literary critic
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
, biographer, and historian.
Biography
Brooks graduated from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1908. As a student he published his first book, a collection of poetry called ''Verses by Two Undergraduates'', co-written with his friend
John Hall Wheelock
John Hall Wheelock (September 9, 1886 – March 22, 1978) was an American poet. He was a descendant of Eleazar Wheelock, founder of Dartmouth College.
The son of William Efner Wheelock and Emily Charlotte Hall,American literature
American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...
during the long 19th century. Brooks embroidered elaborate biographical detail into anecdotal prose. For ''The Flowering of New England, 1815–1865'' (1936) he won the second
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
for Non-Fiction from the American Book Sellers Association
"Books and Authors", ''The New York Times'', 1936-04-12, p. BR12. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007)."5 Honors Awarded on the Year's Books: ...", ''The New York Times'', 1937-02-26, p. 23. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007). and the 1937
Pulitzer Prize for History
The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...
. The book was also included in
Life Magazine
''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...
's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924–1944.
Brooks was a long-time resident of Bridgewater, Connecticut, which built a town library wing in his name. Although a decade-long fund-raising effort was abandoned in 1972, a hermit in Los Angeles, Charles E. Piggott, with no connection to Bridgewater surprised the town by leaving money for the library in his will. With $210,000 raised, the library addition went up in 1980.
Among his works, the book ''The Ordeal of Mark Twain'' (1920) analyzes the literary progression of Samuel L. Clemens and attributes shortcomings to Clemens's mother and wife. In 1925 he published a translation from French of the 1920 biography of
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
by Leon Bazalgette, entitled ''Henry Thoreau, Bachelor of Nature''.
In 1944, Brooks was on the cover of ''Time Magazine''.
Bibliography
* 1905: ''Verses by Two Undergraduates'' (with
John Hall Wheelock
John Hall Wheelock (September 9, 1886 – March 22, 1978) was an American poet. He was a descendant of Eleazar Wheelock, founder of Dartmouth College.
The son of William Efner Wheelock and Emily Charlotte Hall,Senancour,
Maurice de Guérin
Georges-Maurice de Guérin (4 August 181019 July 1839) was a French poet. His works were imbued with a passion for nature whose intensity reached almost to worship and was enriched by pagan elements. According to Sainte-Beuve, no French poet or ...
John Addington Symonds
John Addington Symonds, Jr. (; 5 October 1840 – 19 April 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies of writers and artists. Although m ...
: A Biographical Study''
* 1915: ''The World of H.G. Wells''
* 1915: ''America's Coming of Age''
* 1920: ''The Ordeal of
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
''
* 1925: ''The Pilgrimage of
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
''
* 1925: ''Henry Thoreau, Bachelor of Nature'' (by Leon Bazalgette, translated by Van Wyck Brooks)
* 1932: ''The Life of Emerson''
* 1934: ''Three Essays on America''
* 1936: ''The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865'' (Makers and Finders)archive.org /ref>
* 1940: ''New England: Indian Summer, 1865-1915'' (Makers and Finders)
* 1941: ''Opinions of Oliver Allston''
* 1941: ''On Literature Today''
* 1944: ''The World of
Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...
'' (Makers and Finders)
* 1947: ''The Times of Melville and Whitman'' (Makers and Finders)
* 1948: ''A Chilmark Miscellany''
* 1952: ''The Confident Years: 1885-1915'' (Makers and Finders)
* 1952: ''Makers and Finders: A History of the Writer in America, 1800-1915''
* 1953: ''The Writer in America''
* 1954: ''Scenes and Portraits: Memoirs of Childhood and Youth'' (An Autobiography)
* 1955: ''
John Sloan
John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He was also a member of the group known as The Eight. He is best known ...
: A Painter's Life''
* 1956: '' Helen Keller: Sketch for a Portrait''
* 1957: ''Days of the Phoenix: The Nineteen-Twenties I Remember'' (An Autobiography)
* 1958: ''The Dream of Arcadia: American Writers and Artists in Italy, 1760-1915''
* 1958: ''From a Writer's Notebook''
* 1959: ''
Howells Howells may refer to:
People
*Howells (surname)
Places in the United States
* Howells, Colorado, a place in Colorado
*Howells, Nebraska
*Howells, New York
*Howells Junction, New York, a place in New York
Business establishments
* Howells (depa ...
: His Life and World''
* 1961: ''From the Shadow of the Mountain: My Post-Meridian Years'' (An Autobiography)
* 1962: '' Fenollosa and His Circle: With Other Essays in Biography''
* 1965: ''An Autobiography''
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Empire, Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the French Second Republic, Second and the French Third Republic ...
style buildings in Plainfield, the town of his birth, is named after him.
Prizes
* 1937:
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
in history and
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
for 1936 nonfiction
* 1938: Goldmedaille des ''Limited Editions Club''
* 1944: ''Carey Thomas Award'' for ''The World of Washington Irving''
* 1946: Goldmedal of ''National Institute of Arts and Letters'' (
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 ...
)
* 1953: ''Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal''
* 1954: ''Huntington Hartford Foundation Award''
* 1957: ''Secondary Education Board Award'' for ''Helen Keller: Sketch for a Portrait''
Honorary degrees
''Doctor of Letters'':
*
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
*
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...
*
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 ...
*
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
*
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...
* Harvard University
*
Northeastern Illinois University
Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois. NEIU serves approximately 9,000 students in the region and is a Hispanic-serving institution. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park wi ...
*
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
*
Union College
Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...
*
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
''Doctor of Humane Letters'':
*
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
References
Further reading
* Blake, Casey Nelson (1990). ''Beloved Community: The Cultural Criticism of Randolph Bourne, Van Wyck Brooks, Waldo Frank & Lewis Mumford''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. .