Background
Joseph Dorinson was born on November 15, 1936, in Jersey City, to Peter and Rita (Mandel) Dorinson.
Joseph Dorinson was born on November 15, 1936, in Jersey City, to Peter and Rita (Mandel) Dorinson.
Dorinson studied at Columbia University and got B.A. in 1958, and M.Phil., in 1976. Also, he attended the University of Oslo, 1961, and City College of the City University of New York, 1961–1962.
In 1966, Dorinson worked at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, in Brooklyn, New York, as the professor of history, and department head, from 1985 to 1997. Joseph also was a faculty advisor to Hillel and Russian-Jewish Heritage Club, from 1995. From 1987, Joseph worked at St. Francis College, as an adjunct professor and past lecturer at Kean College of New Jersey, Columbia University. He also worked at Herbert H. Lehman College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and College of Staten Island, all of the City University of New York. He worked as the conference director and public speaker.
Quotations:
“I write because there is a dybuk (internal spirit) in me crying to get out. Writing, therefore, takes on an element of exorcism. Suffering from writer’s block early in my career, I felt ‘bottled up,’ so to speak. In 1974, I delivered a paper on Lenny Bruce, the iconoclastic Jewish comedian, which led, seven years later, to my first scholarly publications. The floodgates opened, and the prose began to flow. Unwilling to select a single specialty, I prefer to write on a broad range of subjects."
“The world is my oyster, and I’ve squeezed pearls from the following studies: Brooklyn, Jewish humor, sports history, African-American culture, Frank Sinatra, and popular culture. Currently I am fine-tuning a piece on the music and mores of World War II. I may do a book on American culture during the Cold War."
“In canvassing the realm of humor, I assayed the role of the standup comic. Laughter serves as a great social lubricant and powers my creative engines. To write engagingly (as I try to teach engagingly) defines my approach. To combine play and work leavens the process of communication. To induce laughter and to encourage thought constitute my goal. The means to that end continues to please. I am unwilling to lapse into silence until the world appreciates genuine heroes like Paul Robeson and Jackie Robinson.”
Dorinson married Eileen Susan Levine on December 25, 1968. They have three children: Hilary Beth, Paula Michelle, Robert Greg.