Mark Schorer (May 17, 1908 – August 11, 1977) was an American

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, critic, and scholar born in

Sauk City, Wisconsin Sauk City is a village in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States, North America. The population was 3,518 as of the 2020 census. The first incorporated village in the state, the community was founded by Agoston Haraszthy and his business partner, R ...

Biography

Schorer earned an MA at Harvard and his Ph.D. in English at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

in 1936. During his academic career, he held positions at Dartmouth, Harvard, and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where he chaired the Department of English from 1960 to 1965."Author Schorer, 69, Dies," ''Oakland Tribune'', August 13, 1977 p. 42, col. 3 A leading critic of his time, he was best known for his work, ''Sinclair Lewis: An American Life''. Schorer was also the author of many short stories, which appeared in magazines such as ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', '' Harpers'', ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', and '' Esquire''. Among his honors were three Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright professorship at the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

and a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. He also was elected to 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 ...

, the most prestigious honor society for creative arts in the country. Schorer was called as an expert witness during the 1957 obscenity trial over the

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

poem ''

Howl Howl most often refers to: *Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species *Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl may also refer to: Film * ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...

'', and testified in defense of the poem. This incident is dramatized in the film ''

'' (2010), in which Schorer is portrayed by

Treat Williams Richard Treat Williams (born December 1, 1951) is an American actor, writer and aviator who has appeared on film, stage and television in over 120 credits. He first became well known for his starring role in the 1979 musical film '' Hair'', and la ...

. In addition to his scholarly works, he also co-authored a series of

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and horror stories with writer, publisher and childhood friend (both being natives of

)

August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and th ...

. These stories, originally published mainly in ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, pri ...

'' magazine during the 1920s and 1930s, were eventually anthologized in '' Colonel Markesan and Less Pleasant People'' (1966). Schorer died from a blood infection following bladder surgery in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

at the age of 69.

Literary works

* ''A House Too Old'' (1935) * ''

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

: The Politics of Vision'' (1946) * ‘’The State of Mind’’ (1947) * ''Technique as Discovery'' (1948) * ''Wars of Love'' (1954) * ''

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

: An American Life'' (1961) * '' Colonel Markesan and Less Pleasant People'' (1966) with

* ''The World We Imagine'' (1968) * ''Pieces of Life'' (1977)

References

External links

A House Too Old
at Wisconsin Alumni Association
Mark Schorer
at

Wisconsin Library Association The Wisconsin Library Association (WLA), is a Wisconsin, United States non-profit, professional membership organization which has existed since 1891. WLA represents nearly 2000 members statewide --- primarily librarians and library staff from scho ...

Mark Schorer
at

Obituary
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' *
Sinclair Lewis and the Nobel Prize
in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

''
Works by Mark Schorer
in ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Schorer, Mark 1908 births 1977 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Harvard University alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Dartmouth College faculty Harvard University faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty University of Pisa faculty Novelists from Wisconsin 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Massachusetts People from Sauk City, Wisconsin

Biography

Literary works

See also

References

External links