Frederick Robert Karl (1927–2004) was a literary biographer, best known for his work on

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...

, a literary critic, and an editor. He spent 25 years teaching at

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

and then followed with 18 years 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 ...

Biography

Karl was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

in 1927. He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and received his B.A. from Columbia College in 1948. He then earned a master's degree from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

before receiving his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1957. He taught at CCNY from 1957 to 1982 and NYU until 2000, when he retired. His first work, ''A Reader's Guide to Great 20th-Century English Novels'', discussed writers such as E. M. Forster, D. H. Lawrence,

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

and

. He went on to write extensive biographies about Conrad,

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

, and

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

. He also edited a multi-volume series, ''Biography and Source Studies'', and co-edited a volume of letters between Conrad and Laurence Davies. In 1968, he signed the “

Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse o ...

” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. Karl received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1965.

Books

*''A Reader's Guide to Great 20th-Century English Novels'' (1959) *''Joseph Conrad: The Three Lives'' (

Farrar Straus Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

, 1979) *''American Fictions, 1940-1980: A Comprehensive History & Critical Evaluation'' (

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

1983) *''William Faulkner: American Writer'' (

Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld ...

, 1989) *''Franz Kafka: Representative Man'' (

Ticknor & Fields Ticknor and Fields was an American publishing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as a bookstore in 1832, the business published many 19th-century American authors, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, H ...

, 1991) *''George Eliot -- Voice of a Century: A Biography'' (

W. W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly '' The Norton ...

, 1995) *''American Fictions: 1980-2000: Whose America Is It Anyway?'' (

Xlibris Xlibris is a self-publishing and on-demand printing services provider, founded in 1997 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. In 2000, ''The New York Times'' stated it to be the foremost on-demand publisher. The current president i ...

, 2001) *''A Chronicle of Wasted Time: America in the Seventies'' (Xlibris, 2002) *''Art Into Life'' ( Etruscan, 2005)

References

External links

Frederick Robert Karl papers
at the University of South Carolina Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. 1927 births 2004 deaths American male biographers American tax resisters 20th-century American biographers 20th-century male writers City College of New York faculty New York University faculty 20th-century American male writers Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Stanford University alumni {{US-bio-writer-stub