Van Wyck Brooks (February 16, 1886 in

Plainfield, New Jersey Plainfield is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, known by its nickname as "The Queen City."

Bridgewater, Connecticut Bridgewater is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,662 at the 2020 census, down from 1,727 at the 2010 census. Bridgewater is well known as being a weekend getaway for wealthy New Yorkers, due to its sc ...

) was an American

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. ...

, biographer, and historian.

Biography

Brooks graduated from

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 highe ...

in 1908. As a student he published his first book, a collection of poetry called ''Verses by Two Undergraduates'', co-written with his friend John Hall Wheelock. Brooks's best-known work is a series of studies entitled ''Makers and Finders'' (5 volumes, 1936–1952), which chronicled the development of

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...

during

the long 19th century The ''long nineteenth century'' is a term for the 125-year period beginning with the onset of the French Revolution in 1789 and ending with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It was coined by Russian writer Ilya Ehrenburg and British Marxist h ...

. Brooks embroidered elaborate biographical detail into

anecdotal Anecdotal evidence is evidence based only on personal observation, collected in a casual or non-systematic manner. The term is sometimes used in a legal context to describe certain kinds of testimony which are uncorroborated by objective, indepen ...

prose. For ''The Flowering of New England, 1815–1865'' (1936) he won the second

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 ...

for Non-Fiction from the American Book Sellers Association "Books and Authors", ''The New York Times'', 1936-04-12, p. BR12. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007)."5 Honors Awarded on the Year's Books: ...", ''The New York Times'', 1937-02-26, p. 23. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007). and the 1937

Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...

. The book was also included in

Life Magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924–1944. Brooks was a long-time resident of

, which built a town library wing in his name. Although a decade-long fund-raising effort was abandoned in 1972, a hermit in Los Angeles, Charles E. Piggott, with no connection to Bridgewater surprised the town by leaving money for the library in his will. With $210,000 raised, the library addition went up in 1980. Among his works, the book ''The Ordeal of Mark Twain'' (1920) analyzes the literary progression of Samuel L. Clemens and attributes shortcomings to Clemens's mother and wife. In 1925 he published a translation from French of the 1920 biography of

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and h ...

by Leon Bazalgette, entitled ''Henry Thoreau, Bachelor of Nature''. In 1944, Brooks was on the cover of ''Time Magazine''.

Bibliography

* 1905: ''Verses by Two Undergraduates'' (with John Hall Wheelock) * 1908: ''The Wine of the Puritans: A Study of Present-Day America'' * 1913: ''The Malady of the Ideal: Senancour,

Maurice de Guérin Georges-Maurice de Guérin (4 August 181019 July 1839) was a French poet. His works were imbued with a passion for nature whose intensity reached almost to worship and was enriched by pagan elements. According to Sainte-Beuve, no French poet or ...

, and Amiel'' * 1914: ''

John Addington Symonds John Addington Symonds, Jr. (; 5 October 1840 – 19 April 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies of writers and artists. Although m ...

: A Biographical Study'' * 1915: ''The World of H.G. Wells'' * 1915: ''America's Coming of Age'' * 1920: ''The Ordeal of

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

'' * 1925: ''The Pilgrimage of

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

'' * 1925: ''Henry Thoreau, Bachelor of Nature'' (by Leon Bazalgette, translated by Van Wyck Brooks) * 1932: ''The Life of Emerson'' * 1934: ''Three Essays on America'' * 1936: ''The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865'' (Makers and Finders)archive.org
/ref> * 1940: ''New England: Indian Summer, 1865-1915'' (Makers and Finders) * 1941: ''Opinions of Oliver Allston'' * 1941: ''On Literature Today'' * 1944: ''The World of

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

'' (Makers and Finders) * 1947: ''The Times of Melville and Whitman'' (Makers and Finders) * 1948: ''A Chilmark Miscellany'' * 1952: ''The Confident Years: 1885-1915'' (Makers and Finders) * 1952: ''Makers and Finders: A History of the Writer in America, 1800-1915'' * 1953: ''The Writer in America'' * 1954: ''Scenes and Portraits: Memoirs of Childhood and Youth'' (An Autobiography) * 1955: '' John Sloan: A Painter's Life'' * 1956: '' Helen Keller: Sketch for a Portrait'' * 1957: ''Days of the Phoenix: The Nineteen-Twenties I Remember'' (An Autobiography) * 1958: ''The Dream of Arcadia: American Writers and Artists in Italy, 1760-1915'' * 1958: ''From a Writer's Notebook'' * 1959: '' Howells: His Life and World'' * 1961: ''From the Shadow of the Mountain: My Post-Meridian Years'' (An Autobiography) * 1962: '' Fenollosa and His Circle: With Other Essays in Biography'' * 1965: ''An Autobiography''

Awards and honors

Places named after him

The

Van Wyck Brooks Historic District The Van Wyck Brooks Historic District is a historic district located in the city of Plainfield in Union County, New Jersey. Named after the author and literary critic Van Wyck Brooks, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on ...

, known for its old Victorian and

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930s ...

style buildings in Plainfield, the town of his birth, is named after him.

Prizes

* 1937:

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 ...

in history and

for 1936 nonfiction * 1938: Goldmedaille des ''Limited Editions Club'' * 1944: ''Carey Thomas Award'' for ''The World of Washington Irving'' * 1946: Goldmedal of ''National Institute of Arts and Letters'' (

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

) * 1953: ''Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal'' * 1954: ''Huntington Hartford Foundation Award'' * 1957: ''Secondary Education Board Award'' for ''Helen Keller: Sketch for a Portrait''

Honorary degrees

''Doctor of Letters'': *

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

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 ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

* Harvard University *

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois. NEIU serves approximately 9,000 students in the region and is a Hispanic-serving institution. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

''Doctor of Humane Letters'': *

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

References

External links

Van Wyck Brooks papers, 1872-1983, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania
* * * *
Finding aid to Van Wyck Brooks papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Van Wyck 1886 births 1963 deaths Writers from Plainfield, New Jersey American literary critics Pulitzer Prize for History winners Humanism Harvard University alumni 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers Historians of the American West Historians of the United States National Book Award winners People from Bridgewater, Connecticut American male non-fiction writers Historians from New Jersey Historians from Connecticut Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters