Richard Poirier (born

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

, September 9, 1925, died

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, August 15, 2009) was an American literary critic.

Career

He graduated from

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, and also studied under the literary critic

F. R. Leavis Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis ( ; 14 July 1895 – 14 April 1978) was an English literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for much of his career at Downing College, Cambridge, and later at the University of York. Leav ...

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the oldest of ...

, on a Fulbright Scholarship. He co-founded the

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published more than 300 volumes by authors ...

, and served as chairman of its board. He was the Marius Bewley Professor of American and English Literature at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

. He was also the editor of '' Raritan'', a literary quarterly, and an editor of ''

Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a left-wing small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affi ...

''. He was series editor of Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards from 1961 to 1966. 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."Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" January 30, 1968 ''New York Post''

Works

* ''Stories British and American'' (1953) with Jack Barry Ludwig * ''The Comic Sense of Henry James: A Study of the Early Novels'' (1960) * ''In Defense of Reading : A Reader's Approach to Literary Criticism'' (1963) editor with Reuben A. Brower * ''A World Elsewhere: The Place of Style in American Literature'' (1966) * ''American Literature: Volume Two'' (Little, Brown 1970) editor with William L. Vance * ''The Oxford Reader: Varieties of Contemporary Discourse'' (1971) editor with

Frank Kermode Sir John Frank Kermode, FBA (29 November 1919 – 17 August 2010) was a British literary critic best known for his 1967 work '' The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction'' and for his extensive book-reviewing and editing. He wa ...

* ''The Performing Self: Compositions and Decompositions in the Languages of Contemporary Life'' (1971) * ''Mailer'' ( Fontana Modern Masters, 1972) * ''Robert Frost: The Work of Knowing'' (1977) * ''The Renewal Of Literature: Emersonian Reflections'' (Random House, 1987) * ''Raritan Reading'' (1990) editor * ''Ralph Waldo Emerson'' (1990) * ''Poetry and Pragmatism'' (1992) * ''Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays of Robert Frost'' (

, 1995) editor with Mark Richardson * ''Trying It Out in America: Literary and Other Performances'' (2003)

References

External links

Finding aid to Richard Poirier Collection at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Biographical page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poirier, Richard 1925 births 2009 deaths People from Gloucester, Massachusetts Rutgers University faculty American gay writers American tax resisters Amherst College alumni Yale University alumni Harvard University alumni Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge 20th-century American LGBTQ people