Francis Steegmuller (July 3, 1906 – October 20, 1994) was an American biographer, translator and fiction writer, who was known chiefly as a

Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

scholar.

Life and career

Born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, Steegmuller graduated 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 1927. He contributed numerous short stories and articles to ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' and also wrote under the pseudonyms of Byron Steel and David Keith. He won two

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 ...

s—one in 1971 for

Arts and Letters Arts and Letters (April 1, 1966 – October 16, 1998) was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Background Arts and Letters was a chestnut horse owned and bred by American sportsman and philanthropist Paul Mellon, and train ...

for his biography of

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

(''Cocteau: A Biography''),"National Book Awards – 1971"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

. Retrieved 2012-03-10. another in 1981 for

Translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

for the first volume of Flaubert's selected letters (''The Letters of Gustave Flaubert 1830-1857'')"National Book Awards – 1981"

. Retrieved 2012-03-10.—and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal. His first wife was Beatrice Stein, a painter who was a pupil and friend of

Jacques Villon Jacques Villon (July 31, 1875 – June 9, 1963), also known as Gaston Duchamp, was a French Cubist and Abstract art, abstract painter and printmaker. Early life Born Émile Méry Frédéric Gaston Duchamp in Damville, Eure, Damville, Eure, ...

; she died in 1961. He married the writer

Shirley Hazzard Shirley Hazzard (30 January 1931 – 12 December 2016) was an Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She was born in Australia and also held U.S. citizenship. Hazzard's 1970 novel '' The Bay of Noon'' was shortlisted ...

in 1963. His collected papers are held at two universities: at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, the James Jackson Jarves (1818–1888) Papers and th
Francis Steegmuller Collection for Jacques Villon
at

, th
Francis Steegmuller Papers 1877–1979
He died in New York.

Works

Nonfiction

*
Sir Francis Bacon: the first modern mind
' (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran, 1930) *
America on Relief
' (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1938 wit
Marie Dresden Lane
*
Flaubert and Madame Bovary: A Double Portrait
' (New York:

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...

, 1939) * ''

Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

: A Lion In The Path'' (New York:

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 1949) * ''The Two Lives of James Jackson Jarves'' (New Haven:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, 1951) *
The Grand Mademoiselle
' (New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1956) * ''

Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of th ...

: Poet Among the Painters'' (New York: Farrar, Straus & Company, 1963) *
Jacques Villon, master printmaker. An exhibition at R.M. Light & Co., Helene C. Seiferheld Gallery inc., New York, February, 1964.
' (New York: High Grade Press, 1964) * ''

Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

: A Biography'' (Boston: Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1970) * ''Stories and True Stories'' (Boston: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1972) * ''"Your Isadora": The Love Story of

Isadora Duncan Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...

& Gordon Craig'' (New York: Random House, 1974) * Catherine McNamara, ''School days remembered : oral history interview with Francis Steegmuller''
Oral history project. Friends of the Greenwich Library
, (Greenwich, CT

1978) *

The Story of Madame d'Épinay and the Abbé Galiani'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1991)

Translations

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

, ''The Selected Letters of Gustave Flaubert (The Great Letters Series)'' (New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1953) *

,
Madame Bovary
' (New York: Random House for the

Book of the Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members ...

, 1957) *

,
A Letter from Gustave Flaubert
', illustrated by

Leonard Baskin Leonard Baskin (August 15, 1922 – June 3, 2000) was an American sculptor, draughtsman and graphic artist, as well as founder of the Gehenna Press (1942–2000). One of America's first fine arts presses, it went on to become "one of the most imp ...

(Northampton, MA: Gehenna Press, 1960) * Edward Lear, ''Le Hibou et la Poussiquette, Edward Lear's

The Owl and the Pussycat "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1870 in the American magazine '' Our Young Folks: an Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls'' and again the following year in Lear's own book ''Nonsense Songs, S ...

'' freely translated into French, illustrated by Barbara Cooney (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1961) * Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, ''Selected Essays'', translated from the French with

Norbert Guterman Norbert Guterman (1900–1984) was a scholar, and translator of scholarly and literary works from French, Polish and Latin into English. His translations were remarkable for their range of subject matter and high quality. Born in Warsaw, Guterman ...

(Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1963) *

Eugene Field Eugene Field Sr. (September 2, 1850 – November 4, 1895) was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. He was known as the "poet of childhood". Early life and education Field was born in St. Louis, Missour ...

, ''Papillot, Clignot et Dodo,

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" is a popular poem for children written by American writer and poet Eugene Field and published on March 9, 1889. The original title was "Dutch Lullaby". The poem is a fantasy bed-time story about three children sailing a ...

'' freely translated into French with

, illustrated by Barbara Cooney (New York: Ariel Books, 1964) *

, ''Intimate Notebook 1840-1841'' (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1967) *

,
Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour
' (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1972) *

,
The Letters of Gustave Flaubert 1830-1857
' (Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

, 1980) *

,
The Letters of Gustave Flaubert, 1857-1880
' (Cambridge:

, 1982) *

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...

, ''Flaubert-Sand: The Correspondence,'' translated with Barbara Bray (London: Harvill, 1993)

Novels

* ''O Rare

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1928 under the name Byron Steel) * ''A Matter of Iodine'' (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1940 under the name David Keith) * ''A Matter of Accent'' (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1943 under the name David Keith) * ''States of Grace'' (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1946) * ''The Blue Harpsichord'' (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1949 under the name David Keith) * ''The Christening Party'' (New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1960) * ''Silence at Salerno: A comedy of intrigue'' (New York:

Holt, Rinehart and Winston Holt McDougal is an American publishing company, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, that specializes in textbooks for use in high schools. The Holt name is derived from that of U.S. publisher Henry Holt (1840–1926), co-founder of the e ...

, 1978)

Short stories

*''French Follies and Other Follies: 20 stories from

'' (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1946)

Travel books

*''Java-Java'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1928 under the name Byron Steel) *''Let's Visit

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

'' (New York: J. Messner, Inc., 1938) *
The Ancient Shore: Dispatches from Naples
' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008) (with

)

Magazine and newspaper articles

*''

Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

: Fifty Years After,'' Show, February 1963 *''An Angel, A Flower, A Bird'' (profile of

Barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protectio ...

), ''

'', September 27, 1969 * "Francis Steegmuller: A Life of Letters." Interview by Lucy Latane Gordon. ''

Wilson Library Bulletin The ''Wilson Library Bulletin'' was a professional American magazine published for librarians from 1914 to 1995 by the H. W. Wilson Company, Bronx. NY. It began as ''The Wilson Bulletin'' and published occasionally. In its first volume were disc ...

'' (January, 1992): 62-64, 136.

Quotations

*"I’m told that when Auden died, they found his Oxford nglish Dictionaryall but clawed to pieces. That is the way a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and his dictionary should come out."

References

**Series I. Author Correspondence, 1909-1982, Box 58 Folder 8, Steegmuller, Francis, 1928-1982.
The John Malcolm Brinnin Papers, 1930 - 1981Special Collections
University of Delaware Library **Series I. Literary and professional correspondence, 1930 - 1982, Box 19 Folder 408, Steegmuller, Francis, 1906-, ***1971 Oct 25 ALS 2p ***1972 Jun 22 ACS 1p
Cummings, E.E. (Edward Estlin), 1894-1962. Papers
, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library,

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 ...

, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 **Series: I. MS Am 1823: Letters to E. E. Cummings, (1261) Steegmuller, Francis, 1906- 3 letters; 1959-1962. **Series: II. MS Am 1823.1: Letters from E. E. Cummings, (353) King, Madeleine, recipient. 1 letter;

959 Year 959 ( CMLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * April - May – The Byzantines refuse to pay the yearly tribute. A Hungari ...

Includes letters to Stephen K. Oberbeck, Charlotte B. Howe, Mae Ward and F. Steegmuller **Series: III. MS Am 1823.2: Letters to Marion (Morehouse) Cummings, (241) Steegmuller, Francis, 1906- 1 letter; 1959.
Mina Kirstein Curtiss Papers, 1913-2005
Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. **Series III. Correspondence, (1913–85), Box 15 Folder 6, Steegmuller, Francis, 1948–84, n.d.
Levin, Harry, 1912-1994. Papers
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library,

, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 **Series: I. Correspondence, (939) Steegmuller, Francis, 1906-. Correspondence with

Harry Levin Harry Tuchman Levin (July 18, 1912 – May 29, 1994) was an American literary critic and scholar of both modernism and comparative literature. Life and career Levin was born in Minneapolis, the son of Beatrice Hirshler (née Tuchman) and Isado ...

, 1954-1987. 3 folders. **Series: III. Other correspondence ***B. Letters to Elena Levin, (1226) Steegmuller, Francis, 1906-. Letter to Elena Levin, 1970. 1 folder. ***C. Correspondence by others, (1261) Bond, W.H. (William Henry), 1915-. Letters to others, 1966-1978. 1 folder. Includes letters to Francis Steegmuller,

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

, and Jeremy Treglown.
Jacques Seligmann & Co. Records, 1904-1978 in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
**Series 1: Correspondence, 1913-1978; 1.3: General Correspondence, 1913-1978 ***Box 091, Steegmuller, Francis, 1946-1956 **Series 2: Collectors Files, 1904-1977, undated; 2.1: Collectors, 1908, 1917-1977, undated ***Box 208, Steegmuller, Francis, undated
Francis Steegmuller Correspondence with Charles AntinDepartment of Special Collections & University Archives
McFarlin Library,

The University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin ...

**33 autograph and typescript postcards and letters dating from 1965 to 1978 from Francis Steegmuller to Charles Antin of

, all relating to Steegmuller's translation of

's ''Novembre.''

Biographical references

Many of the pages cited below can be read on

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

if you click on the title of the book. *

Julian Barnes Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with '' The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with '' Flaubert's Parrot'', ''England, England'', and '' A ...

,
Nothing to be frightened of
' (New York:

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

, 2008), pp. 132, 166
168
*Hyman Bogen,
The Luckiest Orphans: a history of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York
' (Champaign, IL:

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...

, 1992), p. 219 *Barbara A. Burkhardt,
William Maxwell: a literary life
' (Champaign, IL:

, 2005), pp. 189–190, 196, 260, 271 *Richard M. Cook,
Alfred Kazin: a biography
' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007), pp. 237–238, 388-389, 395 *Scott Donaldson,
John Cheever: a biography
' (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc., 2001), pp. 158, 254 *Richard Greene, editor,
Graham Greene: a life in letters
' (London:

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown (publisher), James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Ear ...

, 2007), pp. 330–1, 332 *Lawrence Jackson,
Ralph Ellison: emergence of genius
' (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002), pp. 369, 376, 383, 384, 413 *Greg Johnson, editor,
The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates 1973 - 1982
' (New York:

Ecco Ecco or ECCO may refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Ecco the Dolphin'' (series), a series of action-adventure science fiction video games ** ''Ecco the Dolphin'', a 1992 video game * Ecco (''Gotham''), a TV series character Organizations ...

, 2007), p. 469 *Catherine McNamara, ''School days remembered: oral history interview with Francis Steegmuller''
Oral history project. Friends of the Greenwich Library
, (Greenwich, CT

1978) * David Marr, editor,
Letters / Patrick White
' (Chicago:

The University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including '' The Chicago Manual of Style'' ...

, 1996), pp. 474, 499, 528, 530, 532-3, 575, 625, 637, 643 * Albert Murray, John F. Callahan, eds.,
Trading Twelves: the selected letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray
' (New York:

The Modern Library The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became a ...

, 2000), pp. 6, 10, 23, 26, 160, 165 * Graham Payn,

Sheridan Morley Sheridan Morley (5 December 1941 − 16 February 2007) was an English author, biographer, critic and broadcaster. He was the official biographer of Sir John Gielgud and wrote biographies of many other theatrical figures he had known, includin ...

, eds.,
The Noël Coward Diaries
' (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 2000), p. 623 *

Arnold Rampersad Arnold Rampersad (born 13 November 1941) is a biographer, literary critic, and academic, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to the US in 1965. The first volume (1986) of his ''Life of Langston Hughes'' was a finalist for the Pulitzer ...

,
Ralph Ellison: a biography
' (New York:

, 2007), pp. 172, 212-13, 215, 216, 232, 233, 236-7, 240, 241, 242, 250, 259, 331, 332, 405 *

Ned Rorem Ned Rorem (October 23, 1923 – November 18, 2022) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and writer. Best known for his art songs, which number over 500, Rorem was the leading American of his time writing in the genre. Althoug ...

,
The Later Diaries 1961–1972
' (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 2000), pp. 196, 277, 319–320, 343 *Martin Stannard,
Muriel Spark: the biography
' (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010), pp. 271–2, 274, 276, 284, 299, 404 *

Diana Trilling Diana Trilling (née Rubin; July 21, 1905 – October 23, 1996) was an American literary critic and author, one of a group of left-wing writers known as the New York Intellectuals. Background Born Diana Rubin, she married the literary and c ...

,
The Beginning of the Journey: the marriage of Diana and Lionel Trilling
' (New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993), pp. 83, 122 *

Alec Wilkinson Alec Wilkinson (born 1952) is a writer who has been on the staff of ''The New Yorker'' since 1980. According to ''The Philadelphia Inquirer '' he is among the "first rank of" contemporary American (20th and early 21st century) "literary journali ...

,
My Mentor: a young man's friendship with William Maxwell
' (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002), pp. 110, 126, 146 *Alan Ziegler,
The Writing Workshop Note Book: notes on creating and workshopping
' (Berkeley, CA:

Soft Skull Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company distributed by Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Avalon Publishing Group's Shoemaker & Hoard and the independent S ...

, 2008), p. 12

External links

Francis Steegmuller Papers 1877-1979
Columbia University Libraries
Francis Steegmuller Collection of Jacques Villon.
General Collection
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

* James Jackson Jarves (1818-1888) Papers
Manuscripts and Archives
Yale University Library

New York Times Obituary, 22 October 1994.
Criterion Collection essay
for

's ''

Beauty and the Beast (1946 film) ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête – also the UK title) is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. Starring Josette Day as Belle and Jean Marais as the Beast, it is an adaptat ...

'' by Francis Steegmuller
Barbara Cooney Papers
Archives & Special Collections at th
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center

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 H ...

Libraries
The Greenwich Library Oral History Project
for ''School days remembered: oral history interview with Francis Steegmuller'' by Catherine McNamara. A copy of this interview may be purchased at the Oral History Project office. {{DEFAULTSORT:Steegmuller, Francis 1906 births 1994 deaths Columbia College (New York) alumni National Book Award winners 20th-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American male writers