First Impressions: Observations on Theater and Books

About the Book

First Impressions: Observations on Theater and Books is a selection of the author’s previous writing for periodicals, chiefly during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, when he was starting out as a commentator on the arts. The period coincides with the escalation of the Viet Nam war and the emergence of the counter culture—events dealt with in part. But its scope is wide; in its sharpness, clarity, and zestful versatility, the book has a certain kinship with Edmund Wilson. One section is new and written expressly for this volume—a memoir-essay on Judith Malina and Julian Beck of The Living Theatre and their at times bizarre avant-garde world, as it was observed by the author in the 1950’s when he was new to New York and still in his teens.

About the Author

Robert Emmet Long is a nationally recognized interpreter of British and American literature, who also writes on the performing arts—both theater and films. He was born in Oswego, New York; and received his B. A. and Ph. D. degrees from Columbia University. A former college teacher, he now devotes himself wholly to writing. His articles and reviews in national magazines and newspapers—such as The Christian Science Monitor, the Saturday Review, and The Nation—number in the hundreds. His books include critical studies of Henry James, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, with subjects in the performing arts ranging from Ingmar Bergman and Merchant Ivory to Jerome Robbins and Broadway’s great choreographer-directors.