Harvey Breit (1909 - April 9, 1968) was an American poet, editor, and playwright as well as reviewer for '' The New York Times Book Review'' from 1943 to 1957.

Career

Breit began his writing career at '' Time'', where he worked from 1933 to 1934. He wrote for the '' New York Times'' including the ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' from 1948 to 1957. In 1951, writer Anita Loos told him in an interview about her new book, ''A Mouse Is Born'':

I'm the oldest motion picture writer in the business. I am endlessly grateful to the movies, and I'll tell you why. Because a writer can always make a living writing for the movies when he hasn't anything to say. If it hadn't been for the movies, I would have had to turn out novels when I had nothing to say ... You can do a good job on other people's material ... The movies help writers over their bad periods.

In 1952, he interviewed Whittaker Chambers at the publication of his memoir ''Witness'':

From the casual talk, he went on to a point that one heard raised a good deal. The question of Mr. Chambers' memory. He remembered so many things and he had failed to remember a number of other things. "That's always baffled me," he said In a slow and measured tempo. "There doesn't seem to be any consistency in the importance of what is remembered. One recalls a shadow on a wall, a gesture, something of no great importance, remembers it for years--and then forgets some extremely important fact like the address of one of the underground photographic laboratories. I suppose only a student of memory could give you the answer and then I wouldn't be particularly impressed. Memory is like a hot coal-it fades and grows bright again and fades."

In 1955, he interviewed William Faulkner after his National Book Award best fiction (''A Fable''). He was one of the last people to talk to poet

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...

before his death:

That week Thomas called an old friend and said: "I'm tired of all the goddam writers around here. Why don't you give me a party with no writers, only beautiful women?" Late that Saturday night, after the party, Thomas showed up at his favorite tavern, the White Horse, a dark-paneled, homey bar on the western outskirts of Greenwich Village. His eyes were glazed, bloodshot, heavy-lidded. Some pals bought him drinks, and he downed three or four boilermakers in 15 minutes. Later, he went on to another bar, then retired to his hotel room for a warm beer and whisky nightcap with a friend. Three days and several parties later, New York Times Critic Harvey Breit telephoned him at his hotel. "He seemed bad," Breit recalls. "I wanted to say, 'You sound as though from the tomb.' I didn't.

He lectured at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

. Breit adapted several novels for the stage, including Budd Schulberg's ''The Disenchanted'' and R. K. Narayan's ''The Guide''. He also edited the letters of novelist

Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list.

(''The Selected Letters of Malcolm Lowry'', Lippincott, 1965) with Lowry's wife

Margerie Bonner Margerie Bonner (February 17, 1905 – September 28, 1988) was an American actress, scriptwriter, and novelist. She is best known as the wife of Malcolm Lowry and for her support of the author while he wrote his best known novel, ''Under the Volc ...

''The Disenchanted''

He co-wrote the play ''

The Disenchanted Budd Schulberg (born Seymour Wilson Schulberg, March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his novels ''What Makes Sammy Run?'' and ''The Harder They Fall;'' ...

'' with Budd Schulberg, adapting it from Schulberg's novel of the same name about the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The play was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 1959. It starred Jason Robards, who won a Tony Award for his performance.

''The Guide''

With second wife Patricia Rinehart, he adapted R. K. Narayan's novel ''The Guide'' for Broadway theatre, Broadway. In 1968, ''Time'' magazine reported:

On Broadway ''The Guide'' is a showcase for Pakistani Actor Zia Mohyeddin, who gives an electric performance as a jailbird mistaken for a holy man by the people of an Indian village. He is having a ball, until a drought and a misunderstanding force him into a real Gandhi-type fast. The play itself, adapted by Harvey Breit and Patricia Rinehart from a novel by R. K. Narayan, is disappointingly thin in emotion and thick in talk.

Personal

Marriages

Breit was married first to writer and editor Alice S. Morris and then in 1955 to poet and playwright Patricia Rinehart.

Death

Breit died on April 9, 1968, in his New York City apartment.

Correspondence

Breit's letters at Northwestern University include correspondence with Brooks Atkinson, W.H. Auden, Jacques Barzun, Ludwig Bemelmans, Margaret Bourke-White, Erskine Caldwell, Whittaker Chambers, Madge Evans, Dudley Fitts, Arthur Kober, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Harold Rome, Budd Schulberg, Lionel Trilling, and Glenway Westcott.

Publications

* ''Two Robert Nathan pieces'' (1950). "A Talk with Robert Nathan" by Harvey Breit and "Advice to My Son", a poem by Robert Nathan * ''This Thing Called Love'' (1955), a collection of stories edited by Mark Slonim and Harvey Breit * ''The Writer Observed'' (1956), a collection of interviews * ''The Disenchanted'' (1959), a play by Budd Schulberg and Harvey Breit. Based on the novel by Budd Schulberg * ''A Narrow Action'' (1964), a novel * ''The Selected Letters of Malcolm Lowry'' (1965), edited by Harvey Breit and Margerie Bonner Lowry

References

External links

Harvey Breit Correspondence
- Harvey Breit Correspondence, 1940-1965, Manuscript Series I, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Breit, Harvey 1909 births 1968 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers