Ornitz

Samuel Ornitz:
An "unsung pioneer of stream of consciousness", (Harvey Pekar)

Samuel Ornitz was one of the first authors to employ the stream of consciousness technique

before the publication of Joyce's Ulysses in 1922. Though Ornitz is more well known for his work

as a Hollywood screenwriter, he was one the earliest to experiment with the stream of consciousness

style. Much of Ornitz's work deals with political corruption, inequality and the poor.

In his first novel, Haunch, Paunch and Jowl, Orinitz discusses politics, crime, educational and

religious institutions and the labor movement in the Lower East Side of New York City. This is the

only Ornitz work still in print today. His second novel, A Yankee Passional is about "Catholic

Protestant antagonisms" and the United States' involvement in World War I, ("Joyce on a Mission"

by Harvey Pekar; see address below).

Ornitz was greatly influenced by turn of the century realists and naturalist such as Upton Sinclair

and Emile Zola. This influence, however, didn't stop Ornitz from utilizing "advanced prose

techniques".

By the time Ornitz had written A Yankee Passional, his work had become influenced by James

Joyce, the most celebrated writer of stream of consciousness. The complexity and pretentiousness

of Ornitz's work accelerated as Joyce's influence was absorbed.

During the 1930s and 40s, Ornitz was writing scripts in Hollywood for "mostly insignificant

movies". He joined the Screenwriter's Guild and worked for many "leftist causes". Ornitz was an

American Socialist and believed the the Communist party under Stalin was "a force for good". He

was convicted of contempt of Congress for standing up for his beliefs in 1947, and served a jail term.

Ornitz is a long forgotten author whose works were some of the first to employ the stream of

consciousness technique. Though most associate this technique with James Joyce, Ornitz, along with

Edouard Dujardin, James Oppenheim and many others, were also forerunners in the "evolution of the

American novel".

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