Franklin D'Olier Reeve (September 18, 1928 – June 28, 2013) was an American academic, writer, poet,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

translator, and editor. He was also the father of ''Superman'' actor

Christopher Reeve Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, best known for playing the title character in the film ''Superman'' (1978) and three sequels. Born in New York City and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, ...

. He was the grandson of the first

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

national commander,

Franklin D'Olier Franklin D'Olier (April 28, 1877December 10, 1953) was an American businessman who served as the first national commander of American Legion, The American Legion from 1919 to 1920. He was also the great-grandfather of actor Christopher Reeve. ...

Life and career

Reeve was born in Philadelphia, the son of Anne Conrad D'Olier and Richard Henry Reeve. He was brought up outside

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Reeve worked in the wheat fields for a while during college and, after graduation, was a Hudson River

longshoreman A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

for a while. He graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

(1950) and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(1958), and in 1961 was one of the first exchanges between the

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and the

USSR Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

. In the late summer of 1962 he accompanied

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

for his meeting with

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

, where Reeve served as Frost's translator. Reeve started his academic career teaching Russian language and literature at

. After teaching at Columbia, Reeve moved to

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

in 1962 as chairman of the Russian Department. In 1967, he joined Wesleyan's inter-disciplinary College of Letters where he taught literature, humanities and creative writing until his retirement in 2002. During the course of his career he had visiting appointments at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, and Columbia. From 1994 on, he lived in

Wilmington, Vermont Wilmington is a town in Windham County, Vermont, Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,255 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History The town was chartered in 1751 by Benning Wentworth, colonial governor of New ...

with his wife, novelist Laura Stevenson. Reeve was an officer of the

Poetry Society of America The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...

, the founding editor of ''

Poetry Review ''Poetry Review'' is the magazine of The Poetry Society, edited by the poet Emily Berry. Founded in 1912, shortly after the establishment of the Society, previous editors have included poets Muriel Spark, Adrian Henri, Andrew Motion and Maurice R ...

,'' the secretary of

Poets House Poets House is a national literary center and poetry library based in New York City. It contains more than 70,000 volumes of poetry, and is free and open to the public. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, they temporarily suspended operations in Nov ...

in its formative years, and was associated with the New England Poetry Club and the

New York Quarterly The ''New York Quarterly'' (''NYQ'') was a popular contemporary American poetry magazine. Established by William Packard (1933-2002) in 1969, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine has called the ''NYQ'' "the most important poetry magazine in America." Hist ...

. He published over two dozen books of poetry, fiction, criticism, and translation. Reeve died on June 28, 2013, at Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital in

Lebanon, New Hampshire Lebanon is a city in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,282 at the 2020 census, up from 13,151 at the 2010 census. Lebanon is in western New Hampshire, south of Hanover, near the Connecticut River. It is the home ...

from complications from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

Awards

* New England Poetry Club's

Golden Rose Award The Golden Rose Award, one of America’s oldest literary prizes, was inaugurated in 1919. The rose was modeled after the Gold Rose which is now in the Cluny Museum in Paris. ThNew England Poetry Clubawards the Rose annually for American poetry. ...

* Award in literature from the American Academy National Institute of Arts and Letters * Lit.D. from

New England College New England College (NEC) is a private liberal arts college in Henniker, New Hampshire. As of Fall 2020 New England College's enrollment was 4,327 students (1,776 undergraduate and 2,551 graduate). The college is regionally accredited by the Ne ...

Works

* * * * *

Poetry

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Fiction

* * * * * * * *

Criticism

* * * *

Translations

* * * * * (Revision and edit of Leo Wiener translation.)

Oratorio

* "The Urban Stampede", with music by

Andrew Gant Andrew John Gant (born 6 August 1963) is a British composer, singer, author, teacher and Liberal Democrat politician. He was organist, choirmaster and composer at Her Majesty's Chapel Royal from 2000 to 2013, and has published several books on ...

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

, London, 2000

References

External links

"Interview with F. D. Reeve", ''Cervena Barva Press''

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080819193419/http://www.fdreeve.org/ ''Author's website''* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reeve, F. D. 1928 births 2013 deaths American male poets Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty Deaths from diabetes New England College alumni Writers from Philadelphia People from Grafton County, New Hampshire Princeton University alumni American publishers (people) Wesleyan University faculty 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers Winthrop family