Linda Simon (born 12 December 1946) is

professor emerita ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of English at

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...

Early life

Simon was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 12 December 1946, and grew up in Flushing, New York. She is the oldest daughter of Samuel M. Perlin and Kay Perlin. She attended Queens College, New York, and holds a master's degree from New York University, and earned a PhD in English from

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , ...

, where her mentors included Milton Hindus and Michael T. Gilmore.

Teaching

She taught in the Expository Writing Program at

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 high ...

, serving as director of the writing center before joining the English department at

, where she was a professor and department chair. At Skidmore, she taught in two abroad programs in London and Paris, where she conducted research for a biography of

Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with popularizing a sporty, c ...

. Simon lives in Oakland, California. She is

of English at Skidmore College.

Writing

A trip to Paris inspired Simon's first book, ''

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

: A Composite Portrait'' (Avon, 1974), which then led to her writing a biography of Stein's companion Alice B. Toklas. Simon is drawn to biographical subjects who defied expectations in forging their identity and life path, including Toklas, the philosopher and psychologist William James, and fashion designer Coco Chanel. ''Genuine Reality: A Life of

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

'' was selected as a ''

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 ...

'' Notable Book of 1997. Her research for a cultural history, ''Dark Light: Electricity and Anxiety from the Telegraph to the X-ray'' was supported by a grant from the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. A past president of the William James Society, since 2006, she has served as general editor of the society's journal ''William James Studies'', and has contributed introductions to volumes V and VI of ''The Correspondence of William James,'' edited by Ignas Skrupskelis and Elizabeth Berkeley.

Selected publications

* ''The Biography of Alice B. Toklas'' (Doubleday, 1977; University of Nebraska Press, 1991) * ''Thornton Wilder: His World'' (Doubleday, 1979) * ''Genuine Reality: A Life of William James'' (Harcourt, 1998; University of Chicago Press, 1999) * ''Dark Light: Electricity and Anxiety from the Telegraph to the X-Ray'' (Harcourt, 2004; Harvest, 2005) * ''The Critical Reception of Henry James: Creating a Master'' (Camden House, 2007) * ''Gertrude Stein Remembered'' (University of Nebraska Press, 1994) (Editor) * ''William James Remembered'' (University of Nebraska Press, 1996) * ''Coco Chanel'' 2011. * ''The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus''. 2014. * ''Lost Girls: The Invention of the Flapper''. 2016.

References

External links

* Living people 1946 births Skidmore College faculty Brandeis University alumni American biographers American academics of English literature Academics from Brooklyn Queens College, City University of New York alumni People from Flushing, Queens New York University alumni {{US-English-academic-bio-stub