Arthur Livingston (September 30, 1883 in

Northbridge, Massachusetts Northbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,335 at the 2020 census. The Northbridge Town Hall is located at 7 Main Street in Whitinsville. The town is now a part of the Blackstone River Valley ...

– 1944), was an American professor of Romance languages and literatures, translator, and publisher, who played a significant role in introducing a number of European writers to readers in the United States in the period between World War I and World War II.

Biography

Arthur Livingston earned his A.B. at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

in 1904, and received a doctorate in Romance languages from

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 ...

in 1910. Livingston taught Italian at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

(1908-1909) and at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

(1910-1911). He was associate professor of Romance Languages at

(1911-1917). During World War I, Arthur Livingston was an editor with the Foreign Press Bureau of the

Committee on Public Information The Committee on Public Information (1917–1919), also known as the CPI or the Creel Committee, was an independent agency of the government of the United States under the Wilson administration created to influence public opinion to support the ...

. After the war he co-founded with Paul Kennaday and

Ernest Poole Ernest Cook Poole (January 23, 1880 – January 10, 1950) was an American journalist, novelist, and playwright. Poole is best remembered for his sympathetic first-hand reportage of revolutionary Russia during and immediately after the Revolution ...

the Foreign Press Service, which represented foreign authors in English-language markets. He persuaded many American publishers that it was possible to create a market for the work of European authors in the United States. Livingston helped introduce to the United States the work of Octave Aubry,

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (, 29 January 1867 – 28 January 1928) was a journalist, politician, and a bestselling Spanish novelist in various genres whose most widespread and lasting fame in the English-speaking world is from Hollywood films that ...

, Giuseppe Antonio Borgese,

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce, ( , ; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography, and aesthetics. A Cultural liberalism, poli ...

Claude Farrère Claude Farrère (), pseudonym of Frédéric-Charles Bargone (; 27 April 1876, in Lyon – 21 June 1957, in Paris), was a French Navy officer and writer. Many of his novels are based in exotic locations such as Istanbul, Saigon, or Nagasaki. On ...

, Guglielmo Ferrero, André Maurois,

Alberto Moravia Alberto Pincherle (; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990), known by his pseudonym Alberto Moravia ( , ), was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia i ...

Gaetano Mosca Gaetano Mosca (; 1 April 1858 – 8 November 1941) was an Italian political scientist, journalist and public servant. He is credited with developing the elite theory and the doctrine of the political class and is one of the three members const ...

Giovanni Papini Giovanni Papini (9 January 18818 July 1956) was an Italian journalist, essayist, novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, and Italian philosophy, philosopher. A controversial literary figure of the early and mid-twentieth century, he ...

Vilfredo Pareto Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto (; ; born Wilfried Fritz Pareto; 15 July 1848 – 19 August 1923) was an Italian polymath, whose areas of interest included sociology, civil engineering, economics, political science, and philosophy. He made severa ...

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

, Giuseppe Prezzolini, and Guido da Verona. In 1926 Livingston returned to academia, becoming Professor of Romance Languages at

in 1935.

Personal life and views

Livingston was strongly opposed to

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

and was in correspondence with a number of anti-fascist intellectuals in Italy, like Lauro de Bosis. His political position created difficulties for him at Columbia University. Arthur Livingston had a notable liaison with the actress

Eleonora Duse Eleonora Giulia Amalia Duse ( , ; 3 October 185821 April 1924), often known simply as Duse, was an Italian actress, rated by many as the greatest of her time. She performed in many countries, notably in the plays of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Henr ...

Published work

As a scholar, Livingston was the author of two book-length studies of Gian Francesco Busenello. He was better known for his superb translations, which are sometimes said to be more readable than the originals.Malcolm M. Willey, review of Margaret Wilson Vine, ''An Introduction to Sociological Theory'', in ''American Sociological Review'' 35.3 (June 1970), 531-39;

Eric Voegelin Eric Voegelin (born Erich Hermann Wilhelm Vögelin, ; January 3, 1901 – January 19, 1985) was a German-American political philosopher. He was born in Cologne, and educated in political science at the University of Vienna, where he became an ass ...

, Jodi Cockerill, and Barry Cooper, ''Selected Book Reviews'' (University of Missouri Press, 2001), 119. Livingston translated three works by Octave Aubry, nine works of

, and single works by

(''The Conduct of Life'', 1924),

, Guglielmo Ferrero, and

, as well as ''The One-Act Plays of

'' (Dutton, 1928). His four-volume translation of

's 1916 ''magnum opus'' as ''

The Mind and Society ''The Mind and Society'' (, "Treatise on General Sociology") is a 1916 book by the Italian sociologist and economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923). In this book Pareto presents the first sociological cycle theory, centered on the concept of an ...

'' (1935) contributed to a Pareto vogue in the 1930s in American intellectual circles that was promoted by writers like

Bernard DeVoto Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It has West Germanic origin and is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''ber ...

. A posthumous collection of Livingston's criticism was published in 1950 as ''Essays on Modern Italian Literature''.

References

Arthur Livingston: An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Livingston, Arthur 1883 births 1944 deaths Columbia University faculty Cornell University faculty