Murray Krieger (November 27, 1923 – August 5, 2000) was an American literary critic and theorist. He was a professor at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

from 1963, and then the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

. In 1999, the

dedicated a building, ''Murray Krieger Hall'', to Krieger in recognition of his contributions to the school. kriegerhall

He was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Leonard Krieger. He served in

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 opposing ...

before studying at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

as a doctoral student. One of the major

New Critics New Criticism was a formalist movement in literary theory that dominated American literary criticism in the middle decades of the 20th century. It emphasized close reading, particularly of poetry, to discover how a work of literature functioned ...

, in 1976, he helped found the School of Criticism and Theory, which became an influential forum for literary criticism and critical theory in the United States. His study of the

introduced a degree of philosophical sophistication and theoretical self-consciousness to formalist criticism that was rare among literary critics in the U.S. during that time. Krieger's work focused on the nature of literary fiction and how it reveals the constructed nature of all forms of representation. According to him, literature is the "primary means of freeing ourselves from the constraints of ideology and arbitrary beliefs." He insisted that literature is different from other kinds of discourse because it never claims its fictional forms are anything other than illusions. Krieger argued that literary illusion, as illusion, offers society a critical perspective on the ideological systems by which beliefs are nourished and enforced as “true,” and he included among those systems any theoretical method that discounts the special status of literary forms. Consequently, in an ironic reversal of the revolution he had helped bring about, Krieger spent the last two decades of his career arguing for the importance of literature to the study of theory. He received numerous awards and honors during his lifetime, including membership in the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

(1983), the

Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

(1985), the UCI Medal (1990), and the Daniel G. Aldrich Award for Distinguished University Service (1993). Following his retirement in 1994, he was appointed University Research Professor, and in that capacity he continued to write, teach, and lecture around the world until his death six years later.

Works

*''The New Apologists for Poetry'' (1956) *''The Tragic Vision'' (1960) *''The Problems of Aesthetics: A Book of Readings'' (1963) with

Eliseo Vivas Eliseo Vivas (July 13, 1901 – August 28, 1991) "Vivas, Eliseo (1901-91)", in ''Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers'', John R. Shook, ed. (A&C Black, 2005) p2487 was a 20th-century philosopher and literary theorist. As a child, his fami ...

*''A Window to Criticism'' (1964) *''Northrop Frye in Modern Criticism'' (1966) editor *''Play and Place of Criticism'' (1967) *''The Classic Vision: The Retreat from Extremity in Modern Literature'' (1971) *''Literature and History'' (1974) with Ralph Cohen *''Theory of Criticism: A Tradition and Its System'' (1976) *''Directions for Criticism: Structuralism & its Alternatives'' (1977) editor with L. S. Dembo *''Poetic Presence & Illusion: Essays in Critical History & Theory'' (1979) *''Arts on the Level'' (1981) *''Words about Words about Words: Theory, Criticism & the Literary Text'' (1988) *''A Reopening of Closure'' (1989) *''Ekphrasis'' (1992) *''Aims of Representation: Subject, Text, History'' (1993) editor *''The Institution of Theory'' (1994)

References

External links

Guide to the Murray Krieger Papers.
Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. {{DEFAULTSORT:Krieger, Murray 1923 births 2000 deaths American literary critics Ohio State University alumni University of California, Irvine faculty 20th-century American non-fiction writers University of Minnesota faculty University of Iowa faculty American military personnel of World War II University of Chicago alumni