Wikipedia

Louis Kronenberger

Louis Kronenberger(December 9, 1904 – April 30, 1980) was an American literary critic (longest withTime,1938-1961), novelist, and biographer who wrote extensively on drama and the 18th century.[1]

Louis Kronenberger
Louis Kronenberger (1955) Photo by Carl Van Vechten
Louis Kronenberger (1955)
Photo byCarl Van Vechten
BornDecember 9, 1904
United States
DiedApril 30, 1980(1980-04-30)(aged 75)
United States
OccupationNovelist,critic
GenreJournalism,biographer
Time,where Kronenberger worked (1938–1961)

Background

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Kronenberger was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Louis Kronenberger Sr., a merchant, and Mabel Newwitter. Kronenberger attended, but did not graduate from, theUniversity of Cincinnatifrom 1921 to 1924.[1]

Career

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Writer

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He moved to New York in 1924 and began his career at theNew York Times.[1]In 1926, he became an editor atBoni & Liverightand in 1933, atAlfred A. Knopf.[1]

In 1938, he became drama critic forTime,where he continued to write until 1961.[1]In 1940,William Saroyanlisted Kronenberger among the associate editors atTimein the play,Love's Old Sweet Song.[2]Starting in 1942, he worked underWhittaker Chambers,who became editor for the "Back of the Book" (1942-1944).[3]During this periodTimewas, according to Chambers, "consistently able and sometimes brilliant, because of a small group of men" that included Kronenberger,T. S. Matthews,James Agee,Robert Fitzgerald,Robert Cantwell,Winthrop Sargeant,John K. Jessup, andCalvin Fixx.[4]

In 1940, he also served as a critic forPMand worked there until 1948.[1]

Academic

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Kronenberger was a visiting professor at several universities, includingCity College of New York,Columbia,Harvard,Berkeley.[1]In 1951, he founded a Department of Theater Arts atBrandeis.[1]

He was associated with numerous organizations for promoting the arts:Yaddo,Lincoln Center Library-Museum,theNational Institute of Arts and Letters,and theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.[5]

Personal and death

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Kronenberger married Emily L. Plaut in 1940; they had two children: Liza Wanklyn and John Kronenberger[1]

He died on April 30, 1980.[1]

Legacy

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"Kronenberger's praise was a near guarantee of box-office success."[5]

A collection of Louis Kronenberger's papers is held by Princeton University.[1]

Works

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John WilkesbyRichard Houston(1769), about whom Kronenberger wrote in 1974

In his later years, Kronenberger wrote biographies, including one ofJohn Wilkesand another ofOscar Wilde.[1][5]

Books:

  • The Grand Manner(1929)[1]
  • Kings and Desperate Men: Life in Eighteenth-Century England(1942)
  • Grand Right and Left(1952)[1]
  • The Thread of Laughter: Chapters on English Stage Comedy from Jonson to Maugham(1952)
  • Company Manners: A Cultural Inquiry into American Life(1954)
  • Republic of Letters: Essays on Various Writers(1955)
  • Marlborough's Duchess: A Study in Worldliness(1958)
  • Madame De Lafayette: The Story of a Patriot's Wife(1959)
  • A Month of Sundays(1961)[1]
  • The Viking Book of Aphorisms(co-authored with W.H. Auden, 1962)
  • Great World: Portraits and Scenes from Greville's Memoirs, 1814-1860(1963)
  • The Cart and the Horse(1964)
  • The Polished Surface: Essays in the Literature of Worldliness(1969)
  • The Cutting Edge: A Collection of Witty Insults and Wicked Retorts, of Polished Snubs and Homicidal Repartee(1970)
  • No Whippings, No Gold Watches(1970) memoirs
  • A Mania for Magnificence(1972)
  • Animal, Vegetable, Mineral(1972)
  • The Last Word: Portraits of Fourteen Master Aphorists(1972)
  • Extraordinary Mr. Wilkes: His Life and Times(1974)[1]
  • Oscar Wilde(1976)[1]

Editing:

  • An Anthology of Light Verse(1935)
  • An Eighteenth Century Miscellany(1936)
  • Reader's Companion(1945) editor
  • The Pleasure of Their Company: An Anthology of Civilized Writing(1946)
  • The Indispensable Johnson and Boswell(1950)
  • Alexander Pope: Selected Works(1951)
  • Cavalcade of Comedy(1953)
  • George Bernard Shaw: A Critical Survey(1953) *The Portable Johnson and Boswell(1955)
  • The Maxims of La Rochefoucauld(1959)
  • Novelists on Novelists(1962) editor
  • Quality: Its Image in the Arts(1969)
  • Brief Lives: a Biographical Companion to the Arts(1971)
Oscar WildebyNapoleon Sarony(1882), about whom Kronenberger wrote in 1976

Books edited with others:

Plays written:

  • The Heavenly Twins(1955)[1]

Plays translated, adapted:

  • Mademoiselle Colombe byJean Anouilh(New York: Coward-McCann, 1954) translated and adapted from the originalColombe(1951)

Plays edited:

  • Best Plays series (1952-1961):
    • The Best Plays of 1952-1953, Burns Mantle Yearbook(1953)
    • The Best Plays of 1953-1954(1954)
    • The Best Plays of 1954-1955(1955)
    • The Best Plays of 1955-1956(1956)
    • The Best Plays of 1956-1957(1957)
    • The Best Plays of 1957-1958(1958)
    • The Best Plays of 1958-1959(1959)
    • The Best Plays of 1959-1960(1960)
    • The Best Plays of 1960-1961(1961)
  • Four Plays by Bernard Shaw(1953)
  • Richard Brinsley Sheridan: Six Plays(1964)

Plays edited with others:

References

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  1. ^abcdefghijklmnopqr"Louis Kronenberger Papers".Princeton University.Retrieved15 July2017.
  2. ^ Saroyan, William(1940).Love's Old Sweet Song: A Play in Three Acts.Samuel French. p. 72.Retrieved15 July2017..
  3. ^ Tanenhaus, Sam (1997).Whittaker Chambers: A Biography.New York: Random House. pp. 170–171 (Kronenberger), 173 (Back of the Book editor).ISBN9780307789266.Retrieved5 August2017.
  4. ^ Chambers, Whittaker(1952).Witness.New York: Random House. p. 478.ISBN9780394452333.Retrieved7 August2017.
  5. ^abc Funston, Judith E. (1999).Kronenberger, Louis.American National Biography.
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