John Erskine (October 5, 1879 – June 2, 1951) was an American educator and author, pianist and composer. He was an English professor at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educati ...

from 1903 to 1909, followed by

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 ...

from 1909 to 1937. He was the first president of the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

. During his tenure at Columbia University he formulated the General Honors Course—responsible for inspiring the influential

Great Books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...

movement. He published over 100 books, novels, criticism, and essays including his most important essay, ''

The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent ''The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent'' is an essay in the collection ''The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent, and Other Essays'', published in 1915 by John Erskine, English professor at Columbia University. The essay was first read before ...

'' (1915).

Early life and education

Erskine was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, New York, the son of Eliza Jane (née Hollingsworth) and James Morrison Erskine. and raised in

Weehawken, New Jersey Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,197.

. He graduated from

, B.A., 1900, M.A. 1901 and Ph.D., 1903 and D.Litt. 1929, besides D.Litt. degree from Amherst in 1923.

Career

Erskine was English professor at

from 1903 to 1909, and subsequently taught at Columbia University from 1909 to 1937. In 1910, he led foundation of the Boar's Head Society for literature. In 1920, he instituted Columbia College's General Honors Course, a two-year undergraduate seminar that would later help inspire "Masterworks of Western Literature," now known commonly as "Literature Humanities," the second component of Columbia College's Core Curriculum. This course taught the classics in translation instead of the original Latin or Greek, a concept he elaborated in his noted essay ''The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent''. He found little support for the course from the senior faculty, and junior faculty members like

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 later after 1923, Mortimer Adler took up sections of the course. This course would later go on to inspire the

movement, centered on the Great Books of the Western World. The course was discontinued in 1928, though later reconstituted. In 1929, Adler left Columbia to join

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he continued to work on the theme with Robert Hutchins, President of the university. Together they subsequently went on to found the Great Books of the Western World program and the Great Books Foundation. Erskine co-wrote the 1900 Varsity Show at Columbia, writing the musical score for ''The Governor's Vrouw'' (1900), a two-act comic opera by Henry Sydnor Harrison and poet Melville Cane, who also wrote the lyrics. He won the Butler Medal in 1919. During his career Erskine published over 100 books, though as a writer he first received acclaim with his novel ''The Private Life of

Helen of Troy Helen of Troy, Helen, Helena, (Ancient Greek: Ἑλένη ''Helénē'', ) also known as beautiful Helen, Helen of Argos, or Helen of Sparta, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believe ...

'' (1925). This novel was made into a silent film by the same the name in 1927, directed by

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)A Lady Surrenders ''A Lady Surrenders'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code romantic drama film directed by John M. Stahl and starring Genevieve Tobin, Rose Hobart, Conrad Nagel, and Basil Rathbone. A copy exists in the Library of Congress. Plot summary A man is left ...

'' (1930) by

John M. Stahl John Malcolm Stahl (January 21, 1886 – January 12, 1950) was an American film director and producer. Life and work He was born Jacob Morris Strelitsky in Baku (Azerbaijan) to a Russian Jewish family. When he was a child, his family left ...

, ''Bachelor of Arts'' (1934) by

Louis King Louis King (June 28, 1898 – September 7, 1962) was an American actor and film director of westerns and adventure movies in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

and ''

The President's Mystery ''The President's Mystery'' is a 1936 American film directed by Phil Rosen. The film is also known as ''One for All'' in the United Kingdom. Plot summary The film deals with a "problem Mr. Roosevelt submitted . . . whether it was possib ...

'' (1936) directed by Phil Rosen. The 1956 biopic of French noblewoman

Diane de Poitiers Diane de Poitiers (9 January 1500 – 25 April 1566) was a French noblewoman and prominent courtier. She wielded much power and influence as King Henry II's royal mistress and adviser until his death. Her position increased her wealth and famil ...

entitled '' Diane'' was based on his story with a screenplay by

Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include ''Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...

. He was also the author of numerous publications, including several humorous novels retelling myths and legends, besides essays, criticism, and two volumes of autobiography. These included '' Penelope's Man'' and ''Adam and Eve, Though He Knew Better''. Erskine was also an accomplished composer, pianist and musician. He wrote several books of music and the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

for George Antheil's opera '' Helen Retires'' (1931), which was based on ''The Private Life of Helen of Troy''. He was the first president of the

from 1928 to 1937. He was also director of the Metropolitan Opera Association, which runs the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is opera ...

, a noted opera company based in New York City. Erskine is also credited with writing the subtitles for a number of films, including

Sacha Guitry Alexandre-Pierre Georges "Sacha" Guitry (; 21 February 188524 July 1957) was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French actor, Lucien Guitry, and follo ...

's '' Le Roman d'un tricheur'' (The Story of a Cheat) in 1938,

Marcel Pagnol Marcel Paul Pagnol (; 28 February 1895 – 18 April 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Regarded as an auteur, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie française. Although his work is less fashionabl ...

's ''The Baker's Wife'' in 1940 and

Mario Camerini Mario Camerini (6 February 1895 – 4 February 1981) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. The cousin of Augusto Genina, he made the most well-known films in Italy during the 1930s, most of them comedies starring Vittorio De Sica. H ...

's '' The Spirit and the Flesh'', an adaptation of

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...

's classic novel ''The Betrothed'', in 1948. To commemorate the seven hundredth anniversary of

Roger Bacon Roger Bacon (; la, Rogerus or ', also '' Rogerus''; ), also known by the scholastic accolade ''Doctor Mirabilis'', was a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through emp ...

, Erskine wrote ''A Pageant of the Thirteenth Century,'' a biographical play which was produced at Columbia University and published as a book by

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fie ...

in 1914. The Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College holds a collection of his papers. In 1946 he served as the first chairman of the American Writers Association.

Personal life

He was married twice to Pauline Ives (m. 1910–1945) and Helen Worden Erskine (m. 1946–1951). With his wife Pauline (Ives), he was the grandfather of actress Lindsay Crouse and the great-grandfather of actress Zosia Mamet. He died on June 2, 1951, in New York at the age of 71. Erskine Place, a street in Co-op City in the

borough of

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

, was named after him.

Bibliography

* ''The Elizabethan Lyric'' (1903) * ''Selections from the Faerie Queene'' (1905) * ''Actœon and Other Poems'' (1907) * ''Leading American novelists'' (1910) * ''Written English'', with Helen Erskine (1910; revised edition, 1913) * ''Selections from the Idylls of the King'' (1912) * ''The Kinds of Poetry'' (1913) * ''Poems of Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats'', with W. P. Trent (1914) * ''Contemporary War Poems'' (Introduction) (1914) * ''

, and Other Essays'' (1915) * ''Interpretations of Literature, by

Lafcadio Hearn , born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (; el, Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χέρν, Patríkios Lefkádios Chérn, Irish: Pádraig Lafcadio O'hEarain), was an Irish- Greek- Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture a ...

'' (edited and with an introduction by Erskine) (1915) * ''Appreciations of Poetry, by Lafcadio Hearn'' (edited and with an introduction by Erskine) (1916) * ''Life and Literature, by Lafcadio Hearn'' (edited and with an introduction by Erskine)(1917) * ''The Shadowed Hour'' (1917) * ''Democracy and Ideals'' (1920) * ''Short History of American Literature; Based Upon the Cambridge History of American Literature'' (1922) * ''The Little Disciple'' (1923) * ''The Private Life of Helen of Troy'' (1925) * ''Sonata'' (1925) * ''Galahad'' (1926) * ''Adam and Eve'' (1927) * ''American Character'' (1927) * ''Prohibition and Christianity, and Other Paradoxes'' (1927) * ''The Delight of Great Books'' (1928) * ''Penelope's Man'' (1928) * ''Sincerity'' (1929) * ''Uncle Sam in the Eyes of His Family'' (1930) * ''Cinderella's Daughter, and Other Sequels and Consequences'' (1930) * ''Tristan and Isolde'' (1932) * ''Bachelor of Arts'' (1934) * ''The Influence of Women and Its Cure'' (1936) * ''The Brief Hour of Francois Villon'' (1937) * ''The Start of the Road'' (1938) * ''Baker's Wife'' (1940) * ''Give Me liberty; the Story of an Innocent Bystander'' (1940) * ''Casanova's Women, Eleven Moments of a Year'' (1941) * ''The Complete Life: A Guide to the Active Enjoyment of the Arts & of Living'' (1943) * "What Is Music?" (1944) * ''The Human Life of Jesus'' (1945) * ''Venus, the Lonely Goddess'' (1949) * ''My Life in Music'' (1950)

References

John Erskine
at

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