Geoffrey H. Hartman (August 11, 1929 – March 14, 2016) was a German-born American

literary theorist Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mora ...

, sometimes identified with the Yale School of deconstruction, although he cannot be categorised by a single school or method. Hartman spent most of his career in the comparative literature department at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he also founded the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies.

Biography

Geoffrey H. Hartmann was born in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, in an

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

Jewish family. In 1939, he left Germany for England as an unaccompanied child refugee, sent away by his family to escape the Nazi regime. He came to the United States in 1946, where he was reunited with his mother, and later became an American citizen. Upon their arrival to the United States, his mother changed the family surname to "Hartman" to obscure its German origin. Hartman attended

Queens College, City University of New York Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

and received his PhD from Yale. After appointments at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

and

Cornell Cornell University is a 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 White in 1865. Since ...

in the 1950s, Hartman returned to Yale and was eventually made

Sterling Professor Sterling Professor, the highest academic rank at Yale University, is awarded to a Academic tenure in North America, tenured faculty member considered the best in their field. It is akin to the rank of distinguished professor at other universities. ...

of English and Comparative Literature at

. One of his long-term interests was the English poet

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

. His work explores the nature of the creative imagination, as well as the interrelationship of literature and literary commentary."Geoffrey H. Hartman." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2016. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 17 October 2016. He helped found the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale's

Sterling Memorial Library Sterling Memorial Library (SML) is the main library, library building of the Yale University Library system in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Opened in 1931, the library was designed by James Gamble Rogers as the centerpiece of Yale's Go ...

, and lectured on issues dealing with the production and implications of testimony.

Selected works

*''The Unmediated Vision: An Interpretation of Wordsworth, Hopkins,

Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as a significant ...

, and

Valéry Valery () is a male given name and occasional surname. It is derived from the Latin name '' Valerius''. The Slavic given name Valeriy or Valeri is prevalent in Russia and derives directly from the Latin. Given name * Valery Afanassiev, Russian ...

'' (1954) *''

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

'' (1960) *''Wordsworth's Poetry, 1787-1814'' (1964) *''Beyond Formalism: Literary Essays, 1958-1970'' (1970) *''The Fate of Reading and Other Essays'' (1975) *''Akiba's Children'' (1978) *''Psychoanalysis and the Question of the Text: Selected Papers from the English Institute, 1976-77'' (1978, editor) *'' Criticism in the Wilderness: The Study of Literature Today'' (1980) *''Saving the Text: Literature/

Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

/Philosophy'' (1981) *''Easy Pieces'' (1985) *''Midrash and Literature'' (1986, editor) *''Bitburg in Moral and Political Perspective'' (1986, editor) *''The Unremarkable Wordsworth'' (1987) *''Minor Prophecies: The Literary Essay in the Culture Wars'' (1991) *''The Longest Shadow: In the Aftermath of the Holocaust'' (1996) *''The Fateful Question of Culture'' (1997) *''A Critic's Journey: Literary Reflections, 1958-1998'' (1999) *''Scars of the Spirit: The Struggle Against Inauthenticity'' (2004) *''A Scholar's Tale: Intellectual Journey of a Displaced Child of Europe'' (2007)

References

External links

* Compiled by Eddie Yeghiayan in 1992, and updated circa 2001 *For a review of Hartman's memoirs, see 1929 births 2016 deaths American literary critics Deconstruction German Ashkenazi Jews Kindertransport refugees American male non-fiction writers American people of German-Jewish descent Emigrants from Nazi Germany Immigrants to the United Kingdom Immigrants to the United States Jewish American non-fiction writers American academics of English literature Yale Sterling Professors {{US-English-academic-bio-stub