Product Description
Kazan brings to the undiluted telling of his story all the passion and truth, the almost outrageous frankness, that have made him so formidable a stage director (A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman), film director (On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Splendor in the Grass), and bestselling novelist (The Arrangement)Amazon.com Review
One of the most important theater autobiographies of the1980s, Elia Kazan: A Life, has finally been released inpaperback. The extra decade adds to the book's poignancy and itsvalue: a history of backstage personalities and politics in the 20thcentury is included in this release. Elia Kazan was a founding memberof the Group Theatre, was among those shouting "Strike!Strike!" on the legendary opening night of Waiting forLefty, directed the two greatest Broadway dramas ever--Death ofthe Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire--and earnedcountless other credits, but he also played a flawed role in thegreatest real-life moral drama of his era: the McCarthy Communistwitch hunts of the 1950s. Kazan offered names to the House Un-AmericanActivities Committee. He cut his conscience to fit the fashion of thetime, and his conscience continues to bleed. Though this book isframed, like so much of Kazan's best stage and film work, as alifelong search for man's proper relationship to society, the bookserves as a massive explanation and apologia for Kazan's onemonumental lapse. He lived his life intensely, a life in which asingle word could transform you, where a misdeed might be "neverforgotten or forgiven." Such were the times, and Kazan capturesthem with appropriate drama. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

America's greatest Director
A fascinating read about the life of America's greatest stage director.Included are stories about the original productions of "The Skin of Our Teeth" (where Kazan went up against Tallulah Bankhead and lived to tell about it!), "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Death of a Salesman."He also writes about his life as an immigrant, his "informing" during the Red Scare, and his subsequent career as a film director and author.Anyone who loves the theatre must read this book by one of it's giants.

Conflict
A Life in Letters (Penguin Modern Classics)The Goring Collection

Elia Kazan had no desire to work for his father as a rug merchant. The magnet that drew Kazan in was show business, but in the early days of his career he showed little aptitude for any place in the theatre. He was quite good at painting sets and by simply hanging around was eventually given a few bit parts in several plays. He got little notice from the critics but Harold Clurman took him under his wing and Kazan grew some as an actor within the Group Theatre. Most of the group had socialist leanings and early on Kazan went along with the crowd. However within a year or so it became obvious that he was too much of an individual to follow any structured ideology and he let it be known that he would never become a part of the communist party.
During the 30's there was very little money to be made by working with the Group Theatre. He finally found a way to augment his income, and that was doing radio plays and was pretty good at it.
Kazan's wife Molly's great grandfather was president of Yale University. Kazan slipped around the edges of conflict; Molly stood up right in the center of the storm. He learned to compromise when he was young in order to avoid confrontation. Molly's principals permitted no deviation from her obligations of what was right.
In the late forties and early fifties the Stanislavsky method of acting was making its way from the Moscow Arts Theatre to New York. Lee Strasberg and Kazan opened the Actors Studio on West 44th Street in an old church building. At the time there were a number of adherents to the Stanislavsky Method teaching their brand of the method and each claiming to have tapped into the authentic Stanislavsky system while pointing out the others as imposters.
In time Lee Strasberg and the Stanislavsky method were one.
Kazan asked the question, what is the best performance you've ever seen? Was it Garbo in Camille, Judy Garland at the height of her career, Walter Houston in the Treasure of Sierra Madre or Lee J. Cobb in Death of a Salesman?
Those were all inspiring, but you may have someone else in mind.
During one summer in Hollywood Kazan turned his life around. He made the decision that he would never make it as an actor. His friend Clifford Odets wrote a screenplay for Lewis Milestone and it gave Kazan a chance to spend time with and learn from one of the great film directors the art of script writing as well as the basic mechanics of directing. The film they worked on was never made but Kazan got the guidance and the inspiration he needed to begin his career as a director.
Back in New York Kazan was hired to direct `The Skin of our Teeth' and in spite of fighting over every line with Tallulah Bankhead from start to finish he managed to bring a successful play to Broadway.
He then followed that up by rescuing a play starring Helen Hayes called Harriet. Kazan brought the play back to life from the brink of disaster. Then he suddenly had two Broadway hits on his hands at the same time. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn came a bit later, and that also turned into a big hit.
Kazan paid his dues in Hollywood with a couple of lack luster films followed by Street Car Named Desire with Marlon Brando on Broadway and film. Then his big success came with On the Waterfront.
Kazan had more than a little conflict in his personal life, that of a wife and family and a mistress along with the HUAC Hearings in Washington.
Elia Kazan has written in the highs and lows of his life and career, and there are times you might find the book a bit tedious in detail - but if you'll follow along to the end you will be richly rewarded for your effort.
Tom Barnes author of `Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone.'

A Show Stopper
Elia Kazan was arguably one of the most influential people that theatre has ever produced.He had an amazing life through his art, and outside of it.

Here, at the age of 77, past the point of modesty, conceit and pride, he tells his remarkable story of learning his craft, harnessing his incredible God-given talent, and channelling his drive into success.

We learn about his trysts and liasons with other icons, his marriages, his faults and missteps.

He owns up to many things that have not made him proud, including naming names during the deplorable McCarthy communist witch hunts of the 1950's.

He talks openly of his failures as a parent and a husband, his infidelity, and his loss of faith.

He also recounts his many astounding successes in film and theatre, including the many great actors and actresses he worked with.

His honest self-assessment is a breath of resh air.

This is one of the greatest autobiographies I have ever read.

A Master tells his own story...
This is the best show-biz biography I have ever read. Poor, Greek immigrant, Kazan fought his way up the entertainment ladder to direct my favorite movie (On The Waterfront) and my favorite play (Death of A Salesman). Along the way to these achievements he was an original member of the Group Theater; he relates his experiences there including an in-depth retelling of his relationship with Lee Strasburg. He met prectically everyone in the business from an aspiring Marylin Monroe, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Arthur Miller and what seems thousands of others in the theater and movie world.His antecdotes are fresh and revealing, even those that may be common knowledge. Of particular note are the chapters devoted to themaking of Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront. His work with Brando, who was seldom better than when he worked with Kazan, is discussed. Along with his great movies and plays, Kazan tells his side of the House On Unamerican Affairs controversy that swirled about him until his death. While the book is massive at 864 pages, it is over too soon. It is a rare, literate portrait of the man Kazan, who changed American movies and theater forever-- and for the better.

Possibly the greatest autobiography ever written
One of the most honest, compelling, brilliant, wise, stunning books I've ever read. Kazan's life was awe-inspring, and to have it retold with such lucidness and unflattering candour is a gift for the ages. Not only was he one of the greatest theatre directors and film directors of the 20th Century, he writes like a blessed demon. This was a spellbinding, page-turning read. Immersed in its pages, I learnt so much about life, America, directing, theatre/cinema history, and myself. I also learnt more than I've ever known about how men think (wish I'd read this years ago).

It's such a pity Kazan's life has become simplistically defined by one act, and his artistry overshadowed - ironic, too, considering he made films with a deep, compassionate, liberal humanity. You can look at his life through through the prism of that one act, or read this for a much richer, fuller, deeper understanding of Kazan - the good, the bad, the ugly. And the genius.

This book made me want to live my life more fully, view myself less vainly, and create my work more honestly. Can't ask for more than that. ... Read more

Product Description
Elia Kazan was the twentieth century’s most celebrated director of both stage and screen, and this monumental, revelatory book shows us the master at work.  Kazan’s list of Broadway and Hollywood successes—A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, On the Waterfront, to name a few—is a testament to his profound impact on the art of directing. This remarkable book, drawn from his notebooks, letters, interviews, and autobiography, reveals Kazan’s method: how he uncovered the “spine,” or core, of each script; how he analyzed each piece in terms of his own experience; and how he determined the specifics of his production.  And in the final section, “The Pleasures of Directing”—written during Kazan’s final years—he becomes a wise old pro offering advice and insight for budding artists, writers, actors, and directors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Essential to All Directors, Actors, Writers & Artists
Kazan On Directing is a must read for any director, writer or actor.It should be read again and again, serving not only as an historical account and insight into some of the greatest plays and films ever made, but as a tool for theater and film artists on how the greats work in this business.It is serves as a excellent example of how an artist's self examination, honest criticism and perspective on his or her work is essential to growth and excellence.Couldn't recommend this book more to anyone in the arts.
Tony Savant

Terrific book about Kazan's method for eliciting great performances from actors. Must read for directors!
Order this book. You won't be disappointed. It's like sitting in a directing class with the master. You get to read his personal notes and inner feelings about working with Brando, Leigh, T. Williams, A. Miller, Malden, Steiger and more! Not just memories from an older Kazan, but his thoughts while in rehearsal or on the set. Anyone who works with actors or aspires to direct, should read this wonderful book. Definitely five stars.

Learn from one of the best
One of the best directors in film and theatre teaching what he knows. This book is nothing like most directing books that talk about various directing techniques. It's also not a book where someone else writes about Kazan directing. This book is much deeper than that. They are the notes that Kazan wrote himself and used for his plays and his movies. It's a great insightful look into his process and how he breaks down a script. You really get into his head. It's like having Kazan as a personal mentor giving you practical applications you can use, and you know they work. ... Read more

Product Description
First time in paperback--Selected by the Los Angeles Times as one of the Best Books of 1999, these never-before-published interviews conducted in the early 1970s prove to be "an invaluable addition to film scholarship, [which] allows aspiring filmmakers to study the working methods and wisdom of one of our greatest artists." --Martin Scorsese. Illustrated with 72 photos and 19 original movie posters, this fascinating book conveys the essence of Young's hundreds of hours of interviews with Kazan, featuring a summary of each film plot and a discussion of 18 of the director's films in his own words, concluding with Young's commentary on Kazan's final film, The Last Tycoon.Amazon.com Review
The presentation of a lifetime achievement award to Elia Kazan at the 1999 Oscar ceremony was one of the most controversial events in American movie history. Kazan's theatrical résumé includes the original productions of The Skin of Our Teeth, Death of a Salesman, and four of Tennessee Williams's best dramas. For the screen, he created Pinky, A Streetcar Named Desire, East of Eden, Baby Doll, A Face in the Crowd, On the Waterfront, Wild River, and America, America. But during the red scare, the master director named names before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, ruining the careers of several of his contemporaries.

How could the man behind such thoughtful and sensitive masterpieces betray his friends? What is the relationship between an artist's personal life and his public vision? While Kazan spoke to these questions in his stunning, epic autobiography, Elia Kazan: A Life, this interview-based book offers new insight by focusing the conversation on the director's professional life. As Kazan responds to Jeff Young's probing queries, we vividly experience his uncompromising independence, determination, and strength of will.

Regarding the success of his most legendary film, Kazan says:

When I started On the Waterfront, I was what they call unbankable. Nobody would put up money for me because I had had a series of box office failures.... I had a hell of a time raising money, but I respond very well to difficulty. If somebody makes trouble for me, I come flailing out in every direction. One of my happiest moments was when I got the Academy Award for On the Waterfront.... It was especially rewarding because we had made something out of nothing.... All of a sudden no one cared what my politics were, that I was controversial, or difficult or that people were slamming me all the time. After On the Waterfront, I could do anything I wanted. That's Hollywood.

This volume provides readers with an exquisite opportunity to examine the mind and work of a major artist--including details about Kazan's collaborations with Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, John Steinbeck, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Gregory Peck, Katharine Hepburn, and many others--as well as the chance to experience the creation of some of the century's most indelible works of art. --Raphael Shargel ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A must-read
This is quite simply fascinating... It should be required reading for anyone interested in Kazan's work... Jeff Young has done us all a great service in providing this unique examination of the art of one of the greatest directors of all time.

Good insight into Kazan's films.
Elia Kazan was one of the most important film directors of the late forties to early fifties.Besides blazing a trail as one of Broadway's top theatre directors, Kazan also established himself as a top Hollywood director.His films helped blaze new ground covering social themes like anti-semitism (Gentleman's Agreement), racism (Pinky), corrupt unions (On the Waterfront), and the abuse of television (A Face in the Crowd).Films like "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Baby Doll" challenged the censorship of the day with their depiction of raw sexuality.

Kazan also pioneered the use of cinematic realism with his location shooting and the realistic performances of his cast through the use of "method" acting.Kazan would be responsible for launching the careers of Marlon Brando and James Dean.

However all these achievements have been overshadowed by Kazan's appearance before the House Un-American Activitees Committee in 1952.Unlike many other moviemakers and actors, Kazan cooperated with HUAC and named names.One of the most high profile entertainment figures to turn informer, Kazan helped to consolidate the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s.This has made Kazan arguably one of the most hated and controversial figures of the McCarthy era.As a result many people are uncertain of where to stand on Kazan.

In this book, reporter Jeff Young interviews Kazan extensively about each of his films.It's very interesting to hear a little about what it was like working with his actors and how he would coax great performances from them.Kazan was a very good actor's director in large part, I think, because he was good at empathizing with them and making them feel comfortable.Instead of telling them what to do as most directors would, he told them what to think and what to feel.It was touching hearing how when the neurotic James Dean came onto the "East of Eden" set, Kazan moved in to a trailer across from him to keep an eye on him.

It was also quite interesting hearing how Kazan got some of the ideas for his films.For instance, I didn't realize until I read it that much of the ideas for "On the Waterfront" were based on real cases and that the Terry Malloy character was based on a real person who worked on the docks.Nor did I realize that "East of Eden" was a semi-autobiographical film."Wild River" (alas, to date never released on video), stemmed from some of Kazan's documentary work during the Depression, and "America, America" stemmed from the experiences of Kazan's Greek uncle's journey to the America.

People looking for insight into Kazan's decision to name names may be disapointed.This is not really an in depth discussion of those events, but a loving look at Kazan's films.However, in case you think that Jeff Young has fallen too in love with Kazan, there is a probing question that Young asks Kazan near the end of the book.Kazan has always claimed that he named names because he thought that Communism was a threat to America, not because he was interested in personal gain.However, Kazan doesn't seem to have been prepared for the specific question that Young has to ask him.Kazan's emotional response is quite revealing and manages to take some of the gloss off the way he portrays himself.

For anyone interested in Kazan, this is a good place to start.

For all students and fans of Elia Kazan films
Illustrated with 72 photographs and 19 original movie posters, Kazan: The Master Director And His Films is based on hundreds of hours of interview during the 1970s with master film maker Elia Kazan by Jeff Young who also drew upon his considerable experience and expertise as a writer, producer, and director, and former studio head for three major film companies. This impressive professional biography and analysis features a summary of each of Kazan's film plots and a discussion of 18 of the director's films in his own words. Of special interest is Jeff Young's commentary on Kazan's final film "The Last Tycoon". Kazan: The Master Director And His Films is well commended and highly recommended reading for all students and fans of Elia Kazan films.

Kazan's sharp and sometimes irreverent take on his career
If you've read this far you may already know about Kazan's career as a filmmaker and Broadway director.But he is probably best known for his actions before the House Un-American Activities committee in the 1950s.Kazan named names.This had made him an enigma to the dominant Hollywood culture.Today, he is recognized as an important filmmaker in the history of movies, but his political views have made his life somewhat bumpy in his chosen profession.

Kazan proves to be erudite and witty and humorous and surprising.He openly hates some of his own movies, though reviewers consider them classics.He does love his version of a STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, which he also directed on Broadway.He speaks with some regret that he didn't also direct the movie version of DEATH OF A SALESMAN (another Broadway play he debuted).

That is just a small bit, but I would recommend the book to anyone interested in the politics of communism in the 1950s and its aftermath, or any film fan that likes to dissect film directors and their work.I am interested in both subjects and found Kazan illuminating on both.

How he did it
(and did not). This is unfortunately not a good book about Kazan's career as a filmmaker, not even about his films. It contains no real biographical material on his life (10 paltry pages: "he is born where, his fatherwas, studied here", do not justice to the life of a first classdirector). The reason is that Kazan was writing his own biography (some 800pages) and Jeff Young was not supposed to infringe on the master'sterritory. But the films suffer as well. We have no idea, while readingthis book, on what was "East of Eden" at the time it came out, weonly hear Kazan's voice and Young's persistent questions, most of them tootechnical to interest even a concerned reader. No general view on thesubject, no cutaways (interviews or whatever) on people who have workedwith Kazan, not a word from Brando, nor any writer or producer connectedwith his work, nor even the critics of that time. There are only theobsessive questions Young asks Kazan, going through every single scene ofsome of his films ("On the Waterfront" has some 80 pages of"why did you do this" and "how did you do that")because the interviewer (a would be director) hoped he could learn hiscraft from the Master. He was met with the sternest objections (Kazanrepeatedly proclaimed "there are no rules") to no avail. The onlyway to publish a book like that would have been to accompany the printededition with a CD containing the scenes to which the text refers. As suchindeed it would have been "an invaluable addition to filmscholarship" as Martin Scorsese is supposed to have said. Without afull library of Kazan's films, this book remains incomplete, but (forscholars) it is still a dignified contribution to the knowledge andremembrance of Elia Kazan's work. PS: By the way: Why does no studiorelease "Baby Doll" in video? This is one of his best films, andapparently the one Kazan preferred. ... Read more

Product Description

From the late forties through the sixties, Elia Kazan was the most important and influential director in America, and the only one who managed simultaneously to dominate both theater and film. In that role he manifestly shaped the conception and writing, as well as the presentation, of many of the period's iconic works, reshaping the values of the stage and bringing a new realism and intensity of performance to the screen. His various achievements include the original Broadway productions of The Skin of Our Teeth, All My Sons, and Death of a Salesman and such Hollywood films as Gentleman's Agreement, Brando's Streetcar, and Splendor in the Grass.

A non–traditional biography, this book combines social and political history with a sharp critical evaluation of Kazan's work. Schickel presents Kazan as a figure of his culture and time, much in the same way that David Remnick treated Muhammed Ali and the larger picture of American history in King of the World. History's view of Kazan is now colored by a single political act –– his naming names in testimony before the House Un–American Activities Committee. By putting the actions, work, and words of this towering figure in context, Schickel not only defends his hero and his hero's work; he also helps the reader move beyond Kazan's most infamous moment to appreciate the larger American story in which he played such a pivotal role. The result is an intelligent and lively biography and social history.

Customer Reviews (14)

unreadable
I live in the Uk and i took this book out of the library to read.Other more important books got in the way till i had only a short time left to read this.So i started with the preface and couldnt believe the rubbish that i was reading.I have read all about HUAC.It was one of the most shameful periods in American history.Here was this author trying to minimise the hurt and injury inflicted by Kazan.Anyone who wanted to argue about the Oscar award was denigrated.It all stuck in my throat.I found his opinions offensive and i decided that i had better things to do with my time than to read this self opinionated drivel.Trying to rewrite history is a futile persuit.

Sad job
A paste up job, ill written, with some rehashed material, and very dubious conclusions. A shameful, inebriateperformance from a once interesting enthusiast.

So Much and Not Enough at the same time!
Elia Kazan is a director's director and an actor's director. He was partly responsible for actors like Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Hunter, and Vivien Leigh earning Oscars for their roles. He was partly responsible for introducing the world to Marlon Brando. Of course, this book is interesting and well-researched by the author about the director's controversial honorary academy award despite his past behavior during the McCarthy hearings and the Communist witch-hunt. Whatever happened in the past happened and some were not willing to applaud or thank the man who directed blue collar classics like "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "On the Waterfront," to be in the league of Shakespeare tragedies. The book is more about his professional and personal approach to directing whether stage or film. I don't recall him directing television. When Elia directed Streetcar, he directed the most perfect film adaptation of a stage play. He helped maintain most of the cast and brought in Oscar winner Vivien Leigh to play unstable Blanche Dubois who was unstable herself unfortunately off-screen. Most of us will never see the actual stage production and I think he would encourage stage productions to be recorded for legacy of the involved cast and crew members. Elia was a team player and he worked very hard with various types of characters onscreen and offscreen with partners like Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford. We can still use Elia Kazan today. There is nobody close to him today.

An excellent biography of an excellent director: Elia Kaaan
Elia Kazan was born in Istanbul, Turkey to Greek parents. Immigrating to America at the age of 4 he was the son of a middle class rug merchant. After taking a degree at Williams College he studied drama at Yale. Kazan became a member of the radical leftist theatre groups in New York in the 1920s and the 1930s. Kazan was instrumental in organizing the Actors
Studio. He directed many hit shows on Broadway but enjoyed working in the movies more than theatre work.
Kazan had the ability to team up with greats like Arthur Miller (Death of A Salesman, All My Sons, After the Fall-on stage and in the movies) and Tennessee Williams in such film classics as "Streetcar Named Desire." His work with William Inge is also impressive most notably in "Spledor in the Grass." with Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty.
Kazan's greatest discovery was the enigmatic and volatile Marlon Brando who changed film forever following his stellar performances in Streetcar and On the Waterfront. Kazan won two best director Oscars for Gentleman's
Agreement dealing with Anti-Semitism and Watefront. He received several other nominatins and is without question a great American director of midcentury angst, anger and a quest to discover the American dream. His film work displays gritty realism with outstanding acting being notable.
Among his stars were Brando, Beatty, Wood, Malden; Kim Hunter, Vivien Leigh and many others.
Kazan received a controversial Oscar in 1999 for life achievement. He had been a friendly witness to the HUAC committee in the 1950s investigating Communism in the film industry. Kazan had briefly been a member of the Communist party in his radical New York days. Due to his testimony he has been hated, reviled and called a Benedict Arnold by many in the Hollywood Community.
Schickel does a good job in separating fact from fiction in Kazan's testimony to Congress. Kazan later apologized for his actions in his autobiography but some have never forgiven him. Kazan also wrote a few middling novels which have not stood the test of time.
Kazan was married three times. He was a philanderer and serial adulterer. He could be cold and agggresive in his career. I don't think he was a very nice man but admit he was a great film director.
The book has virtually nothing to say about his childhood focusing on his career and radical politics.
Richard Schickel is a distinguished film scholar who is Time magazine's
critic. His book is worth reading for anyone interested in American film;
the McCarthy era or the life of the fascinatingly complex Elia Kazan

Detailed Critic's Analysis
I've been fascinated by Kazan since the Ed Harris/Nick Nolte boycott of his 1999 Oscar.Why, 50 years later, would people still hold a grudge for naming names?Is it politics, animosity or stupidity?

But first, this book gives a complete chronological analysis of his career.From his low level involvement with "The Group", a self-contained theater group with strong communist influences, to his first movie directorial debut.Kazan started as an undistinguished worker and grew to an "actor's director".This is overlaid with his involvement as a Communist and early disenchantment.Later, he is called before the committee after his great success and names former stage communists with whom he worked.The initial negative input dies down and he goes on to some of his best work including the classic, "On the Waterfront".

This book will have great appeal for movie and stage historians as it really is it is an in-depth analysis.But the main appeal to me was understanding the hysteria of the Red scare and why 50 years later it would elicit such a negative response.This book demonstrates the artists coming out of the depression influence when faith in capitalism weakened.The growth of fascism heightened the "sales pitch" to this new theory of a great life for all, communism.But, as was later proven, communism had weaknesses also causing many Americans to experiment with a form of government that was cruel and a rival of America.

It's impossible to determine how difficult it was for Kazan to name names.While he lost some friends, his career continued very successfully for some time before it faltered as it does for most in show business after a good run.But 50 years later an honor becomes a media event as modern day left-leaning actors chose to make this an issue.Interestingly, some actors such as Robert Di Nero, Martin Scorcese and Warren Beatty supported and honored Kazan.They had worked with him early in their career.I don't fault Nolte/Harris.In the prism of today's world, it's easy to ostracize a snitch.But the issue is much more complex than that.Our world was in turmoil.Decisions were made.Lives were changed on both sides. Kazan became an opponent of Communism but chose to focus on his career.Not naming names of known communists would have probably ruined his career.

In summary, this is an exhaustive critical study of his work. Frankly, the study is so exhaustive that that is the weakness.This book will be most appealing to true movie and stage history buffs.Also, those with a curiosity into the Red Scare and 1950s American history such as me will receive great information.Other than that, be forewarned this is a long time consuming educational book.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Literary Root Canal
Elia Kazan's "The Arrangement" came to me for a couple bucks @ the Friends of the Library sale.I was curious what the film director's novel would be.As a film director, Kazan adapted this into the 1969 film with Kirk Douglas as Eddie, Faye Dunaway as Gwen & Deborah Kerr as Florence.I may seek that out.

However, the book seemed tediously long to me.The main problem is that Eddie, the protagonist, is extremely unlikable.He is the quintessential self-centered man.The careless disregard for his wife's feelings, his lover's and his family's is incredible to read.(I kept hearing Daniel Day Lewis' voice from "There Will Be Blood" as I read Eddie.)Only briefly touched upon within the novel is spirituality, the need of man to identify with something bigger than himself to bring him happiness.So the seeds of destruction are everywhere in this novel.It is so completely abundant for 500 pages, but is it interesting?Not particularly.Tragic yes, but in the same way that people like to read about someone who does a horrific deed.We like to read about for several minutes, but who do we study in history?We tend to revere the examples of those who fought for a better world.Although Gwen was a fascinating character as were some of the supporting characters like Charles & Chet, I found myself repeatedly dragging myself to read another chapter with the assurance that if I kept on going, it would end.So I recommend "The Arrangement" like a literary root canal operation.It feels better when you're over it.Taxi!

A fabulous book about love, life, and being true to oneself
This very powerful book had themes reminiscent of many others. In a way it reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye, On the Road, and Narcissus and Goldmund, in that is was a man's search for his place in the world. In this book, however, the main character, Evangelos Arness, is looking for liberation and being true to himself. At the beginning of the book, he is a a financially successful ad man who has a 'respectable' and 'comfortable' life, but he realizes, somewhere between women and unconcious suicide attempts, that he is nothing that he set out to be. So, he sets out on a journey to burn down what he had become and rebuild what he wanted to be. His trip to liberation is dark, often humorous, and sometimes sad, taking him through his past, his family, and insanity. This is the kind of book, much like the ones I named above, that becomes a part of you.

you indentify easely with the protagonist
The main character in this book is in the middle of a " middle-life crisis ", he struggles between what he has, and what he has dreamed of. The characters are so real and you identify yourself easely with themain character. I am reading this book now, ... I have read it before withthe same passion and books like this one make you think and you can't stopreading it. Sometimes the whole night !read it send your comments togabs_goldberg@hotmail.com

you indentify easely with the protagonist
The main character in this book is in the middle of a " middle-life crisis ", he struggles between what he has, and what he has dreamed of. The characters are so real and you identify yourself easely with themain character. I am reading this book now, ... I have read it before withthe same passion and books like this one make you think and you can't stopreading it. Sometimes the whole night !read it send your comments togabs_goldberg@hotmail.com

the best novel I have ever read and I read a lot!
kazan's personal experience is related to the reader in a very funny novel form.Many insights into the absurd arrangements we humans make with our mates.highly recommended because of content and funny dialogue! ... Read more

Product Description
In the sequel to America America and The Anatolian, Stavros Topouzoglou prepares to return to his homeland in 1919, as Greece prepares to reclaim Anatolia from the Turks. 17,500 first printing. ... Read more

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary.Chapters: On the Waterfront, Gentleman's Agreement, America, America, Viva Zapata!, Wild River, a Streetcar Named Desire, Panic in the Streets, a Face in the Crowd, East of Eden, Splendor in the Grass, Boomerang, Pinky, a Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Baby Doll, Man on a Tightrope, the Last Tycoon, the Sea of Grass, the Arrangement, the Visitors. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 89. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1951 film adaptation of the play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. It was directed by Elia Kazan, who had also directed the original stage production, and stars Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden; all but Leigh were chosen from the Broadway cast of the play, while Leigh had starred in the London West End production. It was produced by talent agent and lawyer Charles K. Feldman, and released by Warner Bros. The screenplay was written by Williams himself and Oscar Saul, but had many revisions to remove references to homosexuality, among other things. As in the play, the film presents Blanche DuBois (Leigh), a fading but nevertheless attractive Southern belle whose pretensions to virtue and culture only thinly mask delusions of grandeur and alcoholism. Her poise is an illusion she presents to shield others, and most of all herself, from her reality, in an attempt to make herself still attractive to new male suitors. Blanche arrives from her hometown of Auriol, Mississippi (changed from Laurel in the play) at the apartment of her sister, Stella Kowalski (Hunter), in the Faubourg Marigny of New Orleans, on Elysian Fields Avenue; the local transportation she takes to arrive there includes a streetcar route named "Desire." The steamy, urban ambiance is a shock to Blanche's nerves. Explaining that her a...http://booksllc.net/?id=3367826 ... Read more

Product Description
THE UNDERSTUDY swirls through a wealth of environments: the Broadway stage, a mind-blown safari in east Africa, a Hollywood film studio, a closing-night cast party in Boston, New York's underworld and its straight analog, the television industry.

Drawing on his experience as a director, Elia Kazan enhances the meaning of "arrangement" to encompass the sexual accommodations most people live by...and lie about.

Kazan's films have become classics. VIVA ZAPATA!, EAST OF EDEN and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE secured his reputation, and he won Academy Awards for GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT and ON THE WATERFRONT. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Entertaining novel
Kazan draws from his own life and experiences in this entertaining novel set in the wilds of Broadway and Africa.He is a good writer who knows how to propel the story forward.If you read his autobiography before this novel, you'll recognize some of the scenarios.I am always impressed by Kazan's ability to critically self-analyze his motivations (both in his autobiography and in the novel's main character).This was the first of Kazan's novels that I read and I am going to read "The Arrangement" next.

In his writing, I perceive a man striving for honesty and self-understanding.From a review standpoint, the book is fast-paced and rates 4 stars.If it had been more tightly edited in some sections, it would have rated 5 stars.Nevertheless, the two main characters are strongly drawn and unforgettable.

An enthralling Book
This is a great book about 50's Broadway. I would highly recommend getting this book for your library. Kazan is a wonderful author who is able to paint amazing characters and amazing scenes into each page of his books. The Understudy is one of his best books along with Assassins; I would highly recommend this book.

An enthralling Book
This is a great book about 50's Broadway. I would highly recommend getting this book for your library. Kazan is a wonderful author who is able to paint amazing characters and amazing scenes into each page of his books. The Understudy is one of his best books along with Assassins; I would highly recommend this book. ... Read more

Product Description
THE UNDERSTUDY swirls through a wealth of environments: the Broadway stage, a mind-blown safari in east Africa, a Hollywood film studio, a closing-night cast party in Boston, New York's underworld and its straight analog, the television industry.

Drawing on his experience as a director, Elia Kazan enhances the meaning of "arrangement" to encompass the sexual accommodations most people live by...and lie about.

Kazan's films have become classics. VIVA ZAPATA!, EAST OF EDEN and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE secured his reputation, and he won Academy Awards for GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT and ON THE WATERFRONT. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Entertaining novel
Kazan draws from his own life and experiences in this entertaining novel set in the wilds of Broadway and Africa.He is a good writer who knows how to propel the story forward.If you read his autobiography before this novel, you'll recognize some of the scenarios.I am always impressed by Kazan's ability to critically self-analyze his motivations (both in his autobiography and in the novel's main character).This was the first of Kazan's novels that I read and I am going to read "The Arrangement" next.

In his writing, I perceive a man striving for honesty and self-understanding.From a review standpoint, the book is fast-paced and rates 4 stars.If it had been more tightly edited in some sections, it would have rated 5 stars.Nevertheless, the two main characters are strongly drawn and unforgettable.

An enthralling Book
This is a great book about 50's Broadway. I would highly recommend getting this book for your library. Kazan is a wonderful author who is able to paint amazing characters and amazing scenes into each page of his books. The Understudy is one of his best books along with Assassins; I would highly recommend this book.

An enthralling Book
This is a great book about 50's Broadway. I would highly recommend getting this book for your library. Kazan is a wonderful author who is able to paint amazing characters and amazing scenes into each page of his books. The Understudy is one of his best books along with Assassins; I would highly recommend this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Needs editing
The other reviewers are quite complimentary, but I thought that the book rambled.The message was clear after the first two hundred pages or so.It is an important message, but was all the information about his father central to the point that we all make accommodations to survive? Also, is it realistic to assume that the narrator has become liberated at the end or is he simply bound to create and accrue other arrangements?

The book seemed like a 250 page book extended to 500 pages.Interesting references to the narrator's Communist activities. They seemed like gratuitous inclusions until I was told about the author's past with the McCarthy hearings. ... Read more

Product Description
An account of the work of 1950s' Hollywood film director Elia Kazan who inaugurated a new age of screen acting, based on the New York Method school, which brought a powerful emotionalism to American films. Kazan's films deal with the problems that beset American society and include On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire and East of Eden. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Dreams, dreams, dreams....
"America, America" is a rael E. Kazan's masterpiece. It's a story about hope and obsessive dreams, an evocation of the immigration experience in the late 19 th century. "America, America" is a real history of the Kazan's family life. And as he said, of his love and passion to it. For Starvos, a young Greek, America was a land of dreams. Land of great freedom and opportunities. Having suffered persecution in Turkey, he wanted to find his own Eldorado, a place of happiness. The way to it was very long and difficult, not without severe obstacles. It's amazing how much a man can endure to achive what he wants. Pain, poverty and humiliation. He suffered it all. But Starvos'es dream of living in America never died. He never gave up. On his arrival in America, he could say as Caesare had said "vei, vidi, vici". But was he a real winner? Exceeding his limits he has changed. He becam another man. John, as he was called in America, began a new life, a life without Starvos. ... Read more

Product Description
Part Two Of Two Parts

This is Eddie Anderson's story. He's successful, well-off, with a nice home and an attentive wife. But he's restless. So he has a mistress, and now she wants to change that arrangement. How Eddie got in this mess and how he tries to get out is the story of this best-selling book.

Elia Kazan won two Academy Awards for directing before turning to writing.

"THE ARRANGEMENT is about those 'arrangements' by which we live, in marriage, out of marriage, between marriages. It is an earth-shaking book and the earth it shakes is the plot on which we're standing." (Publisher's Source) ... Read more

Product Description
This is a book-length study of the collaboration between Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan. Their intense creative relationship, fuelled by a deep personal affinity that endured until Williams's death, lasted from 1947 until 1960. The production of A Streetcar Named Desire established Williams as America's greatest playwright and Kazan as its most important director; together they created some of the most influential theatrical events of the post-war era. In this book Brenda Murphy analyses this artistic partnership and the plays and theatrical techniques the artists developed collaboratively in their productions of A Streetcar Named Desire, Camino Real, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Sweet Bird of Youth. In addition, Murphy suggests alternative ways to examine the working relationship between playwright and director which can be applied to other practitioners in twentieth-century drama. The book contains numerous illustrations from important productions. ... Read more