Elizabeth Hardwick (writer)
| Elizabeth Hardwick | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born |
July 27, 1916 Lexington, Kentucky |
| Died |
December 2, 2007 (aged 91) Manhattan |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Kentucky |
| Genre | criticism |
| Notable awards | Guggenheim Fellowship |
| Spouse | Robert Lowell |
Elizabeth Hardwick (July 27, 1916 – December 2, 2007) was an American literary critic, novelist, and short story writer.[1]
Life
Hardwick was born in Lexington, Kentucky, to a strict Protestant family.[2] She graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1939. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1947.[3]
In 1959, Hardwick published in Harper's, "The Decline of Book Reviewing," a generally harsh and even scathing critique of book reviews published in American periodicals of the time. The 1962 New York City newspaper strike helped inspire Hardwick, Robert Lowell, Jason Epstein, Barbara Epstein, and Robert B. Silvers to establish The New York Review of Books, a publication that became as much a habit for many readers as The New York Times Book Review, which Hardwick had eviscerated in her 1959 essay.[2]
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Hardwick taught writing seminars at Barnard College and Columbia University's School of the Arts, Writing Division. She gave forthright critiques of student writing and was a mentor to students she considered promising.
From 1949 to 1972 she was married to the poet Robert Lowell. Their daughter is Harriet Lowell.[4]
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996.[5] In 2008, The Library of America selected Hardwick's account of Caryl Chessman's crimes for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American True Crime writing.
She died in 2007 in Manhattan.
Works
She was the author of three novels: The Ghostly Lover (1945), The Simple Truth (1955), and Sleepless Nights (1979). A collection of her short fiction, The New York Stories of Elizabeth Hardwick, was published in 2010. She also published four books of criticism: A View of My Own (1962), Seduction and Betrayal (1974), Bartleby in Manhattan (1983), and Sight-Readings (1998). In 1961 she edited The Selected Letters of William James and in 2000 she published a short biography, Herman Melville, in Viking Press's Penguin Lives series.[4]
References
- ↑ Chrisopher Lehmann-Haupt, "Elizabeth Hardwick, Writer, Dies at 91", New York Times Obituary, Dec. 4, 2007.
- 1 2 Paul Bailey (8 December 2007). "Elizabeth Hardwick: Writer, co-founder of 'The New York Review of Books' and long-suffering wife of Robert Lowell". The Independent.
- ↑ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Elizabeth Hardwick". www.gf.org. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
- 1 2 Lehmann-haupt, Chrisopher (2007-12-04). "Elizabeth Hardwick, Writer, Dies at 91". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
- ↑ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter H" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
External links
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Quotations related to Elizabeth Hardwick at Wikiquote - Darryl Pinckney (Summer 1985). "Elizabeth Hardwick, The Art of Fiction No. 87". The Paris Review.
- Tim Adams (29 August 2010). "The New York Stories of Elizabeth Hardwick". The Observer.
- "Elizabeth Hardwick". The New York Times.
- Derek Walcott tribute to Elizabeth Hardwick from The New York Review of Books
- Works by or about Elizabeth Hardwick in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Elizabeth Hardwick Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
- Elizabeth Hardwick's quotes
- Guide to the Elizabeth Hardwick manuscript, 1955 housed at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center