Bruce Jay Friedman

American comic author whose dark, mocking humor and social criticism was directed at the concerns and behavior of American Jews.

After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1951 with a B.A. in journalism and serving in the U.S. Air Force for two years, Friedman worked in publishing for several years before achieving success with his first novel, Stern (1962). The title character is a luckless descendant of the biblical Job, unable to assimilate into mainstream American life. Virtually all of Friedman’s works are a variation on this theme; most of his characters are Jewish by birth, but they feel alienated from both Jewish and American culture. His works are also noted for focusing on absurd characters and situations.

Books in order of publication:

Stern	1962
Far From the City of Class	1963
A Mother’s Kisses	1965
Black Humor	1965
Black Angels	1966
A Change of Plan	1966
The Dick	1970
Steambath; a play	1971
About Harry Towns	1974
The Lonely Guy’s Book of Life	1978
Tokyo Woes	1985
Let’s Hear It for a Beautiful Guy	1985
The Collected Short Fiction of Bruce Jay Friedman	1995
The Slightly Older Guy	1995
A Father’s Kisses	1996
Hampton Shorts: Fiction Plus from the East End	1996
Scuba Duba	1998
Even the Rhinos Were Nymphos: Best Nonfiction	2000
The Current Climate	2000
The Lonely Guy and the Slightly Older Guy	2001
Violencia!: A Musical Novel	2001
Sexual Pensees	2006
Three Balconies: Stories and a Novella	2008
She Wasn’t the One (An Essay from Things I’ve Learned From Women Who’ve Dumped Me)	2008
Lucky Bruce: A Literary Memoir	2011
3.1 Plays	2012
The Peace Process: A Novella and Stories	2015