Daniel O'Keefe (writer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
February 25, 1928
Daniel O'Keefe | |
|---|---|
 O'Keefe in the late 2000s | |
| Born | Daniel Lawrence O'Keefe February 25, 1928 Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | August 29, 2012 (aged 84) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | |
| Subject | Social science |
| Notable works | Stolen Lightning: The Social Theory of Magic Festivus |
| Spouse | Deborah O'Keefe |
| Children | |
Daniel Lawrence O'Keefe (February 25, 1928 – August 29, 2012) was an American writer. He was an editor at Reader's Digest for more than 30 years, where he worked with a wide range of writers.[1]
He is known for creating Festivus, an annual secular holiday celebrated on December 23; it became more widely known after his eldest son, Dan O'Keefe, featured it in a December 1997 episode of the sitcom Seinfeld.[1]
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, O'Keefe received a B.A. from Columbia in 1949, an M.A. from Columbia University, and a PhD. from the New School for Social Research. At Columbia, he was national president of Junior Achievement.[2]
He was personally recruited for work by DeWitt Wallace, founder of Reader's Digest.[2] O'Keefe became an editor there, serving for over thirty years. He worked with freelancers such as Ray Bradbury and Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet Czesław Milosz, who lived and worked for decades in California.
Writing
In 1982, O'Keefe published the book Stolen Lightning: The Social Theory of Magic, a comprehensive, objective text on magic theory throughout human history.[3][4][5] He dedicated the work to his wife Deborah.[4] A Los Angeles Times book review called this book "a spectacular synthesis of sociology, anthropology, and psychoanalysis... a tour de force of accessible scholarship".[6] The New York Times Book Review said it is "a powerful explication of how deeply magic is embedded in society."[3] Commonweal classified it as "a potential classic".[7]
Theologian Harvey Cox called it "a breathtaking accomplishment," and sociologist Robert Nisbet described it as "the most comprehensive, theoretically informed, and objective study of magic that I can recall reading."
In 1983, it was placed on the New York Times' list of Books for Vacation Reading as a "sociological theory of magic and of 'people's perception and use of it.'"[8]
Festivus
O'Keefe founded Festivus in 1966 to commemorate his first date with his wife Deborah three years earlier. In 1997, their son Dan O'Keefe, a writer on the Seinfeld television series, adapted Festivus for the episode "The Strike".[9] Although many aspects of the O'Keefe family practices made it onto the show, the key piece of the O'Keefe version of Festivus, a clock nailed to a bag on a wall, was replaced by an aluminum pole.[10]
