Anna Balakian (14 July 1915 – 12 August 1997) was the former chair of the Department of Comparative Literature at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. She served as president of the American Comparative Literature Association from 1977 to 1980 and was a longtime leader in the International Comparative Literature Association. The author of numerous acclaimed books and articles, she was the recipient of many awards and was internationally recognized as an authority on symbolism and surrealism.

Life

Anna Balakian was born in Constantinople to Armenian parents. At the age of 11, she moved with her family to New Britain, Connecticut. She earned her bachelor's degree at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

and her master's and doctorate degree at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. While in graduate school, she taught French literature and language full-time at the

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a public academic magnet secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered and funded by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and no t ...

. She published her first book, ''The Literary Origins of Surrealism'' in 1947. In this study about the founders of modern French poetry, Anna Balakian placed avant-garde writers and artists against the background of French and German romanticism. In 1953, she began her long career at New York University culminating in her eight-year chairmanship of the Department of Comparative Literature. Balakian's next book, ''Surrealism: The Road to the Absolute'' (1959), is an exposition of, and apologia for, surrealist literature and art. In ''The Symbolist Movement: A Critical Appraisal'' (1969), she gives a concise yet detailed account of symbolist poetry. Her ''André Breton: Magus of Surrealism'' (1971) was the first full-scale biography of the founder of the surrealist movement. She and her sister,

Nona Balakian Nona Balakian (Armenian: Նոնա Պալագեան; September 4, 1918, in Constantinople – August 12, 1991, in New York City) was a literary critic and an editor at the '' New York Times Sunday Book Review''. She served on the Pulitzer Prize com ...

, a literary critic and an editor at ''The New York Times Book Review'', were members of a literary circle that also included the playwright

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''The ...

and the diarist

Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell ( ; ; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the d ...

. In 2004, the

International Comparative Literature Association The International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) (French: Association Internationale de Littérature Comparée—AILC) is an international organization for international research in comparative literature. Founded in 1954, ICLA pro ...

established the Anna Balakian Prize in honor of her and to promote scholarly research by younger comparatists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balakian, Anna 1915 births 1997 deaths Comparative literature academics American literary critics American women literary critics New York University faculty Hunter College alumni Columbia University alumni American people of Armenian descent Armenian genocide survivors Turkish emigrants to the United States