Richard Poirier
Encyclopedia
Richard Poirier was an American literary critic.
He co-founded the Library of America
, and served as chairman of its board. He was the Marius Bewley Professor of American and English Literature at Rutgers University
. He was also the editor of Raritan
, a literary quarterly, and an editor of Partisan Review
.
In 1968, he signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.
He co-founded the Library of America
Library of America
The Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
, and served as chairman of its board. He was the Marius Bewley Professor of American and English Literature at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
. He was also the editor of Raritan
Raritan Quarterly Review
Raritan is a well-regarded literary journal that publishes poetry, fiction and essays. The journal is based at Rutgers University in New Jersey...
, a literary quarterly, and an editor of Partisan Review
Partisan Review
Partisan Review was an American political and literary quarterly published from 1934 to 2003, though it suspended publication between October 1936 and December 1937.-Overview:...
.
In 1968, he signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.
Works
- Stories British and American (1953) with Jack Barry Ludwig
- The Comic Sense of Henry James: A Study of the Early Novels (1960)
- In Defense of Reading : A Readers Approach to Literary Criticism (1963) editor with Reuben A.Brower
- A World Elsewhere: The Place of Style in American Literature (1966)
- American Literature: Volume Two (Little, Brown 1970) editor with William L. Vance
- The Oxford Reader: Varieties of Contemporary Discourse (1971) editor with Frank KermodeFrank KermodeSir John Frank Kermode was a highly regarded British literary critic best known for his seminal critical work The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction, published in 1967 ....
- The Performing Self: Compositions and Decompositions in the Languages of Contemporary Life (1971)
- Mailer (Fontana Modern MastersFontana Modern MastersThe Fontana Modern Masters was a series of pocket guides on the writers, philosophers, and other thinkers and theorists whose ideas were shaping the intellectual landscape of the twentieth century. The first five titles were published on 12 January 1970 by Fontana Books, the paperback imprint of...
, 1972) - Robert Frost: The Work of Knowing (1977)
- The Renewal Of Literature: Emersonian Reflections (Random House, 1987) ISBN 0394501403
- Raritan Reading (1990) editor
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1990)
- Poetry and Pragmatism (1992)
- Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays of Robert Frost (Library of AmericaLibrary of AmericaThe Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
, 1995) editor with Mark Richardson - Trying It Out in America: Literary and Other Performances (2003)