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| Mitch
Albom: the influence of his life on his works
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Contents
1. Introduction
2. Mitch Albom’s biography
3. Mitch Albom’s main works
4. Conclusion
5. Bibliography
Introduction
The process of writing is very complicated and it is always
interesting to know what make people write, what inspire them
and what influence their writing. Obviously, a good writer
is very dependable on his/her inspiration but this notion
seems to be quite abstract and often it is possible to trace
the impact of much more trivial things influencing a writer’s
work. As a rule a writer’s life is the main source for
inspiration and probably the most influential factor which
defines literary his/her works. In fact, in many cases it
is possible to say that literary work of a writer is the reflection
of his/her life and events that occurred in it which produced
a significant impact on the writer’s personality, his
views and beliefs as it happened to Mitch Albom, an outstanding
contemporary writer, whose life experience is reflected in
such works of his as “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”,
“Tuesdays with Morrie”, “Fab Five”.
Mitch Albom’s biography
Mitch Albom is a contemporary American writer, who is also
well known as a gifted sport reporter. He was born in New
Jersey in 1958 but he was raised in Philadelphia where he
spend most of his youth. In 1979 he graduated from Brandeis
University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree and
where he got acquainted with his professor Morrie Sachwartz,
the main character of “Tuesdays with Morrie”,
one of the main works of the writer. Later he graduated from
Columbia University and earned the Master degrees in Journalism
and Business Administration.
However, “before entering the world of journalism, he
was an amateur boxer and nightclub singer and pianist”
(Blackburn 2001:139). For over 10 years he has been one of
the most respected sportswriters and commentators. As a sport
journalist he wrote articles for such newspapers as the Philadelphia
Inquirer and the Detroit Free Press where he worked since
1985 “until his reunion with Morrie in 1995” (Blackburn
2001:191). Albom also has his own nationally syndicated radio
show, Monday Sports Albom. The author has won many awards,
among which may be named awards from AP, UPI, Headliners Club,
and the National Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association
(Blackburn). His works has appeared in numerous national and
international publications.
As for his literary career, it should be said that he is the
author of eight books, including “Live Albom I”
(1987), “Live Albom II” (1990), “Live Albom
III” (1992), “Live Albom IV” (1995), “Bo”,
the autobiography of Bo Schembechler co-written with Schembechler,
“Fab Five”. But the work that has made him really
popular is “Tuesdays with Morrie” that “propelled
Albom to literary superstardom” (Stewart 2000:215) as
well as his latest work “The Five People You Meet in
Heaven”, which is to a significant extent autobiographical.
At the same time, it should be pointed out practically all
of his works are based on his own life experience and depicts
the life of the author and his thoughts as well as of those
people he new well and respected a lot.
Mitch Albom’s main works
Speaking about works written by Mitch Albom, it is necessary
to say that though they are not very numerous they are still
quite interesting and noteworthy because they are closely
related to the real life and author’s personal experience
and feelings. In fact they make a reader feel as if the author
involves him/her in his own life and reveals his feelings
and thoughts that disturb his as well as he raises problems
he is particularly concerned about.
Probably, it would be better to start with a work that has
brought him nationwide fame, “Tusedays with Morrie”,
which is as tragic and complicated as the real life only can
be. In this work the author recalls how the political controversies
of 1970s affected his and Morries years at Brandeis University.
Following the national withdrawal from the Vietnam War in
1973, and former president Nixon resignation from office in
1974, the Brandeis campus, as many other college campuses
nationwide, was “a hot bed for political debate and
protest” (Bokenkamp 1999:304). Continuing the thread
of racial tension in “Tuesdays with Morrie” is
a story Morrie tells about an incident in which he had acted
as a “negotiator between the university president and
a group of black students who felt that they were being oppressed
by the school administration” (Bokenkamp 1999:311).
In fact the book is based on the conversations of the author
with his of Lou Gehrig’s disease. The novel is an emotional
portrait of a life lived and a guide to how the life should
be lived. Within the book Mitch Albom realizes that he lived
his life in vain and he looks for meaning of life in conversations
with his professor, Morrie Schwartz, which being extremely
close to death he teaches the author what is the meaning of
life. Morrie teaches him “to reject the corrupt mores
endorsed by popular culture in favor of personal, ethical
system of values” (Baye 2002:284). In such a way Morrie
rebels against popular cultural norms and appeals to higher
moral values.
To a certain extent similar to Morrie, is Albom’s brother,
Peter, who suffers from cancer and, being separated from the
rest of the family does not want to re-establish normal relations
with Mitch and other members of the family. But Mitch has
learned the Morrie’s principle: “love or perish”
and “despite his fierce independence and refusal of
help, Peter also needs the love of friends and family to survive
his cancer” (Bokenkamp 1999:335). In such a way the
author indicates what an influence his acquaintance with Morrie
Schwartz has produced on his entire life, his views and moral
values. At this respect the book seems to be a kind of confession
which tends to teach other people what their life should be
on the basis of his own life experience.
The latest novel “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”
is also based on Albom’s life experience and is significantly
influenced by the circumstances of his life and its political
and social trends. The book centres on an 83-year-old wounded
war veteran who is killed in a tragic accident. He soon discovers
that heaven “isn’t merely a destination but a
place where five people help the deceased understand the significance
and value of their life on earth” (Baye 2002:399). The
main character of the book, Eddie also looks for the meaning
of life for he feels trapped in a meaningless life of fixing
rides at a seaside amusement park. Quite symbolically he sacrifice
his life for the sake of a girl’s life which he attempts
to save from a falling cart. On the heaven he meets five people
that have changed his life forever and who explain his life
for him. One by one, Eddie’s five people “illuminate
the unseen connections of his earthly life” (Baye 2002:317).
Gradually he learns about the interrelationship of all lives,
about sacrifice, the everlasting value of love, the poisonness
of lingering anger and, finally, how his daily routine had
in fact fulfilled his life’s intended purpose of keeping
Ruby Pier’s rides safe, and a source of joy, for generations
of children.
Obviously the main point of the story is to assist those like
Eddie in the book and Albom’s real-life uncle, also
named Eddie (to whom the book is dedicated), who feel their
life unimportant, to realize that their lives really have
an importance. It can be said that “the value of his
fable-like story is the insights it imparts about life and
the meaning of sacrifice” (Baye 2002:356) especially,
concerning the people who came through a war as Eddie, both
fictional and real uncle, did.
As four “Fab Five”, it should be said that to
a certain extent the book is less moralistic as the two discussed
above, nonetheless it is not less influenced by the author
life experience. The book was written earlier than the two
analysed above and basically it is about Michigan University
basketball team known as fab five. The fab five were “a
group of players that were completely dominant players who
played in 1992-93 season” (Stewart 2000:381). Actually
it is quite natural that Albom, having a great experience
as a sportswriter and journalist turns to this team story.
Conclusion
Thus, taking into consideration all above mentioned, it is
possible to conclude that Mitch Albom, as any other writer,
used his life experience in his literary works. Moreover,
his books were based on his own life experience and some of
them, such as “Tuesdays with Morrie”, are to a
certain extent autobiographical. On analysing some of his
works, it is possible to say that all of them reflect the
author’s life, its political and social reality and
views and beliefs of the writer shaped under the influence
of the whole society and some special people in particular,
like Morrie. This is why, it is obvious that willingly or
not, or probably consciously or unconsciously, writers’
literary work is shaped by their life experience.
Bibliography:
1. Baye, H. (2002). Mitch Albom’s works. New York: Touchstone.
2. Blackburn, R. (2001). Mitch Albom: Biography. LA: Routledge.
3. Bokenkamp, S.R. (1999). Contemporary American Writers.
Berkley: University of California Press.
4. Stewart, L. (2000). Mitch Albom. New York: McGraw Hill.
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