Karen Fray

English 112B

11/30/05

Annotated Bibliography of Paul Zindel        

 

 

The World of Paul Zindel

 

            Paul Zindel is a classic example of a renaissance man, starting out as a high school chemistry teacher and finishing his life as an acclaimed writer.  His works are diverse in their scope.  He has written screenplays, plays and many books, which capture his quirky personality.  Most of Zindel�s books are for the young adult audience and semi-autobiographical, featuring regular teenagers as the protagonists.

Biography

Paul Zindel was born in Staten Island, New York in 1936 and is second generation Dutch on his father�s side and Irish on his mother�s side.  His father was a police officer who left the family for a woman he met while on duty.  Paul rarely had contact with his father after he left.

His mother, Beatrice Mary Frank Zindel held many jobs trying to support her family and they moved about once a year, leaving Zindel feeling rootless and always an outsider.  Mrs. Zindel was paranoid, depressed and she felt she got a bad deal in life.  Her professions were hat check girl, collie breeder, riveter in a shipyard during World War II and nurse.  As an adult, Zindel wished he had been able to provide a better life for his mother, especially after he had achieved success with his writing.

Zindel contracted tuberculosis at age 15 and spent 18 months in a sanatorium in upstate New York, which caused him to miss a year of high school.  He had a job as a waiter at a resort on Lake George New York.  The book The Amazing and Death Defying Diary of Eugene Dingman chronicles his experiences there.

            Mr. Zindel married Bonnie Hildebrand, a novelist, in 1973 and had two children, David and Lizabeth.  They were divorced in 1998.  Paul Zindel died in 2003 of cancer.

College and Careers

Zindel did not like to read, when asked to do a reading assignment he would look for the thinnest book in the library.  There were no books in the Zindel home and he acknowledged that he writes for reluctant readers.  He attended Wagner College in Staten Island and graduated in 1958 with a degree in Chemistry.  Playwright Edward Albee was his professor at Wagner and encouraged him to explore his talent for drama.        Zindel became a technical writer for Allied Chemical, enabling him to combine his passions: writing and chemistry.  He grew bored and returned to college for his teaching credential to teach high school chemistry.  He spent his summers writing plays, took a leave of absence from teaching, and finally quit teaching to devote himself to writing fulltime. 

His big break came from children�s writer and editor, Charlotte Zolotow, he said of her, �She got me to write my first novel, The Pigman.  She brought me into an area that I never explored before: my own confused, funny, aching teenage days.�

Taken from My Biography by Paul Zindel(for Scholastic)

http://www.paulzindel.com/finalpages/BIO/biobypz.htm

 

Reality into Fiction

One of Paul Zindel�s character-patterns is a male and female couple who often have a platonic, but spiritually and emotionally intimate relationship.  He bases many of his female characters on Jennifer, his real life friend and confidante, in his autobiographical The Pigman and Me and on his sister, Betty.

Zindel fills his works with concepts with which teens can identify.  Low self-esteem, isolation, and loneliness are just some of the feelings with which many of Zindel�s characters contend.  The social problems that Zindel features are those that most teens can understand: being different, single parent families and lack of self-confidence.  Because he was moved around so much during his teen years, Zindel creates characters who likewise feel out of the mainstream.  Zindel�s plots and characters are based on his insights and observations garnered while teaching high school in Staten Island.

�Teenagers feel they are misfits.  They�re at an age when they should feel out of place.  It�s a natural condition.  I know it�s a continuing battle to get through the years between twelve and twenty, so I always write from the teenager�s point of view.

 

Taken from A Star for the Latecomer.  By Bonnie Zindel and Paul Zindel.1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1980, comments at the end of the book.

 

Paul Zindel injects Pigman-like male figures into his stories to provide the male adult role model that was absent in his own family.  Zindel provides a sense of hope where there is none inside a teenager�s mind by including these mentoring figures in his stories.  His language is that of a teenager.  The narrative is often in a conversational style, with clever uses of hyperbole. His book titles are humorous.

The parents in his books are flawed, but not portrayed as monsters.  In many cases, the �Paul� protagonist faults his parents, yet has sympathy for them and their plight.  In his own life, for example, he felt sorry for his mother who was not a positive role model for him and acknowledged that his father�s desertion and adultery were big contributors to her misery, which she shared with her children.  Using his books in class would help teens understand that their parents as humans as well as parents.

Beatrice Zindel, Paul�s mother played a huge part in Zindel�s writing.  However, her influence did not come in encouragement or support.  In fact, it was quite the reverse; Paul used his writing to escape his grim life with his depressed mother.  The prototypes for the many of the mothers in his books are based on his real, domineering mother.

Zindel on His Works

 �I can�t help being reminded of my favorite theory:  We all, most basically, create and tell stories to solve problems.  We conjure all sorts of strange characters, march them into frantic conflict with each other, and at the end of the battle hope we�ve learned something.  It�s important, too, that those who read and hear our stories find answers for their own lives.  We look for insights, epiphanies that shed light on humanness, tolerance, anguish, and compassion.  We want to glimpse who we really are and understand why we�re on this planet.  And, of course, we writers write in dreamlike codes, do anything to throw our readers off the track, praying no one will catch on that we are putting on display little pieces or our joys, our fears, and our hearts.�

 

Taken from The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds; A Drama in Two Acts. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1970.

 

Works

The Amazing and Death Defying Diary of Eugene Dingman. 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1987.

Eugene Dingman is a sensitive and na�ve fifteen-year-old living in Bayonne, New Jersey (just a sulfuric-kissed breeze from the usual Staten Island setting of Zindel�s books.)  On his fifteenth birthday, Eugene gets a job as a waiter in an upstate New York lakeside resort.  Eugene�s family is composed of his mother, who is on a self-help kick and his sister, Penelope his best friend who is modeled after Zindel�s sister, Betty.  His mother rents out their basement to Mr. Mayo and eventually they become engaged.  As in his real life, Zindel gives Eugene a police officer father who severs all ties with his family after he abandons them for another woman.  Eugene falls in love with fellow staff member Della, a liar of dubious moral character.  Eugene makes friends with the much older Mahatma, a fellow waiter who becomes his mentor.  Mahatma is a slight variation of the Pigman characters in previous books.  The ethnic difference underscores that �your pigman� can be in the form of anyone.  Eugene is deeply affected by the rejection he receives from Della and his father, however, is accepted, unconditionally, by Mahatma .


Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball!  1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1976

The novel centers around two main characters, Louis �Marsh� Mellow and Edna Shinglebox.  They both are considered strange by their peers.  They are required to take one of their classes as GTE (Group Therapy Experience), led by the school psychiatrist.  Marsh carries around a baby squirrel in his pocket at all times.  His mother is a man-hating drunk whom he calls �Schizo Susie.�  He carries letters laced with paranoia from his father, giving dad the name of �Paranoid Pete.�  He wants to break his father out of �The Neurological Hospital for the Insane and Crazy� in California.  Edna�s mother is another one of Zindel�s hypercritical and demeaning mothers.  Zindel also continues his pattern of boy-girl friendships that are strong, meaningful, and mutually consoling.  Eventually, the truth is learned about Marsh�s father and the two can become true friends.  This is one of his darker novels.  It had less humor and dealt with more serious issues than many of his other books.  He continues with his tradition of real teens experiencing real situations like depression, drinking, social pressures, alienation, and having less than perfect parents.

                                                      

My Darling, My Hamburger New York: Harper & Row, 1969

The book�s title is a jab at advice that teenage girls got in a sex-education class.  Responding to a question about what to do when girls they feel a sexual situation is �going too far�, their na�ve teacher tells the girls to suggest to their boyfriends that they should go and get a hamburger instead.  Popular seniors Liz and Sean are a couple coping with their emerging sexuality.  Sean is a serious and principled, but he is still a teenaged boy; Liz is shallow and impetuous.  They come from middle-class parents, who are social climbers.  The less popular Maggie is Liz�s best friend and they communicate with notes during school.  Dennis is Maggie�s first boyfriend and they find comfort in each other and ease each other�s insecurities.  They both come from solid families.  The two couples are friends, but when Liz becomes pregnant, things start to unravel.  Liz gets an illegal abortion in New Jersey--with Maggie along for support--on their senior prom night.  After the abortion, nothing is the same and the four go their separate ways.  My Darling, My Hamburger has dated content as far as the illegal abortion.  However, the hardship of a high school pregnancy can occur in any decade.  Zindel illustrates that teens have choices and with choices, there are consequences.  He includes memos from school and notes from the girls in their handwriting to give a realistic feeling.  This book has appeared on the banned books list for the sexual and abortion content.

 

The Pigman 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.

The Pigman was first of the two Pigman books.  John Conlan and Lorraine Jensen take turns narrating every other chapter, often making remarks about each other.  John is a good-hearted, but slightly �bad boy� for drinking, smoking, and cursing.  Lorraine is a sensitive good girl.  They and some friends decide to pass the time making crank phone calls.  John and Lorraine pretend to be a charity to get Angelo Pignati (the Pigman) to donate money.  Lorraine has qualms right away, but John does not; both fall under Pignati�s spell when they meet him.  Mr. Pignati treats them as friends and gives them the love and respect they do not receive from their own families.  He shows them his eclectic collection of pig figurines and introduces them to exotic delicacies.  Disaster occurs when the two decide to have a party and it gets out of hand.  The two will never be the same again.  They are tinged with guilt and grief about Pignati�s death feeling that they were the cause of it.  This book was considered �dangerous� because it features �liars, cheaters, and stealers.�  In the1990s, it made the list of most frequently banned books.

 

The Pigman's Legacy 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1980.

John Conlan and Lorraine Jensen return in the The Pigman's Legacy.  The two teens are devastated with guilt about the death of their �Pigman�, Mr. Pignati.  While passing the vacant Pignati house, they are sure they see his ghost.  Upon investigation, they discover a frail, but cantankerous, old man who claims to be Gus.  In reality, �Gus� is a former award-winning designer of subways around the world.  They refer to him as the Colonel, not Gus, who turns out to be the Colonel�s dog.  He is an Internal Revenue Service fugitive and is destitute.  Feisty Dolly Racinski, the student-abused custodian, is introduced to the Colonel and they become friends.  The four take a trip to Atlantic City, which ends badly.  John and Lorraine are again dealing with death and guilt.  This book is a commentary on loneliness, the plight of the elderly poor in the United States, and the dangers of compulsive gambling.

The Pigman and Me 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1992.

Mom is the man-hating, get-rich-quick-scheming mother of Paul and Betty who derives no pleasure from life.  Beatrice Zindel meets the recently deserted Connie Vivona, who reveals that she has $800 in the bank, which Mrs. Zindel talks her into putting most of that down on a house for them to co-own.  Paul meets The Pigman�Mr. Vivona or Nonno Frankie�Connies� father.  Nonno Frankie and Paul become good friends.  Paul is suddenly exposed to a lively and loving Italian family.  Mr. Vivona becomes Paul�s confidant and the parent he never had.  He shares his outlook on life, complete with advice.  Paul befriends Jennifer, who refers to her parents as Zombies, because of their age and is despondent over the prospect of remaining in Travis and marrying a Travis boy.  Their retreat is the huge apple tree on the Zindel property.  Mrs. Zindel gets fed-up once again with her living situation--Connie�s dating and sex talk with Betty is the catalyst for her outrage.  Once more, the Zindels pack up their car and move away, with high hopes from mom.  Once more Paul is without a positive adult role model.  Nonno Frankie leaves Paul with self-confidence and hope he would have never gotten otherwise and most of all, the inspiration to become a writer! 

 

A Begonia for Miss Applebaum 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1989.

Miss Applebaum is Zindel�s female version of the Pigman.  Henry and Zelda are two friends living in New York.  As in two of the Pigman books, they take turns narrating the chapters, also interjecting comments about the other.  Henry regards his parents as self-absorbed and cold and describes his conception as �the eighth wonder of the world.� (22)  Zelda feels that Henry is too harsh on his parents.  Zelda adores her family and is sympathetic about her mom's insecurity about her looks.  After their beloved science teacher has retired, Henry and Zelda visit her with a begonia and learn that Mrs. Applebaum is seriously ill.  Miss Applebaum shares her zest for life with the teens and shows them magical places in New York City.  She feeds homeless people in the park and while in the hospital, instructs the teens to carry on for her.  A Begonia for Miss Applebaum brings up the subjects of homelessness and charity, quality of life, illness, and death.

 

Confessions of a Teenage Baboon 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.

Chris Boyd is a misfit who, once again, is moving with Helen, his pilfering practical care nurse mother, into the home of a patient.  Chris�s father left the family and �went to Mexico where he died from an overdose of amoebas.� (6)  They find themselves in the Dipardi home, in Staten Island, NY, their new, but temporary home.  Also in the home are Mr. Dipardi, who is left mentally deficient after his stroke and Lloyd, their 30-year old son.  Lloyd is a hard-drinking shipyard worker who surrounds himself with teenagers.  He is harsh with Chris, but in Chris, Lloyd sees himself: a teen also beaten down by his mother and needing the counsel of a male adult figure in his life.  Lloyd can see how destructive Helen is and that Chris is in danger of becoming what he feels he has become--a loser.  During one of his regular teen-filled parties, Lloyd slaps Harold, another boy whom Lloyd mentors, and things fall apart.  Helen calls the police on Lloyd.  In quick succession, Chris witnesses Lloyd�s beating by the police, the death of Mrs. Dipardi, and the suicide of Lloyd.  This book highlights the migrant lifestyle that the author experienced and emphasizes the consequences of rootlessness, such as going to multiple high schools, not developing any friends and causing Chris/Paul always to feel like an outsider.

 

A Star for the Latecomer  By Bonnie Zindel and Paul Zindel.1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1980.

One of the least humorous of Zindel�s books, co-written with his wife, tells of a girl�s drive to succeed in show business before the death of her mother.  Brooke Hillary loves her mother and is shattered to learn of her cancer. Brooke is heartbroken by her mom�s increasing debility from the illness.  She attends a performing arts high school in New York City and commutes daily from Long Island.  Her mother is portrayed as a loving, but pressuring mom who uses her sickness to coerce her daughter into success before her death.  Brooke�s first love and schoolmate, Brandon is lost to her when he achieves success in Hollywood.  After her mother dies, Brooke removes her mandatory makeup mask and sees the real girl she is.  Good for discussion are the topics of the death of a parent, parents who push their children into success that they could not realize, and how much of one�s life should be sacrificed for fame and fortune.


Plays

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds; A Drama in Two Acts. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1970.

This was a Pulitzer Prize winner.  Two daughters, Ruth and Matilda Hunsdorfer endure their mother, her idiosyncrasies, and the parade of elderly and dying boarders in their home.  Ruth is the older and louder daughter who suffers seizures and horrendous nightmares about the various people left in their care.  Matilda is the sensitive and intellectual daughter whose passion for science is an annoyance to Beatrice, the mom.  Beatrice is the mother who is disgusted by life and the desertion of her husband.  Zindel�s inspiration for both Ruth and Matilda were his sister Betty (Zindel, vii).

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/zindelbib.htm

 

Screenplays

The Effect of Marigolds on Man-in-the-Moon-Marigolds

From the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Paul Zindel, this is the story of Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters, Ruth and Matilda.  A middle-aged widowed eccentric, Beatrice is looking for her life in the classified ads while all about her is the rubble of an unkempt house.  All she needs is the right opportunity, she says, puffing on a cigarette.  Ruth, epileptic and making her way through the rebellious phase of adolescence, seems doomed to make the same mistakes as her mother.  Quiet Matilda, on the other hand, seeks refuge in her animals and her schoolwork.  The title of the film is the subject of Matilda's science project at school and serves as a metaphor for the way life effects each of us differently -- how some are able to find opportunity in adversity and thrive and how some succumb when the burden becomes too heavy.  

Taken from http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0068528/

 

About Paul Zindel

Forman, Jack Jacob. Presenting Paul Zindel. Boston: Twayne, 1988.

Some biography and literary criticism.

Taken from Internet School Library Media Center Paul Zindel bibliography.

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/zindelbib.htm