Daphne Merkin

Daphne Miriam Merkin (born May 30, 1954)[1] is an American literary critic, essayist and novelist.

She also wrote extensively on books and became known for her frank forays into autobiography; her personal essays dealt with subjects ranging from her battle with depression, to her predilection for spanking,[3] to the unacknowledged complexities of growing up rich on Park Avenue.

She is the author of a novel, Enchantment (1984)[2] as well as two collections of essays, Dreaming of Hitler (1997)[4] and The Fame Lunches (2014),[5] and a memoir, This Close to Happy: A Reckoning With Depression (2017).

Her brother is J. Ezra Merkin, a hedge fund manager and philanthropist who was embroiled in the Bernie Madoff scandal.

[9] She married and divorced Michael Brod, and lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with her daughter, Zoe.