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Alumni News Spotlight  Murder, He Wrote
Jed Rubenfeld (Group 13, drama) studied philosophy at Princeton University and wrote his senior thesis on Freud—yet he was not certain he wanted to embark on a career in academia. So he turned to his other love: acting. It is here that our story begins … Rubenfeld, 47, went on to study in Juilliard's Drama Division from 1980-82. "The little problem in the whole plan was that I couldn't really act," he once said. "I don't know why I got in." So how did he make it through the rigorous audition process? Actors are much different from musicians, he explained, in the sense that they have not had formal training since childhood. At the point of auditioning for Juilliard, musicians and dancers already have a tremendous proficiency few others in the world can claim. But this is not the case with actors. "It was very flattering to be admitted," Rubenfeld said in an interview, "but hardly quelled an actor's inner fear whether he or she would really make it." When describing his Juilliard years, one can hear a smile in his voice. They were such great years, and it was such fun to be at Juilliard and studying drama, he said, adding that he also made wonderful friends, some of whom—like Marcia Cross and Eriq La Salle—have gone on to successful acting careers. After his two years at Juilliard, Rubenfeld switched gears yet again, and entered Harvard Law School. Still intent on avoiding academia after graduation, he was clerking for a judge when one of his articles was published in the Harvard Law Review. It was then that Yale came knocking. How did Yale finally lure him into the academic world? "I have always loved to think and write," he said. "I had fun in law school much like I did at Juilliard. Why not get paid for something I love to do!" Now Rubenfeld is both the deputy dean and a law professor at the Yale Law School. Last year, he added yet another title after his name: novelist. After never having written a page of fiction in his life, he wrote a novel titled The Interpretation of Murder (Henry Holt and Co., 2006). It made its debut in September on the Wall Street Journal's best-seller list and has been among the most talked about books of the fall season. The novel was inspired in part by a true incident involving Sigmund Freud's 1909 visit to the United States—his only trip to this country. Although the trip was a success and helped stir interest in psychoanalysis, Freud returned to Europe disheartened. He called Americans "savages," and blamed the trip for his subsequent failing health. Intrigued by this bit of trivia, Rubenfeld wondered what had caused Freud's bitterness, and used it as a sort of stepping-off point for his novel. While the book is pure fiction, it draws heavily on various aspects of Freud's life and work. In a New York Times review, Janet Maslin wrote: "Credit Mr. Rubenfeld with a smart, jocular approach to an elaborate undertaking. His will be no ordinary pop-cultural sensation. His book is a research-fueled, psycho-historical Shakespearean thriller with Da Vinci Code aspirations, and as such it is a bizarrely original hybrid." When asked if his Juilliard training helped with character development in the novel, Mr. Rubenfeld—himself the son of a psychotherapist—said that it has instead helped him as a lawyer and a professor. What did influence the novel were the many hours he spent in the Juilliard library pouring over volumes of Shakespeare, which became a large theme in the book. In The Interpretation of Murder we have Freud, Shakespeare, New York City—all as main elements to the plot. But then add … murder. Why murder? "It was a way to make the book interesting to a wide audience, yet still important to me," he said. "And, I always love a mystery." Recently, Mr. Rubenfeld told an interviewer in Entertainment News that "everything that has happened in my life has happened by accident, contrary to my best intentions. I don't know what I'm doing now being a novelist, because I'm not a novelist. I'm a law professor." Don't let Jed Rubenfeld fool you. Brilliance in life is no accident. — Heidi Torvik |
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