Dorothy Graffe Van Doren (May 2, 1896 – February 21, 1993) was an American writer and editor.

Life and career

Dorothy Graffe was born in 1896 in San Francisco, California, and grew up in New York, the daughter of Frances Rosette (Lane) and George Graffe, a newsman. She graduated from

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

in 1918. In 1920, while she was an assistant at ''

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 tha ...

'' magazine, she met

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 thin ...

. They were married in 1922. He went on to a distinguished career as a teacher, critic and prolific author of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, for which he received the

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 ...

. She wrote novels, and later turned to writing humorous autobiographical works about life with her husband and family.} Dorothy Van Doren was an editor at ''The Nation'' magazine for many years. During

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 ...

she was chief editor of the English Feature Desk at the

United States Office of War Information The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...

, which was responsible for presenting a human and appealing image of American life through the international broadcasts of the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

, directed by

John Houseman John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanian-born British-American actor and producer of theatre, film, and television. He became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director ...

. Regular writers included

Louis Untermeyer Louis Untermeyer (October 1, 1885 – December 18, 1977) was an American poet, anthologist, critic, and editor. He was appointed the fourteenth Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1961. Life and career Untermeyer was born in New Y ...

Robert Ardrey Robert Ardrey (October 16, 1908 – January 14, 1980) was an American playwright, screenwriter and science writer perhaps best known for ''The Territorial Imperative'' (1966). After a Broadway and Hollywood career, he returned to his academic tr ...

Tom Whiteside Derek Thomas Whiteside Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (23 July 1932 – 22 April 2008) was a British History of Mathematics, historian of mathematics. Biography In 1954 Whiteside graduated from Bristol University with a B.A. having studied ...

Henry Denker Henry Denker (November 25, 1912 – May 15, 2012) was an American novelist and playwright. Biography Denker was born in New York, the son of a fur trader. After initially studying to be a rabbi, he change to the study of law and graduated fro ...

Jerome Weidman Jerome Weidman (April 4, 1913, New York City – October 6, 1998, New York City) was an American playwright and novelist. He collaborated with George Abbott on the book for the musical ''Fiorello!'' with music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldo ...

and

Howard Fast Howard Melvin Fast (November 11, 1914 – March 12, 2003) was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E.V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson. Biography Early life Fast was born in New York City. His mother, ...

; outside contributors included Norman Corwin, Janet Flanner,

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspired ...

, John Hersey, Carson McCullers, Archibald MacLeish, Paul Robeson and

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 ...

. Features, editorials, essays, songs and interviews were recorded and adapted for various English-language broadcasts before being translated and used in foreign-language programming. The Van Dorens' elder son Charles Van Doren became a celebrity in 1957 after a series of appearances on the television game show ''

Twenty-One 21 (twenty-one) is the natural number following 20 and preceding 22. The current century is the 21st century AD, under the Gregorian calendar. In mathematics 21 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 3 and 7, and a deficie ...

''. In the 1994 film ''

Quiz Show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, sh ...

'', which dramatized the

1950s quiz show scandals The 1950s quiz show scandals were a series of scandals involving the producers and contestants of several popular American television quiz shows. These shows' producers secretly gave assistance to certain contestants in order to prearrange the s ...

, Dorothy Van Doren was portrayed by actress

Elizabeth Wilson Elizabeth Welter Wilson (April 4, 1921 – May 9, 2015) was an American actress whose career spanned nearly 70 years, including memorable roles in film and television. In 1972 she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for ...

. In July 2010, Charles Van Doren read from his mother's works and discussed her writing and life in a presentation at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

at Torrington.

Bibliography

* 1926: ''Strangers''. * 1927: ''Flowering Quince''. * 1928: ''Brother and Brother''. * 1929: ''The Lost Art: Letters of Seven Famous Women''. * 1938: ''Those First Affections''. * 1942: ''Dacey Hamilton''. * 1950: ''The Country Wife''. * 1959: ''The Professor and I''. * 1960: ''Men, Women and Cats''.

References

External links

*
Men, Women and Cats
' at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Doren, Dorothy Graffe 1896 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers American people of Dutch descent American women novelists Barnard College alumni Novelists from Connecticut People of the United States Office of War Information Dorothy Graffe Writers from New York City Writers from San Francisco