Leslie Epstein, the novelist, essayist, and longtime writing professor, has died at 87, the New York Times reports.
Epstein, a Los Angeles native, was the son of Philip G. Epstein, the screenwriter who co-wrote the films Casablanca and Arsenic and Old Lace with this twin brother, Julius J. Epstein. Leslie Epstein was educated at Yale University and the University of California, Los Angeles.
He made his literary debut in 1975 with the novel P.D. Kimerakov and followed that up with more than 10 other books, including King of the Jews, Goldkorn Tales, Pandaemonium, Ice Fire Water, San Remo Drive, and The Eighth Wonder of the World.
He directed the creative writing program at Boston University for more than 30 years; his students included the authors Ha Jin (A Good Fall), Lisa Taddeo (Animal), Lili Anolik (Dark Rooms), and Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake).
In a remembrance on Boston University’s website, poet Robert Pinsky was quoted as saying, “Something I always admired about Leslie is—and I think I have this right—Leslie was always reading Marcel Proust.…He took pleasure in it and it was part of his daily life. Every evening he would reconfirm his faith in a certain kind of introspective, realistic writing. And that’s something I always admired about my colleague and friend.”
And Jin said, “He loved his students and was very dedicated to teaching. He often said that once he closed the classroom door, he forgot about everything else. He just enjoyed the time spent with his students.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
