Torch

Issue date: 3/12/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: TORCH PHOTO/KEVIN SU St. John's professor and acclaimed author/novelist Gabriel Brownstein

Professor Gabriel Brownstein's first memories of writing are from as far back as elementary school in the '70's, when he and his friends would spend most of their time dreaming up material for play scripts and patching together comic books out of construction paper. Far before he knew of any definitive roles he would fill in life, he knew of his passionate and unquestionably fulfilling relationship with writing.

After having grown up in Manhattan during a decade of fervid social change, which he believes was a major influence on much of his earlier writing, Brownstein attended Oberlin College, a highly selective liberal arts school in Oberlin, Ohio. Although he graduated with an undergraduate degree in English, Brownstein hadn't always intended on teaching or becoming a novelist, for that matter.

"There were times when I thought I'd be a doctor, a critic, a scholar," he said. "Then after getting out of college and going through a series of really crazy jobs, I learned that, other than writing, there was not much else I could do very well."

Immediately preceding graduation, Brownstein slipped into numerous different roles, ranging from pre-school teacher to security guard, literary agent to carpenter's assistant. After two years of wavering employment, he entered Columbia University's graduate program, after which he began to teach at the undergraduate level at schools like Stonybrook University, Barnard College and Parsons School of Design. Of all the prestigious places he's taught, Brownstein has taken a particular liking to our very own St. John's University.

"It's a lot of fun here, because there is a lot more room for me to choose what I want to focus on in my classes," said Brownstein. "Now that I'm in my third year, I'm beginning to feel that I understand both my students and my place here a bit better."

As a professor, Brownstein is afforded enough time to dedicate to both his teaching and his writing, a perk that has proven favorable in his career. In 2003, he was announced the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award Winner for his novelistic debut entitled, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. 3W, a collection of short stories that consists of the re-imaginings of classic works transpiring in the same Manhattan apartment complex. Through inventively replaying famous stories and borrowing characters from other novels, these stories blend the real with the imaginary. The PEN Hemingway award is given once a year to the best first novel of an American writer, and Brownstein's joining the esteemed list of novelists who have received it is a surefire testament to his creative genius.

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