Albert J. Guerard
Encyclopedia
Albert Joseph Guerard was an American critic, novelist, and professor. He was born in Houston
, Texas
, and educated at Stanford University
, (B.A. 1934), (Ph.D. 1938) and Harvard University
, (M.A. 1936).
before earning his doctorate from Stanford in 1938. He taught at Harvard from 1938 to 1961, with a stint in the Army from 1943 to 1945 where he was a Technical Sergeant
in the psychological warfare
branch.
He moved to Stanford in 1961 where he launched the university's first freshman seminar program, which ran for 13 years. As many as 400 students were involved in it annually. He also worked to get funding for the Voice Project, a program that brought professional writers to campus to teach freshmen. He succeeded Yvor Winters
in the literature chair named after Guerard's father, Albert Léon Guérard
, who was also a professor at Stanford for many years. He remained at Stanford until 1985. His students included writers John Hawkes, Frank O'Hara
and Harriet Doerr
. His interest in modernism
and postmodernism
led him to develop Stanford's interdisciplinary doctoral program in "Modern Thought and Literature", which still exists.
After suffering from emphysema for many years, he died in the same room where his father had died 41 years before.
His novels include Night Journey, which drew from his experience in psychological warfare intelligence during World War II.
His critical books include The Triumph of the Novel: Dickens, Dostoevsky and Faulkner, which looks at three authors who broke away from realism.
He held the record for the most novels written by any living U.S. critic and the most critical books of any living American novelist.
He received a 1977-78 Humanities and Sciences Dean's Award for distinguished teaching and a 1983 Walter J. Gores Award for excellence in teaching. In 1998, Guerard received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
"Yes, so long as the writer-teacher doesn't think of it as a matter of techniques to be passed on, tricks of the trade, formulas for success. The process is empirical. Every genuine writer has a voice of his own -- an inward voice that stems from his temperament as well as from experience. The experienced teacher listens to that voice, helps bring it out."
He was also asked whether it was unusual for a writer to be both novelist and literary critic:
"I suppose it is," he replied. "Yet there is the same psychologizing bent in both kinds of writing the same interest and ambiguity. And both kinds of writing have had a very marked effect on my teaching."
In a 1982 Phi Beta Kappa address, Guerard talked about the role of literature and the humanities in respect to the real world (specifically, in this case, the possibility of nuclear holocaust):
"We have Caspar Weinberger
and others suggesting that we can 'prevail' in a protracted war in spite of 50 or 100 million Americans dead. At an intellectual level, this suggests a failure to consult history, and the lesson that governments do not survive catastrophic defeat, which nuclear war would do to both sides. At a visual level, it is a failure to see what 50 or 100 million deaths 'look like.' . . . The greatest writers take us beyond our common sense and selective inattention, even to paradoxical sympathy with the lost and the damned take us, that is, to the recognition of humanity in its most hidden places."
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and educated at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, (B.A. 1934), (Ph.D. 1938) and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, (M.A. 1936).
Life
Guerard was born in Houston in 1914. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1934 from Stanford and a master's from Harvard in 1936. He taught for a year at Amherst CollegeAmherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
before earning his doctorate from Stanford in 1938. He taught at Harvard from 1938 to 1961, with a stint in the Army from 1943 to 1945 where he was a Technical Sergeant
Technical Sergeant
Technical Sergeant is the name of one current and two former enlisted ranks in the United States military.-United States Air Force:Technical Sergeant, or Tech Sergeant, is the sixth enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force, just above Staff Sergeant and below Master Sergeant. A technical sergeant is...
in the psychological warfare
Psychological warfare
Psychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...
branch.
He moved to Stanford in 1961 where he launched the university's first freshman seminar program, which ran for 13 years. As many as 400 students were involved in it annually. He also worked to get funding for the Voice Project, a program that brought professional writers to campus to teach freshmen. He succeeded Yvor Winters
Yvor Winters
Arthur Yvor Winters was an American poet and literary critic.-As modernist:Winters's early poetry, which appeared in small avant-garde magazines alongside work by writers like James Joyce and Gertrude Stein, was written in the modernist idiom, and was heavily influenced both by Native American...
in the literature chair named after Guerard's father, Albert Léon Guérard
Albert Léon Guérard
Albert Léon Guérard was prominent scholar of Comparative Literature. Guérard taught at Stanford University for many years. A prolific author, he published works on French and European civilization and world literature.-References:...
, who was also a professor at Stanford for many years. He remained at Stanford until 1985. His students included writers John Hawkes, Frank O'Hara
Frank O'Hara
Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara was an American writer, poet and art critic. He was a member of the New York School of poetry.-Life:...
and Harriet Doerr
Harriet Doerr
Harriet Huntington Doerr was an American author who published her first novel at the age of 74.-Early life:...
. His interest in modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
and postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
led him to develop Stanford's interdisciplinary doctoral program in "Modern Thought and Literature", which still exists.
After suffering from emphysema for many years, he died in the same room where his father had died 41 years before.
Work & awards
Guerard published nine novels, six books of criticism and a memoir called The Touch of Time: Myth, Memory and the Self, as well as a number of critical essays. He was preparing to submit a volume of some of his critical writing for publication when he died.His novels include Night Journey, which drew from his experience in psychological warfare intelligence during World War II.
His critical books include The Triumph of the Novel: Dickens, Dostoevsky and Faulkner, which looks at three authors who broke away from realism.
He held the record for the most novels written by any living U.S. critic and the most critical books of any living American novelist.
He received a 1977-78 Humanities and Sciences Dean's Award for distinguished teaching and a 1983 Walter J. Gores Award for excellence in teaching. In 1998, Guerard received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Quotes
Once asked whether he thought it was possible to teach creative writing, Guerard said:"Yes, so long as the writer-teacher doesn't think of it as a matter of techniques to be passed on, tricks of the trade, formulas for success. The process is empirical. Every genuine writer has a voice of his own -- an inward voice that stems from his temperament as well as from experience. The experienced teacher listens to that voice, helps bring it out."
He was also asked whether it was unusual for a writer to be both novelist and literary critic:
"I suppose it is," he replied. "Yet there is the same psychologizing bent in both kinds of writing the same interest and ambiguity. And both kinds of writing have had a very marked effect on my teaching."
In a 1982 Phi Beta Kappa address, Guerard talked about the role of literature and the humanities in respect to the real world (specifically, in this case, the possibility of nuclear holocaust):
"We have Caspar Weinberger
Caspar Weinberger
Caspar Willard "Cap" Weinberger , was an American politician, vice president and general counsel of Bechtel Corporation, and Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan from January 21, 1981, until November 23, 1987, making him the third longest-serving defense secretary to date, after...
and others suggesting that we can 'prevail' in a protracted war in spite of 50 or 100 million Americans dead. At an intellectual level, this suggests a failure to consult history, and the lesson that governments do not survive catastrophic defeat, which nuclear war would do to both sides. At a visual level, it is a failure to see what 50 or 100 million deaths 'look like.' . . . The greatest writers take us beyond our common sense and selective inattention, even to paradoxical sympathy with the lost and the damned take us, that is, to the recognition of humanity in its most hidden places."
Novels
- The Past Must Alter. London, Longman, 1937; New York, Holt, 1938.
- The Hunted. New York, Knopf, 1944; London, Longman, 1947.
- Maquisard: A Christmas Tale. New York, Knopf, 1945; London, Longman, 1946.
- Night Journey. New York, Knopf, 1950; London, Longman, 1951.
- The Bystander. Boston, Little Brown, 1958; London, Faber, 1959.
- The Exiles. London, Faber, 1962; New York, Macmillan, 1963.
- Christine/Annette. New York, Dutton, 1985.
- Gabrielle: An Entertainment. New York, Fine, 1992.
- The Hotel in the Jungle. Dallas. Baskerville Publishers. 1995.
- Maquisard: A Christmas Tale. Novato, California, Lyford Books, 1995.
Short stories
- Suspended Sentences. Santa Barbara, California, John Daniel, 1999.
- Uncollected Short Stories
- "Davos in Winter," in Hound and Horn (Cambridge, Massachusetts), October–December 1933.
- "Tragic Autumn," in The Magazine (Beverly Hills, California), December 1933.
- "Miss Prindle's Lover," in The Magazine (Beverly Hills, California), February 1934; revised edition, in Wake (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Spring 1948.
- "Turista," in The Best American Short Stories of 1947, edited byMartha Foley. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1947.
- "The Incubus," in The Dial (New York), vol. 1, no. 2, 1960.
- "The Lusts and Gratifications of Andrada," in Paris Review, Summer-Fall 1962.
- "On the Operating Table," in Denver Quarterly, Autumn 1966.
- "The Journey," in Partisan Review (New Brunswick, New Jersey), Winter 1967.
- "The Rabbit and the Tapes," in Sewanee Review (Tennessee), Spring1972.
- "The Pillars of Hercules," in Fiction (New York), December 1973.
- "Bon Papa Reviendra," in Tri-Quarterly (Evanston, Illinois), Spring1975.
- "Post Mortem: The Garcia Incident," in Southern Review (BatonRouge, Louisiana), Spring 1978.
- "Diplomatic Immunity," in Sequoia (Stanford, California), Autumn-Winter, 1978.
- "The Poetry of Flight," in Northwest Magazine (Portland, Oregon), 22 January 1984.
- "The Mongol Orbit," in Sequoia (Stanford, California), CentennialIssue, 1989.
Criticism
- Robert Bridges: A Study of Traditionalism in Poetry. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, and London, Oxford University Press, 1942.
- Joseph Conrad. New York, New Directions, 1947.
- Thomas Hardy: The Novels and Stories. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1949; London, Oxford University Press, 1950; revised edition, 1964.
- André Gide. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, and London, Oxford University Press, 1951; revised edition, 1969.
- Conrad the Novelist. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1958; London, Oxford University Press, 1959.
- The Triumph of the Novel: Dickens, Dostoevsky, Faulkner. NewYork, Oxford University Press, 1976; London, Oxford University Press, 1977.
- The Touch of Time: Myth, Memory, and the Self. Stanford, California, Stanford Alumni Association, 1980.
- Editor, Prosateurs Américains de XXe Siécle. Paris, Laffont, 1947.
- Editor, The Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy. New York, HoltRinehart, 1961.
- Editor, Hardy: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 1963.
- Editor, Perspective on the Novel, special issue of Daedalus (Boston), Spring 1963.
- Co-Editor, The Personal Voice: A Contemporary Prose Reader. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1964.
- Editor, Stories of the Double. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1967.
- Editor, Mirror and Mirage. Stanford, California, Stanford AlumniAssociation, 1980.