Schwartz, Delmore

born Dec. 8, 1913, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.

died July 11, 1966, New York, N.Y.

U.S. poet, short-story writer, and critic.

He taught at Harvard and other schools and was an editor of Partisan Review (1943–55). His works include In Dreams Begin Responsibilities (1939), consisting of a short story and poetry; Shenandoah (1941), a verse play; and The World Is a Wedding (1948) and Successful Love (1961), collections of short stories dealing primarily with middle-class Jewish family life. His work is noted for its lyrical descriptions of cultural alienation and the search for identity. Brilliant but unstable, he became alcoholic and declined into insanity.

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▪ American writer

born Dec. 8, 1913, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.

died July 11, 1966, New York, N.Y.

      American poet, short-story writer, and literary critic noted for his lyrical descriptions of cultural alienation and the search for identity.

      Educated at the University of Wisconsin, New York University, and Harvard University, Schwartz later taught at Harvard and at a number of other schools. His first book, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities (1939), which brought him immediate fame, included the short story of the title and a group of poems remarkable for their lyric beauty and imaginative power. His subsequent publications included Shenandoah (1941), a verse play; Genesis, Book I (1943), a long introspective poem; The World Is a Wedding (1948) and Successful Love, and Other Stories (1961), short stories dealing primarily with middle-class Jewish family life. His lucid and sensitive literary criticism was published in various periodicals. His New and Selected Poems, 1938–1958 appeared in 1959. Schwartz served as an editor for Partisan Review (1943–55) and The New Republic (1955–57). The brilliant but mentally unstable Schwartz was the model for the title character in Saul Bellow's novel Humboldt's Gift (1975).

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