. A Company of Readers: Uncollected Writings of W. H. Auden, Jacques Barzun, and Lionel Trilling from The Reader's Subscription and Mid-Century Book Clubs. The Free Press. 2001.