Frank McCourt, beloved storyteller of early Irish upbringing to immigrant dreams in America, has a new book out about his experiences as a teacher at public high school, including Stuyvesant, called Teacher Man. McCourt, who retired from teaching in 1987, cast a spell on his Stuyvesant students and even some of the less-priveleged ones at other school, and there even seems to have been a Frank McCourt Fan/Stalker Club back at the East 15th Street School. But a day before the sweet NY Times feature about McCourt and his adoring students, Michiko Kakutani reviewed the book, calling it "tepid" and rehashed stuff he's written about before, basically implying that McCourt should stick to writing depressing yet charming things about drunken Irish fathers and put-upon mothers. However, what's cool about Frank McCourt is that he ate the sandwich that was thrown at him from a rowdy student.
A short interview with McCourt from Newsweek. Here's an excerpt of the introduction. And remember Head of the Class, which was set at Stuyvesant?
