author
Bruce Jay Friedman
1930–2020
Known for sharp, darkly funny writing, this American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter helped define modern black humor. His work moved easily between literature and film, mixing social satire with a very human sense of anxiety and absurdity.
1 Audiobook
Stern
by Bruce Jay Friedman
About the author
Born in New York City on April 26, 1930, and raised in the Bronx, Bruce Jay Friedman became one of the distinctive comic voices of postwar American writing. He wrote novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays, and was especially admired for turning discomfort, embarrassment, and social tension into funny, unsettling art.
He is often linked with modern American black humor, and his 1965 anthology Black Humor helped give that style a name for many readers. Among his best-known books are Stern and A Mother's Kisses, while his screen work included Splash, which brought him an Academy Award nomination.
Friedman died in Brooklyn on June 3, 2020. He remains remembered as a versatile writer whose work captured the nerves, contradictions, and comedy of American life with wit that could be both biting and deeply sympathetic.