Terrence Des Pres

Terrence Des Pres (1939 – November 16, 1987) was an American writer and Holocaust scholar.

Life

Terrence Des Pres was born in Effingham, Illinois in 1939. He graduated from Southeast Missouri State College in 1962. He went on to graduate study in philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis, completing his doctorate there in 1968.

He was appointed a junior fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University, where he formed a friendship with John Nathan. Des Pres served as the society's sommelier.Nathan, John (2008).
Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere: A Memoir
'. New York: Free Press. p. 125-126.

He was married twice, and had a son with his first wife.

Work

Beginning in 1973 Des Pres was a professor at Colgate University, where he held the William Henry Crawshaw Chair in Literature; he taught classes on poetry, British and Irish literature, and the literature of the Holocaust.Terrence Des Pres papers
– Biography. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2025-05-31. At Colgate, he spent time with writer Frederick Busch.

Des Pres is best known for his work on the Holocaust documented in his book '' The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps''.

He also wrote '' Praises & Dispraises'', published posthumously in 1988, which dealt with poetry and its usefulness for survival.

Death

Des Pres died on November 16, 1987 at his home in Hamilton, New York. John Nathan refers to the death in his memoir as a suicide. Des Pres's death was ruled "accidental" by the Madison County medical examiners' office, Madison, NY.Mariani, Maria Anna. "Close reading of a title: On ''Survival in Auschwitz''", p. 247-264; here: 259 (note 12). In: ''The Ethics of Survival in Contemporary Literature and Culture'', eds. Rudolf Freiburg and Gerd Bayer. p. 259. According to a 1990 ''Boston Globe'' article, he died by hanging.

After his death, poet Paul Mariani spoke at a service for Des Pres at Colgate, where they may have spent time together as Mariani worked on his master's degree.

See also

* List of Harvard Junior Fellows
*Carolyn Forché, who was influenced by Des Pres, and organized the "Genocide and Memory" conference in 1997, where Des Pres was remembered. Her poem "Ourselves or Nothing" is about Des Pres.
*Peter Balakian, poet and Colgate professor, also organized the 1997 "Genocide and Memory conference. In addition to their Colgate connection, Balakian is of Armenian descent, and Des Pres' work with survival literature included the Armenian genocide.
*Paul Mariani, poet, wrote the introduction to Des Pres' collection of essays "Writing Into the World"
*Geoffrey Hartman, professor at Yale University, had interviewed Des Pres and presented a video of it at the "Genocide and Memory" conference along with a paper.

Bibliography

*; reprint, Oxford University Press, 1980,
*
*''Writing into the World.'' New York: Viking. 1991. foreword by Elie Wiesel
* "Remembering Armenia" to introduce ''The Armenian Genocide in Perspective''. edited by Richard G. Hovannisian Transaction Publishers: 1986.
*"Introduction" for ''Treblinka: The inspiring story of the 600 Jews who revolted against their murderers and burned a Nazi death camp to the ground'', by Jean-Francois Steiner. Plume, 1994.

Edited

*

Awards

* 1978: National Jewish Book Award in the Holocaust category for ''The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps''

References

Further reading

This Land is My Land, but Maybe Not Your Land
InterfaithFamily.com – Jean-Paul Des Pres article mentioning his father

{{DEFAULTSORT:Des Pres, Terrence
1939 births
1987 deaths
20th-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
American historians of the Holocaust
Colgate University faculty
People from Effingham, Illinois
Southeast Missouri State University alumni
Washington University in St. Louis alumni
Suicides by hanging in New York (state)
Historians from New York (state)
Historians from Illinois
20th-century American male writers
Harvard Fellows