Alice Goodman

Alice Goodman
source
Name	Alice Goodman
Birth date	1958
Occupation	Poet, librettist, translator, scholar
Alma mater	Harvard University, University of Cambridge, Oxford University
Notable works	"The Hours" (libretto), "Tobias and the Angel" (libretto)

Alice Goodman is an American poet, librettist, translator, and academic whose work spans poetry, opera, and medieval studies. She is best known for librettos created for prominent composers and for translations and scholarship related to medieval and Renaissance literature. Goodman has held academic positions and contributed to cultural institutions in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Early life and education

Goodman was born in the United States and raised in a milieu connected to prominent cultural and educational institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, and Stanford University. She pursued undergraduate studies at Harvard University and later studied at University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, where she engaged with scholars associated with Trinity College, Cambridge, King's College, Cambridge, Magdalen College, Oxford, and St John's College, Oxford. Her education intersected with traditions exemplified by figures from T. S. Eliot to Seamus Heaney and contexts including the literary circles around The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and The Paris Review.

Academic and professional career

Goodman’s academic appointments and fellowships have linked her to institutions such as University of Chicago, University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University, Brown University, and New York University. She has worked with libraries and archives like the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and the Library of Congress. Her academic interests connect to medievalists and Renaissance scholars connected with J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Jacques Le Goff, Caroline Walker Bynum, and Eamon Duffy. Goodman has contributed to editorial projects and collaborated with publishers including Faber and Faber, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Penguin Books.

Librettist work and collaborations

Goodman is notable for librettos written for composers associated with institutions such as the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and ensembles like the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her collaboration with composer Tobias Picker produced works performed by companies such as English National Opera and presenters including Aldeburgh Festival and Santa Fe Opera. She has worked with conductors and directors tied to Glyndebourne, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Goodman’s librettos often engage with texts and adaptations in conversation with dramatists and novelists connected to E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, James Joyce, and D. H. Lawrence.

Major publications and translations

Goodman’s poetry and translations have appeared alongside publications and journals such as The New Yorker, Poetry (magazine), The Times Literary Supplement, The London Review of Books, and The New York Review of Books. Her translations engage with medieval and Renaissance authors connected to Dante Alighieri, Geoffrey Chaucer, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio. She has published with presses and series affiliated with Faber and Faber, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Penguin Classics, and Norton Anthologies. Her scholarly essays intersect with research traditions represented by Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricoeur, Northrop Frye, and A. C. Bradley.

Personal life

Goodman’s life has involved intersections with cultural and religious communities and figures associated with Jewish community in the United Kingdom, Anglicanism, Catholic Church, and public intellectuals who have appeared on platforms like BBC Radio 4, NPR, The Guardian, The Times (London), and The New York Times. She has connections with artistic and academic networks that include poets, composers, librettists, and critics linked to W. H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, and Carol Ann Duffy.

Awards and recognition

Goodman’s work has been recognized by prizes and honors connected to organizations such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Pulitzer Prize (in contexts of music and literature), the Grammy Awards (in performance contexts), and arts councils including Arts Council England and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her librettos and translations have been acknowledged in festivals and prize contexts including the Laurence Olivier Awards, the Tony Awards (for theatrical collaborations), and competitions administered by institutions like the Royal Philharmonic Society and Royal Opera House>

Category:American librettists Category:American poets