Carl Clinton Van Doren (September 10, 1885 – July 18, 1950) was an American critic and biographer. He was the brother of critic and teacher

Mark Van Doren Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thi ...

and the uncle of

Charles Van Doren Charles Lincoln Van Doren (February 12, 1926 – April 9, 2019) was an American writer and editor who was involved in a television quiz show scandal in the 1950s. In 1959 he testified before the U.S. Congress that he had been given the corr ...

. He won the

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography The Pulitzer Prize for Biography 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 biography, autobiography or memoir by an American author o ...

for ''Benjamin Franklin''.

Life and career

Van Doren was born on September 10, 1885 in

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

, Vermilion County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

, the son of Eudora Ann (Butz) and Charles Lucius Van Doren, a country doctor. He and his younger brother

(born 1894), were raised on the family farm. Van Doren earned a bachelor of arts from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...

in 1907 and a doctorate from

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 ...

in 1911. He continued to teach there until 1930. He was a world federalist and once said, "It is obvious that no difficulty in the way of world government can match the danger of a world without it". In 1939, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for ''Benjamin Franklin''. Van Doren's study ''The American Novel'', published in 1921, is generally credited with helping to re-establish

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are '' Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a ...

's critical status as first-rate literary master. He was book section editor for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' from 1920 to 1922. In 1912, Van Doren married Irita Bradford, editor of the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'' book review. They had three daughters together: Ann born in 1915, Margaret born in 1917, and Barbara (Bobby) born in 1920. The couple divorced in 1935. Van Doren married Jean Wright Gorman in 1939, but they divorced in 1945. Van Doren worked closely with Howard Henry Peckham on ''Secret History of the American Revolution'' (1941), editing documents from the Sir Henry Clinton (British Army Headquarters) Papers that revealed

Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...

's treason during the American Revolutionary War. Van Doren died in

Torrington, Connecticut Torrington is the most populated municipality and only city in Litchfield County, Connecticut and the Northwest Hills region. It is also the core city of Greater Torrington, one of the largest micropolitan areas in the United States. The city p ...

on July 18, 1950.

Legacy

A residence hall at the

is named after Carl Clinton Van Doren.

Publications

''The American Novel''
(1921 & 1940 expanded) * ''The Secret History of the American Revolution'' (1941)
''Mutiny in January: The Story of a Crisis in the Continental Army now for the first time fully told from many hitherto unknown or neglected sources both American and British''.
New York: The Viking Press, 1943.

(1926) * ''American and British Literature Since 1890'' (1925), co-written with Mark Van Doren * ''Benjamin Franklin'' (1938), winner of the 1939

* Jane Mecom: the Favorite Sister of Benjamin Franklin (1950) *'The Great Rehearsal'' (1948)

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Doren, Carl Clinton 1885 births 1950 deaths American people of Dutch descent Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners Carl Clinton Van Doren University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni People from Vermilion County, Illinois People from Cornwall, Connecticut American critics 20th-century American biographers The Nation (U.S. magazine) people Writers from Illinois