Judson Jerome was an American poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, and literary critic, perhaps best known for having written the poetry column for Writer's Digest

Writer's Digest

Writer's Digest is an American magazine devoted to both beginning and established writers, offering interviews, market listings, calls for manuscripts, and how-to articles....

for thirty years.

Jerome was also responsible for a controversial amendment to Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...

's 1933 short story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is a short story by American author Ernest Hemingway, first published in 1926. It was later included in his 1933 collection, Winner Take Nothing.- Plot synopsis:...

http://www.davidgagne.net/2001/11/10/a-clean-well-lighted-place/; in 1956, Jerome -- then an assistant professor of English at Antioch College

Antioch College

Antioch College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was the founder and the flagship institution of the six-campus Antioch University system. Founded in 1852 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1853 with politician and...

 -- wrote to Hemingway to inquire about a section of dialogue which he saw as problematic. Hemingway responded to Jerome with the thirteen words "I just read the story over and it makes sense to me. Sorry."; however, when A Clean, Well-Lighted Place was republished posthumously in Scribner's Magazine

Scribner's Magazine

Scribner's Magazine was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. Scribner's Magazine was the second magazine out of the "Scribner's" firm, after the publication of Scribner's Monthly...

in 1965, the passage in question had been changed to address Jerome's concerns. The Jerome-inspired changes, and whether Scribner's was correct in making them, remain a subject of debate among Hemingway scholars.

External links

• Obituary at the New York Times
• Hayes Walker's recollections of his longtime correspondence with Jerome