Thomas Seltzer (translator)
Encyclopedia
Thomas Seltzer was a Russian-American translator, editor and book publisher.
on scholarship and graduated in 1897, going on to do post-graduate work at Columbia University
. In addition to speaking his native Russian, Seltzer was conversant in Polish
, Italian
, German
, Yiddish, and French
and it was his language skills that led him to a career as a translator. He parlayed his way with words into work as a journalist and editor, writing for newspapers and magazines, notably Harper's Weekly
and in 1911-1918, Seltzer worked with Max Eastman
, Charles Erskine Scott Wood
, and others as editor of the socialist magazine, The Masses
.
As an editor, Seltzer gained experience at Funk & Wagnalls and beginning in 1917 the New York publishing firm Boni and Liveright. It was during his tenure with Funk & Wagnalls that Seltzer met his wife Adele Szold and the couple were married October 21, 1906.
In 1919 Seltzer established his own publishing venture, Thomas Seltzer, Inc., and is credited with bringing D. H. Lawrence
's works to the American public. His work also brought him into contact with such authors as Henry James
and Theodore Dreiser
.
As a result of publishing controversial writers, Seltzer was attacked by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice
in 1922 and all copies of D. H.Lawrence's Women in Love
, Arthur Schnitzler
's Casanova's Homecoming, and the anonymously written A Young Girl's Diary were confiscated. Seltzer refused to back down, retaining a lawyer and fighting the attempted censorship in the court case People v. Seltzer. Although victorious, it was not to be the end of Seltzer's fight against censorship, as he was charged with publishing "unclean" books in 1923; once again, D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love was the impetus for the charges. Fighting censorship charges eventually led Seltzer’s publishing efforts into bankruptcy. The business was taken over by Seltzer's nephews Charles and Albert Boni.
Seltzer died in New York on September 11, 1943, three years after Adele's death. He had no children.
Works compiled and edited by Seltzer:
Works Published by Thomas Seltzer, Inc.:
Life
Born in Russia, Thomas Seltzer moved to the United States with his family as a young child. He attended the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
on scholarship and graduated in 1897, going on to do post-graduate work at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. In addition to speaking his native Russian, Seltzer was conversant in Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Yiddish, and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and it was his language skills that led him to a career as a translator. He parlayed his way with words into work as a journalist and editor, writing for newspapers and magazines, notably Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor...
and in 1911-1918, Seltzer worked with Max Eastman
Max Eastman
Max Forrester Eastman was an American writer on literature, philosophy and society, a poet, and a prominent political activist. For many years, Eastman was a supporter of socialism, a leading patron of the Harlem Renaissance and an activist for a number of liberal and radical causes...
, Charles Erskine Scott Wood
Charles Erskine Scott Wood
Charles Erskine Scott Wood was an author, civil libertarian, soldier, and attorney. He is best known as the author of the 1927 satirical bestseller, Heavenly Discourse.-Early life:...
, and others as editor of the socialist magazine, The Masses
The Masses
The Masses was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the U.S. from 1911 until 1917, when Federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was succeeded by The Liberator and then later The New Masses...
.
As an editor, Seltzer gained experience at Funk & Wagnalls and beginning in 1917 the New York publishing firm Boni and Liveright. It was during his tenure with Funk & Wagnalls that Seltzer met his wife Adele Szold and the couple were married October 21, 1906.
In 1919 Seltzer established his own publishing venture, Thomas Seltzer, Inc., and is credited with bringing D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
's works to the American public. His work also brought him into contact with such authors as Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
and Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of...
.
As a result of publishing controversial writers, Seltzer was attacked by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice
New York Society for the Suppression of Vice
The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice was an institution dedicated to supervising the morality of the public, founded in 1873. Its specific mission was to monitor compliance with state laws and work with the courts and district attorneys in bringing offenders to justice. It and its...
in 1922 and all copies of D. H.Lawrence's Women in Love
Women in Love
Women in Love is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence published in 1920. It is a sequel to his earlier novel The Rainbow , and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, pursues a destructive relationship with Gerald Crich, an...
, Arthur Schnitzler
Arthur Schnitzler
Dr. Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.- Biography :Arthur Schnitzler, son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter , was born in Praterstraße 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian...
's Casanova's Homecoming, and the anonymously written A Young Girl's Diary were confiscated. Seltzer refused to back down, retaining a lawyer and fighting the attempted censorship in the court case People v. Seltzer. Although victorious, it was not to be the end of Seltzer's fight against censorship, as he was charged with publishing "unclean" books in 1923; once again, D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love was the impetus for the charges. Fighting censorship charges eventually led Seltzer’s publishing efforts into bankruptcy. The business was taken over by Seltzer's nephews Charles and Albert Boni.
Seltzer died in New York on September 11, 1943, three years after Adele's death. He had no children.
Works
Works translated by Seltzer:- Andreyev, Leonid. The pretty Sabine women; a play in three acts. [publication information unknown.]
- Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Poor people. [publication information unknown.]
- Gorky, Maksim. Mother. [publication information unknown.]
- Gorky, Maksim. The spy: the story of a superfluous man.New York, B.W. Huebsch, 1908.
- Sudermann, Hermann. The song of songs. New York : Huebsch, 1909.
- Ostwald, Wilhelm. Natural philosophy. New York, H. Holt and company, 1910.
- Andreyev, Leonid. Savva.The life of man: two plays. Boston : Little, Brown, 1911.
- Hauptmann, Gerhart. The fool in Christ, Emanuel Quint; a novel. London: Methuen & Co, 1911.
- Novikov, IA. A. War and its alleged benefits. New York, H. Holt and company, 1911.
- Hauptmann, Gerhart. Atlantis: a novel. New York, B.W. Huebsch, 1912.
- Andreyev, Leonid. Love of one's neighbor. New York, A. and C. Boni, 1914.
- Przybyszewski, Stanislaw. Homo sapiens: a novel in three parts. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1915.
- Artsybashev, M. War; a play in four acts. New York, A.A. Knopf, 1916.
- Gogol’, Nikolai Vasil’evich. The inspector-general: a comedy in five acts. New York, A.A. Knopf, 1916.
- Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich Philipp August. Eternity : world-war thoughts on life and death, religion, and the theory of evolution. New York, The Truth seeker, 1916.
- Savinkov, B. V. What never happened; a novel of the revolution. New York : Knopf, 1917.
- Andreyev, Leonid. The seven that were hanged. New York, Boni and Liveright 1918.
- Andersen Nexø, Martin. In God's land. New York, P. Smith, 1933.
Works compiled and edited by Seltzer:
- Tolstoi : a critical study of him and his works. New York, E.S. Werner Pub. & supply Co., 1901.
- Best Russian short stories. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1917
- Embers of a revolution : stories collected in the decade before the Russian Revolution
Works Published by Thomas Seltzer, Inc.:
- James, Henry. Master Eustace. 1920.
- Lawrence, D. H. Touch and Go 1920.
- Lawrence, D. H. Women in Love. 1920.
- Anonymous. A Young Girl's Diary. 1921
- Lawrence, D. H. Sea and Sardinia. 1921.
- Lawrence, D. H. Tortoises. 1921.
- Schnitzler, Arthur. Cassanova's Homecoming. 1921
- Lawrence, D. H. England, my England, and other stories. 1922.
- Lawrence, D. H. Fantasia of the unconscious. 1922.
- Lawrence, D. H. Kangaroo. 1923.
- Lawrence, D. H. Studies in classic American literature. 1923.
- Scott, Evelyn. Escapade. 1923.
- Crane, Nathalia. The janitor's boy: and other poems. 1924.
- Proust, Marcel. Within a budding grove. 1924.
- Ford, Ford Madox. Some do not. 1925.
- Proust, Marcel. The Guermantes way. 1925.
- Scott, Evelyn. The golden door. 1925
Further reading
- Lawrence, D. H. Letters to Thomas and Adele Seltzer. Santa Barbara, CA: Black Sparrow Press, 1976.
- Tanselle, G. Thomas. 'The Thomas Seltzer Imprint.' Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, 1964, 58(4): 380-448.