Harold Strauss (1907–1975) was editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf Inc. from 1942 until 1966. He is credited as introducing postwar Japanese fiction to American audiences with

Jirō Osaragi was the pen-name of a popular Japanese writer in Shōwa period Japan, known primarily for his historical fiction novels, which appeared serialized in newspapers and magazines. His real name was . Early life Osaragi Jirō was born in Yokohama. H ...

's ''Homecoming'' and

Jun'ichirō Tanizaki was a Japanese author who is considered to be one of the most prominent figures in modern Japanese literature. The tone and subject matter of his work ranges from shocking depictions of sexuality and destructive erotic obsessions to subtle por ...

's '' Some Prefer Nettles'' in 1955. He was also integral in introducing works by other Japanese authors like

Kōbō Abe , pen name of , was a Japanese writer, playwright, musician, photographer, and inventor. He is best known for his 1962 novel '' The Woman in the Dunes'' that was made into an award-winning film by Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1964. Abe has often bee ...

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...

and

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal an ...

. With his wife Mildred, he is the namesake of the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

' Strauss Living Award.

Work in Publishing

In 1928, Strauss began working for Alfred H. King, Inc. then Covici-Friede (where he argued for publication of

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

's ''

In Dubious Battle ''In Dubious Battle'' is a novel by John Steinbeck, written in 1936. The central figure of the story is an activist attempting to organize abused laborers in order to gain fair wages and working conditions. Prior to publication, Steinbeck wrote ...

'') until it went out of business in 1937. While stationed in Japan after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Strauss reported on trends in Japanese print media. After the war, his introduction of Japanese literature to American audiences was part of a larger cultural exchange in order to protect American interests in Asia during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

and aftermath of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

Strauss Living Award

Granted through the

, the Strauss Living Award (founded in 1981) provides two living writers with $100,000 a year for two years.

Award Winners

1983:

Cynthia Ozick Cynthia Ozick (born April 17, 1928) is an American short story writer, novelist, and essayist. Biography Cynthia Ozick was born in New York City, the second of two children. She moved to the Bronx with her Belarusian-Jewish parents from Hlusk, ...

Raymond Carver Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He contributed to the revitalization of the American short story during the 1980s. Early life Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mi ...

1988: Robert Stone,

Diane Johnson Diane Johnson (born Diane Lain, April 28, 1934), is an American novelist and essayist whose satirical novels often feature American heroines living abroad in contemporary France. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel ''Persian ...

1993: John Casey, Joy Williams 1998:

Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and ...

, W.D. Wetherell 2003:

Gish Jen Gish Jen (born Lillian Jen; () August 12, 1955) is a contemporary American writer and speaker.Matsukawa, Yuko"MELUS interview: Gish Jen" ''MELUS'', Vol. 18, 1993 Early life and education Gish Jen is a second-generation Chinese American. Her pa ...

Claire Messud Claire Messud (born 1966) is an American novelist and literature and creative writing professor. She is best known as the author of the novel '' The Emperor's Children'' (2006). Early life Born in Greenwich, Connecticut,van Gelder, Lawrence. "Foo ...

2008:

Madison Smartt Bell Madison Smartt Bell (born August 1, 1957, in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American novelist. While established as a writer by several early novels, he is especially known for his trilogy of novels about Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolut ...

, William T. Vollmann 2016:

Adam Haslett Adam Haslett (born December 24, 1970) is an American fiction writer and journalist. His debut short story collection, ''You Are Not a Stranger Here'', and his second novel, '' Imagine Me Gone,'' were both finalists for both the Pulitzer Prize and ...

Jesmyn Ward Jesmyn Ward (born April 1, 1977) is an American novelist and a Professor of English at Tulane University, where she holds the Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities. She won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction for her second novel ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strauss, Harold 1907 births 1975 deaths American editors American military personnel of World War II