Edmund Wilson (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer, noted chiefly for his literary criticism. Most literary experts considered Wilson the preeminent American literary critic of his day, and perhaps of the 20th century. May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (129th in leap years). ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... June 12 is the 163rd day of the year (164th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ...

Early life

Edmund Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, and his father was a lawyer. He was educated first at The Hill School and then at Princeton from 1912-1916. He began his writing career as a reporter for the New York Sun, and served in the army during the First World War. He was the managing editor of Vanity Fair in 1920 and 1921, and later served as Associate Editor of The New Republic and a book reviewer for The New Yorker. His works influenced novelists Upton Sinclair, John Dos Passos, Sinclair Lewis, Floyd Dell and Theodore Dreiser, and he wrote plays, poems, and novels, but his strength was literary criticism. Map of Red Bank in Monmouth County The Borough of Red Bank is a Borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey incorporated in 1908. ... The Hill School (The Hill) is an American preparatory boarding school for boys and girls in grades nine through twelve. ... Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States of America. ... The original New York Sun began publication September 3, 1833, as a morning newspaper, and an evening edition began in 1887. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Vanity Fair is a glossy American glamour magazine monthly that offers a mixture of articles on high-brow culture, jet-set and entertainment-business personalities, politics, and current affairs. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... For other uses, see the New Republic disambiguation page. ... The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry and fiction. ... Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. ... John Rodrigo Dos Passos (January 14, 1896 — September 28, 1970) was an important Portuguese-American novelist and artist. ... Sinclair Lewis Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 — January 10, 1951) was an American novelist and playwright. ... Floyd Dell (born 28th June, 1887) is an U.S. playwright, socialist. ... Theodore Dreiser, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1933 Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American naturalist author known for dealing with the gritty reality of life. ...

Early major works

Axel's Castle: A Study in the Imaginative Literature of 1870-1930 (1931) was a sweeping survey of Symbolism. It covered Arthur Rimbaud, Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (author of Axel), W. B. Yeats, Paul Valéry, T. S. Eliot, Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and Gertrude Stein. Rimbaud redirects here. ... Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de lIsle-Adam (November 7, 1838 – August 19, 1889) was a French symbolist writer. ... William Butler Yeats, 1933 photograph, author unknown. ... For other people of the same name, see Valery. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ... “Proust” redirects here. ... James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish Séamus Seoighe; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 29, 1946) was an American writer and catalyst in the development of modern art and literature, who spent most of her life in France. ...

In his landmark book To the Finland Station (1940), Wilson studied the course of European socialism, from the 1824 discovery by Jules Michelet of Vico culminating in the 1917 arrival of Lenin at the Finland Station of Saint Petersburg to lead the Bolshevik Revolution. To the Finland Station is the most famous book by the American critic and historian Edmund Wilson. ... Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ... 1824 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Jules Michelet (August 21, 1798 - February 9, 1874) was a French historian. ... Giambattista Vico or Giovanni Battista Vico (1668–1744) was a Neapolitan philosopher, historian, and jurist. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин  listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ...

Wilson was interested in modern culture as a whole, and many of his writings go beyond the realm of pure literary criticism. His early works are heavily influenced by the ideas of Freud and Marx, reflecting his deep interest in their work. Sigmund Freud (born Sigismund Schlomo Freud) May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939; (IPA: ) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who co-founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ...

Context and relationships

Wilson's critical works helped foster public appreciation for U.S. novelists Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Vladimir Nabokov. Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. ... John Rodrigo Dos Passos (January 14, 1896 — September 28, 1970) was an important Portuguese-American novelist and artist. ... William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American novelist and poet whose works feature his native state of Mississippi. ... Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American Jazz Age author of novels and short stories. ... Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков, pronounced ) (April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1899, Saint Petersburg – July 2, 1977, Montreux) was a Russian-American author. ...

Edmund Wilson attended Princeton with Fitzgerald, who referred to Wilson as his "intellectual conscience," and after his early death from a heart attack in December 1940 at the age of 44, Wilson edited two books of Fitzgerald's (The Last Tycoon and The Crack-Up) for posthumous publication, donating his editorial services for free in order to help Fitzgerald's family. He was also a friend of Nabokov, with whom he corresponded extensively and whose writing he introduced to Western audiences; however, their friendship was marred by Wilson's cool reaction to Nabokov's Lolita and irretrievably damaged by a dispute over Wilson's public criticism of Nabokov's eccentric translation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. Categories: Literature stubs | 1941 books | 1994 books | Novels ... Lolita (1955) is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. ... Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Пу́шкин, IPA: ,  ) (June 6 [O.S. May 26] 1799 – February 10 [O.S. January 29] 1837) was a Russian Romantic author who is considered to be the greatest Russian poet[1][2][3][4] and the founder of modern Russian literature. ... Eugene Onegin (Russian: Евгений Онегин, BGN/PCGN: Yevgeniy Onegin) is a novel in verse written by Aleksandr Pushkin. ...

Edmund Wilson was often rather indifferent to the pain that his vigorous criticism might bring to others. This was only a minor problem in his role as a literary critic, but in personal relationships it was more costly.

Wilson was a much-married man who also had many affairs. His first wife was Mary Blair, who had been in Eugene O'Neill's theatrical company. Second wife Margaret Canby was described as a charming, cultured lady who regarded Wilson as more of a friend. After her death in a freak accident two years after their marriage, Wilson wrote a long elegy to her and said later that he bore a burden of guilt over having neglected her. From 1938 to 1946 he was married to Mary McCarthy, who was also well-known for her literary criticism. She admired enormously Wilson's breadth of reading and depth of intellect, and they co-operated on numerous works. In an article in The New Yorker, Louis Menand says "The marriage to McCarthy was a mistake that neither side wanted to be first to admit. When they fought, he would retreat into his study and lock the door; she would set piles of paper on fire and try to push them under it." He wrote many letters to Anais Nin, criticizing her for her surrealistic style as opposed to the realism that was then deemed correct writing, and ended by asking for her hand, saying he would "teach her to write", which she took as an insult. He later married Elena Mumm Thornton, but continued to have extramarital relationships. Eugene Gladstone ONeill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was a Nobel- and four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright. ... Mary Therese McCarthy (June 21, 1912 – October 25, 1989) was an American author and critic. ... Ana s Nin (February 21, 1903 - January 14, 1977) was a French author who became famous for her self-published diaries, which span a period of forty years, beginning when she was twelve years old. ... Literary realism most often refers to the trend, in early 19th century French literature, towards depictions of contemporary life and society as it is, in the spirit of general Realism, instead of a romanticized or similarly stylized presentation. ...

Cold War times

Wilson was also an outspoken critic of U.S. Cold War policies. He did not pay his income tax from 1946 to 1955 and was later investigated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He also failed to pay state income taxes, which had little to do with the Cold War. For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... A tax resister resists or refuses payment of a tax because of opposition to the institution collecting the tax, or to some of that institution’s policies. ... An income tax is a tax levied on the financial income of persons, corporations, or other legal entities. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Seal of the Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the United States federal government agency that collects taxes and enforces the internal revenue laws. ...

After a settlement, Wilson received a $25,000 fine rather than the original $69,000, perhaps due to his political connections to the Kennedy administration. He received no jail time. In his book The Cold War and the Income Tax: A Protest (1963), Wilson argued that, as a result of competitive militarization against the Soviet Union, the civil liberties of Americans were being paradoxically infringed under the guise of defense from Communism. For these reasons, Wilson also opposed US involvement in the Vietnam War. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also referred to as John F. Kennedy, JFK, John Kennedy or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. ... Civil liberties is the name given to freedoms that protect the individual from government. ... Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...

Works (selected)

• Axel's Castle: A Study in the Imaginative Literature of 1870-1930, New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1931.
• To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1940.
• The Wound and the Bow: Seven Studies in Literature, Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1941.
• (editor) The Shock of Recognition: The Development of Literature in the U.S. Recorded by the Men Who Made It, New York, NY: Modern Library, 1943.
  • Volume I. The Nineteenth Century.
  • Volume II. The Twentieth Century.
• Memoirs of Hecate County, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1946.
• The Triple Thinkers: Twelve Essays on Literary Subjects, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Co., 1948.
• Classics and Commercials: A Literary Chronicle of the Forties, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Co., 1950.
• The Shores of Light: A Literary Chronicle of the Twenties and Thirties, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Young, 1953.
• The Scrolls from the Dead Sea, Fontana Books, 1955.
• Red, Black, Blond and Olive: Studies in Four Civilizations: Zuni; Hainti; Soviet Russia; Israel, London: W. H. Allen, 1956.
• A Piece of My Mind: Reflections at Sixty, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1956.
• The American Earthquake: A Documentary of the Twenties and Thirties (A Documentary of the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, and the New Deal), Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1958.
• Apologies to the Iroquois, New York, NY: Vintage, 1960.
• Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1962.
• The Cold War and the Income Tax: A protest, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Co., 1964.
• The Bit Between My Teeth: A Literary Chronicle of 1950-1965, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1966.
• Europe without Baedeker: Sketches among the Ruins of Italy, Greece and England, with Notes from a European Diary: 1963-64: Paris, Rome, Budapest, London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1967.
• The Twenties: From Notebooks and Diaries of the Period, ed. Leon Edel, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975.
• The Thirties: From Notebooks and Diaries of the Period, ed. Leon Edel, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1980.
• The Forties: From Notebooks and Diaries of the Period, ed. Leon Edel, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1983.
• The Fifties: From Notebooks and Diaries of the Period, ed. Leon Edel, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1986.
• The Sixties: The Last Journal 1960-1972, ed. Lewis M. Dabney, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1993.
• Dear Bunny, Dear Volodya: The Nabokov-Wilson Letters, 1940-1971, ed. Simon Karlinsky, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1979; "Revised and Expanded Edition," 2001.
• Edmund Wilson: The Man in Letters, ed. Janet Groth and David Castronovo, Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1992.

To the Finland Station is the most famous book by the American critic and historian Edmund Wilson. ... Fragments of the scrolls on display at the Archeological Museum, Amman The Dead Sea scrolls (Hebrew: מגילות ים המלח) comprise roughly 825-872 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet... Cover of volume one of Leon Edels five-volume biography of Henry James, Avon Books paperback edition 1978 Joseph Leon Edel (9 September 1907 – 5 September 1997) was a North American literary critic and biographer. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Edmund Wilson

• Missionary: Edmund Wilson and American culture by Louis Menand New Yorker 8 August 2005
• Photo
• Wilson, Reuel, "Edmund Wilson's Cape Cod Landscape", Virginia Quarterly Review, Winter 2004.