Aiken, Conrad

Aiken, Conrad

▪ American writer
in full  Conrad Potter Aiken 
born August 5, 1889, Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
died August 17, 1973, Savannah
 American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, short-story writer, novelist, and critic whose works, influenced by early psychoanalytic theory, are concerned largely with the human need for self-awareness and a sense of identity. Aiken himself faced considerable trauma in his childhood when he found the bodies of his parents after his father had killed his mother and committed suicide. He later wrote of this in his autobiography Ushant (1952).

      Aiken was educated at private schools and at Harvard University, where he was a friend and contemporary of T.S. Eliot (Eliot, T.S.) (whose poetry was to influence his own). A tutor in English at Harvard in the late 1920s and a London correspondent for The New Yorker in the mid-1930s, he divided his life almost equally between England and the United States until 1947, when he settled in Massachusetts. Aiken was instrumental as editor of Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson (1924) in establishing that poet's posthumous reputation, and he played a significant role in introducing the work of American poets to the British public.

      After three early collections of verse, Aiken wrote five “symphonies” between 1915 and 1920 in an effort to create poetry that would resemble music in its ability to express several levels of meaning simultaneously. Then came a period of narrative poems, several volumes of lyrics and meditations, and, after World War II, a return to musical form but with richer philosophical and psychological overtones. The best of his poetry is contained in Selected Poems (1929), which won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1930, and Collected Poems (1953), including a long sequence “Preludes to Definition,” which some critics consider his masterwork, and the often anthologized “Morning Song of Senlin.” Aiken served as the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress (now poet laureate consultant in poetry) from 1950 to '52.

      Most of Aiken's fiction was written in the 1920s and '30s. Generally more successful than his novels of this period were his short stories, notably "Strange Moonlight" from Bring! Bring! (1925) and "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" and "Mr. Arcularis" from Among the Lost People (1934). The Short Stories of Conrad Aiken was published in 1950, followed by A Reviewer's ABC: Collected Criticism from 1916 to the Present (1958) and The Collected Novels (1964). In spite of the many awards Aiken received, many critics have concluded that he never received appropriate recognition for his work.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Aiken, Conrad (Potter) — born Aug. 5, 1889, Savannah, Ga., U.S. died Aug. 17, 1973, Savannah U.S. writer. Aiken was traumatized as a child when his father killed Aiken s mother and then himself. Educated at Harvard University, Aiken wrote most of his fiction in the 1920s …   Universalium

  • Aiken, Conrad (Potter) — (5 ago. 1889, Savannah, Ga., EE.UU.–17 ago. 1973, Savannah). Escritor estadounidense. Aiken sufrió un grave trauma en su niñez, cuando su padre asesinó a su madre y luego se suicidó. Educado en la Universidad de Harvard, Aiken escribió la mayor… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Aiken,Conrad Potter — Ai·ken (āʹkən), Conrad Potter. 1889 1973. American writer noted primarily for his poetry. He won a 1930 Pulitzer Prize for Selected Poems. * * * …   Universalium

  • Aiken, Conrad — ► (1889 1973) Literato estadounidense. Fue Premio Pulitzer en 1930. Autor de Poemas selectos …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Aiken, Conrad —    см. Эйкен, Конрад …   Писатели США. Краткие творческие биографии

  • Aiken — Aiken, Conrad …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Conrad Aiken — Conrad Potter Aiken Born Conrad Potter Aiken August 5, 1889(1889 08 05) Savannah, Georgia, USA Died August 17, 1973(1973 08 17) (aged 84) Savannah, Georgi …   Wikipedia

  • Conrad Aiken — Conrad Potter Aiken (5 de agosto de 1889, Savannah, Georgia 17 de agosto de 1973, Savannah) fue un escritor estadounidense. En la infancia de Aiken existió un hecho que lo sometió a un trauma psicológico, dicho suceso fue el asesinato de su madre …   Wikipedia Español

  • Conrad — Conrad, Joseph Conrad, discontinuidad de * * * (as used in expressions) Aiken, Conrad (Potter) Conrad, Joseph Hilton, Conrad (Nicholson) Hötzendorf, Conrad Franz (Xaver Josef), conde von Richter, Conrad (Michael) Roentgen, Wilhelm Conrad Taeuber …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Aiken, Joan — ▪ British author in full  Joan Delano Aiken   born September 4, 1924, Rye, Sussex, England died January 4, 2004, Petworth, West Sussex  prolific British author of fantasy, adventure, horror, and suspense tales for both juvenile and adult readers …   Universalium

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