Wikipedia

Tuesdays with Morrie

This article is about the book. For the film, see Tuesdays with Morrie (film).

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life's Greatest Lesson is a 1997 memoir by American author Mitch Albom. The book is about a series of visits Albom made to his former Brandeis University sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, as Schwartz was dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).[1][2] Albom's subsequent memoir has been widely reviewed and has received critical attention after features by The Boston Globe and Nightline about Schwartz's dying.[1][3][4][5][6][not verified in body][clarification needed]

Tuesdays with Morrie
First edition
AuthorMitch Albom
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreBiographical, Philosophical novel, Memoir
PublisherDoubleday
Publication date
1997
Pages192[not verified in body]
ISBN0385484518
OCLC36130729
378.1/2/092 B 21[not verified in body]
LC ClassLD571.B418 S383 1997[not verified in body]

The book topped the New York Times Non-Fiction Bestsellers List for 23 combined weeks in 2000,[not verified in body] remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for several years, and was, as of 2006, the best selling memoir of all time.[2][better source needed][needs update]

Synopsis edit

Mitch Albom is a successful sports columnist. In 1995, Albom phones his former sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, after seeing him on Nightline afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Albom is prompted to visit Schwartz in Massachusetts where a coincidental newspaper strike allows Albom to visit Schwartz every week, on Tuesdays. The book, divided into 14 different days, recounts each of the fourteen visits Albom made to Schwartz. Each visit includes lectures from Morrie on life experiences with flashbacks and references to contemporary events. Schwartz's final days, ultimately, are spent giving Albom his final lesson of life.

Main characters edit

Mitch Albom edit

Main article: Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom was born in May 1958 in New Jersey.[citation needed] Originally, he was a pianist and wanted to pursue a life as a musician.[citation needed] Instead he became a journalist, and later an author, screenwriter, and television/radio broadcaster.[citation needed] In his college years, he met sociology professor Dr. Morrie Schwartz, who would later be the focal point of the memoir Tuesdays with Morrie.[citation needed]

Morrie Schwartz edit

Main article: Morrie Schwartz

Morrie Schwartz was a sociology professor at Brandeis University who was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, at the age of 77 in August 1994.[7] The son of Russian immigrants, Schwartz had a difficult childhood, indelibly marked by the death of his mother and his brother's infection with the polio virus.[citation needed] He later went on to work as a researcher in a mental hospital, where he learned about mental illness and how to have empathy and compassion for other people; later in life, he decided to become a sociology professor in hopes of putting his accumulated wisdom to use.[citation needed] This is where he met his student Mitch Albom, who would later become a lifelong friend.[citation needed] Schwartz was married to Charlotte Schwartz, with whom he had two children.[citation needed] After a long battle with ALS, Schwartz died on 4 November, 1995.[citation needed] His tombstone reads, "A teacher until the end."[citation needed]

The Boston Globe and Nightline antecedents edit

In March 1995, Jack Thomas of The Boston Globe wrote a piece on Schwartz, titled "A Professor's Final Course: His Own Death".[3][4] Ted Koppel became aware of the article, and a decision was made to conduct a series of interviews with Schwartz, which began later in March and which were then edited and presented on Nightline.[5][6][8][better source needed] It was through this program's airing that Schwartz's former student, Albom, was reminded of his old professor, leading Albom to reach out and reconnect.[8][better source needed]

Reception edit

Popular edit

Tuesdays with Morrie topped the New York Times Non-Fiction Bestsellers list for 23 combined weeks in 2000,[citation needed] and as of 2006[needs update] had remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for more than four years.[2][better source needed] In July 2006, Tuesdays with Morrie was the best selling memoir of all time.[2][better source needed]

Critical edit

Albom's book has been widely reviewed since its appearance in 1997.[1]

Popular culture edit

In Season 8, Episode 20 ("Something Something Darkside") of Family Guy, Peter Griffin, playing the character of Han Solo, is seen reading the book.

Publication history edit

Other editions edit

An unabridged audiobook was also published, narrated by Albom.[citation needed] The appendix of the audiobook contains several minutes of excerpts from audio recordings that Albom made during his conversations with Schwartz before writing the book.[citation needed]

A new edition with an afterword by Albom was released on the book's ten-year anniversary in 2007.[citation needed]

Adaptations edit

The book was adapted into a 1999 television film, directed by Mick Jackson and starring Hank Azaria and Jack Lemmon.[9]

The book was also adapted as a stage play, also titled Tuesdays with Morrie, that opened off-Broadway in November 2002 at the Minetta Lane Theatre. Co-written by Jeffrey Hatcher (Three Viewings[citation needed]) and Mitch Albom, directed by David Esbjornson (The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?[citation needed]), it starred stage veterans Alvin Epstein as Schwartz and Jon Tenney as Albom.[10] It received positive reviews.[verification needed][citation needed] An Off-Broadway revival of the play, starring Len Cariou as Morrie, will play at St. George's Episcopal Church from March 1 to 23, 2024.[11]

See also edit

Articles on other Albom books

References edit

  1. ^ a b c de Botton, Alain (November 23, 1997). "Continuing Ed" (book review). The New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2023. Who was Morris Schwartz, who died in 1995, and what did he have to say that Albom found so helpful? Schwartz came from a family of destitute Lower East Side Russian Jews and became a leading member of the Brandeis sociology faculty. He was a genial fellow, whom Albom describes as looking, in his commencement robes, like a cross between a biblical prophet and a Christmas elf. He loved to laugh and dance, he was irreverent toward those in authority and kind to the underprivileged. He was an inspiration to his students and a loving husband and family man. / Albom's book is divided into chapters that give us Schwartz's attitudes toward death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society, forgiveness and a meaningful life. The professor was not afraid of big statements: Love always wins, Money is not a substitute for tenderness, Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. One gets whiffs of Jesus, the Buddha, Epicurus, Montaigne and Erik Erikson. Schwartz's advice to Albom boils down to recommendations that he should work less, think more about his wife, give himself to others and remember he has to die. / Unfortunately, such true and sometimes touching pieces of advice don't add up to a very wise book. Though Albom insists that Schwartz's words have transformed him, it's hard to see why, to judge from the evidence in Tuesdays With Morrie. To be told that we should think more of love and less of money is no doubt correct, but it's hard to put such advice into practice unless it is accompanied by some understanding of why we ever did otherwise. Because Albom fails to achieve any real insight into his own previously less-than-exemplary life, it's difficult for the reader to trust in his spiritual transformation. Albom describes Schwartz's effect on others, including him, but never quite captures the effect itself. Despite the obvious charm and good nature of both author and subject, in the end, the exhortations fall flat. Just as a well-meaning statement like We should all live in peace doesn't help avert wars, Tuesdays with Morrie finally fails to enlighten.
  2. ^ a b c d DePauw Staff (July 20, 2006). "Bestselling Author of Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom, to Present Ubben Lecture November 13". DePauw News & Media. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Thomas, Jack (March 9, 1995). "A Professor's Final Course: His Own Death". BostonGlobe.com (Living section). Retrieved May 22, 2023. Note, the date presented in this reference is of that of the original publication, rather than the October 19, 2022 date of its republication from that newspaper's archive.
  4. ^ a b Harris, Richard (March 15, 2015). "Nearly 20 years After His Death, Morrie Schwartz Lives On". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Koppel Ted & Schwartz, Morrie (March 1995). Conversations with Morrie: Lessons on Living. Nightline. Retrieved May 22, 2023 – via YouTube.com. Note, the date presented in this reference is of that of the original event broadcast, though the specific date on a Friday is unknown; it is not the October 1, 2016 presentation date for the video at YouTube. As a non-standard and non-original source lacking that original dating, this citation should be replaced with an authentic video from ABC News.
  6. ^ a b Koppel, Ted & Albom, Mitch (July 14, 1998). Morrie: A Man Teaches Others How to Live and Die. ABC News. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  7. ^ Brooks, Rich (May 14, 2005). "ALS forced two men to make different choices, and both are valid". Herald-Tribune. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Albom, Mitch (November 21, 2008). "Professor Turns Dying into a Final Lesson". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved May 22, 2023 – via MitchAlbom.com.
  9. ^ Shriver, Ryan (2010). "Tuesdays With Morrie (1999)—Directed by: Mick Jackson". All Media Guide-Baseline. Archived from the original (film overview) on March 24, 2014 – via The New York Times. Note, this source contains no information about the 1997 book.
  10. ^ Gutman, Les (November 2002). "A CurtainUp Review: Tuesdays with Morrie". CurtainUp. Retrieved May 22, 2023. While the interviews (parts of which I've seen in re-runs) afford a stunning look behind the veneer of the dying process, the book (none of which I have read), and now the play, do not seriously scratch the surface. They are as much about Albom as Schwartz and, though they reënforce the point made by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in her seminal work, Of Death and Dying (that there is much to be learned about life from those who are dying), they impart the lessons learned predictably and without any particular enlightenment. / What the play does do quite successfully is manipulate the audience's emotions, albeit without great subtlety. Morrie is one of those people who enjoys a good cry; Mitch is not. Albom's play (co-written with Jeffrey Hatcher) will have the desired effect for those who fall in Morrie's camp. It will also succeed in delivering a "message" to those who are suckers for simplistic self-help pablum. That's a large constituency: the book spent four years on the New York Times Bestseller List despite a review in the same paper that said, "[d]espite the obvious charm and good nature of both author and subject, in the end, the exhortations fall flat." / The same could be said for the play. But in this production at least, it offers an attraction that the book can't: two sterling performances. / ... / This may well be one of those shows (much like the original book) that finds a huge and devoted audience despite critical carping. Even those who don't fall in that category will be rewarded with some thrilling performances.
  11. ^ Buchwald, Linda. "Tony Winner Len Cariou to Star in Off-Broadway Run of Tuesdays with Morrie". Theatermania. Retrieved January 29, 2024.

Further reading edit

External links edit

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tuesdays_with_Morrie&oldid=1218513180"