M. H. Abrams
M. H. Abrams | |
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Born | Meyer Howard Abrams July 23, 1912 Long Branch,New Jersey,U.S. |
Died | April 21, 2015 Ithaca, New York,U.S. | (aged 102)
Nationality | American |
Other names | Mike Abrams |
Education | Harvard University(AB,MA,PhD) Magdalene College, Cambridge |
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Occupation | Literary critic |
Known for | The Norton Anthology of English Literature,The Mirror and the Lamp |
Meyer Howard Abrams(July 23, 1912 – April 21, 2015), usually cited asM. H. Abrams,was an Americanliterary critic,known for works onromanticism,in particular his bookThe Mirror and the Lamp.Under Abrams's editorship,The Norton Anthology of English Literaturebecame the standard text for undergraduate survey courses across the U.S. and a major trendsetter in literary canon formation.
Early life and education[edit]
Born inLong Branch, New Jersey,Abrams was the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants.[1]The son of a house painter and the first in his family to go to college, he enteredHarvard Universityas an undergraduate in 1930. He went intoEnglishbecause, he says, "there weren't jobs in any other profession..., so I thought I might as well enjoy starving, instead of starving while doing something I didn't enjoy."[2]After earning his bachelor's degree in 1934, Abrams won a Henry Fellowship toMagdalene College,Cambridge,where his tutor wasI. A. Richards.He returned to Harvard for graduate school in 1935 and received a master's degree in 1937 and a Ph.D. in 1940.[3]
Career[edit]
DuringWorld War II,he served at the Psycho-Acoustics Laboratory at Harvard. He describes his work as solving the problem of voice communications in a noisy military environment by establishing military codes that are highly audible and inventing selection tests for personnel who had a superior ability to recognize sound in a noisy background.[4]
In 1945, Abrams became a professor atCornell University.The literary criticsHarold Bloom,Gayatri SpivakandE. D. Hirsch,and the novelistsWilliam H. GassandThomas Pynchonwere among his students.[1][5]He was elected a Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciencesin 1963[6]and a member of theAmerican Philosophical Societyin 1973.[7]In 1981, Northwestern University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.[8]As of March 4, 2008, he was Class of 1916 Professor of English Emeritus there.[9]
Personal life[edit]
His wife of 71 years, Ruth, predeceased him in 2008.[10]He turned 100 in July 2012.[11]Abrams died on April 21, 2015, in Ithaca, New York, at the age of 102.[12][13]
The Mirror and the Lamp[edit]
Abrams offers evidence that until the Romantics, literature was typically understood as a mirror reflecting the real world in some kind of mimesis; whereas for the Romantics, writing was more like a lamp: the light of the writer's inner soul spilled out to illuminate the world.[14]In 1998,Modern LibraryrankedThe Mirror and the Lampone of the 100 greatest English-language nonfiction books of the 20th century.[15]
The Norton Anthology of English Literature[edit]
Abrams was the general editor ofThe Norton Anthology,and the editor ofThe Romantic Period (1798–1832)in that anthology,[16]and he evaluated writers and their reputations. In his introduction toLord Byron,he emphasized howByronismrelates toNietzsche's idea of the superman.[17]In the introduction toPercy Bysshe Shelley,Abrams said, "The tragedy of Shelley's short life was that intending always the best, he brought disaster and suffering upon himself and those he loved."[18]
Classification of literary theories[edit]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Abrams_mirror_and_the_lamp.svg/220px-Abrams_mirror_and_the_lamp.svg.png)
Literary theories, Abrams argues, can be divided into four main groups:[19]
- Mimetic Theories (interested in the relationship between the Work and the Universe)
- Pragmatic Theories (interested in the relationship between the Work and the Audience)
- Expressive Theories (interested in the relationship between the Work and the Artist)
- Objective Theories (interested in close reading of the Work)
Works[edit]
- The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition(1953)ISBN978-0-19-501471-6
- The Poetry of Pope: a selection(1954)ISBN978-0-88295-067-9
- Literature and Belief: English Institute essays,1957. (1957) editorISBN978-0-231-02278-1
- A Glossary of Literary Terms(Geoffrey Harpham,1957; 9th ed. 2009)ISBN978-1-4130-3390-8
- English Romantic Poets: modern essays in criticism(1960)ISBN978-0-19-501946-9
- The Norton Anthology of English Literature(1962) founding editor, many later editions
- The Milk of Paradise: the effect of opium visions on the works of DeQuincey, Crabbe, Francis Thompson, and Coleridge(1970)ISBN978-0-374-90028-1
- Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature(1971)ISBN978-0-393-00609-4
- The Correspondent Breeze: essays on English Romanticism(1984)ISBN978-0-393-30340-7
- Doing Things with Texts: essays in criticism and critical theory(1989)ISBN978-0-393-02713-6
- The Fourth Dimension of a Poem and Other Essays(2012)ISBN978-0-393-05830-7
References[edit]
- ^ab"Adam Kirsch Pays a 100th Birthday Visit to M. H. Abrams, the Romanticist and Norton Anthology Editor".Tablet Magazine.Archivedfrom the original on 23 November 2015.Retrieved23 April2015.
- ^Crawford, Franklin (September 2012)."A Literary Century: English Professor Mike Abrams Fêted at 100th Birthday Bash".Cornell Alumni Magazine.Cornell University.Retrieved11 February2016.
- ^Grimes, William (22 April 2015)."M.H. Abrams, 102, Dies; Shaped Romantic Criticism and Literary 'Bible'".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 18 May 2015.Retrieved11 February2016.
- ^"Honored literary scholar M.H. Abrams continues his labors (of love)".Cornell Chronicle.Retrieved2023-02-01.
- ^"M.H. Abrams continues his labors (of love)".News.cornell.edu.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-02-28.Retrieved2011-07-26.
- ^"Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A"(PDF).American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Archived(PDF)from the original on 10 May 2011.Retrieved20 March2011.
- ^"APS Member History".search.amphilsoc.org.Retrieved2022-08-11.
- ^"Recipients: Office of the Provost - Northwestern University".northwestern.edu.Retrieved2024-05-09.
- ^SeearticleArchived2008-07-04 at theWayback Machinein the Cornell Chronicle.
- ^"Ruth Abrams".Ithaca Journal.Archivedfrom the original on 2 June 2015.Retrieved23 April2015.
- ^Seely, Hart (2012-07-23)."The man behind the Norton Anthology of English Literature is turning 100 today".The Post-Standard.Advance Publications.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-07-25.Retrieved2012-07-23.
- ^Grimes, William (22 April 2015)."M.H. Abrams, 102, Dies; Shaped Romantic Criticism and Literary 'Bible'".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 22 July 2017.Retrieved29 May2017– via NYTimes.
- ^Jeff Stein (22 April 2015)."One of the greatest professors in Cornell history has died".The Ithaca Voice.Retrieved23 April2015.
- ^Grimes, William (2015-04-23)."M.H. Abrams, 102, Dies; Shaped Romantic Criticism and Literary 'Bible'".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2023-01-13.
- ^"100 Best Nonfiction".Modern Library. 1998. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-08-25.Retrieved2015-03-05.
- ^M. H. Abrams (1962), ed.,The Norton Anthology of English Literature,New York: Norton, back cover.
- ^M. H. Abrams (1962), ed.,The Norton Anthology of English Literature,New York: Norton, p. 253.
- ^M. H. Abrams (1962), ed.,The Norton Anthology of English Literature,New York: Norton, p. 415.
- ^Rooden, Aukje van (2012-08-01)."Magnifying the Mirror and the Lamp: A Critical Reconsideration of the Abramsian Poetical Model and its Contribution to the Research on Modern Dutch Literature".Journal of Dutch Literature.3(1).ISSN2211-0879.
Bibliography[edit]
- Lawrence Lipking, editor (1981)High Romantic Argument: Essays For M.H. AbramsISBN978-0-8014-1307-0
External links[edit]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- 1912 births
- 2015 deaths
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers
- American academics of English literature
- American literary critics
- American literary theorists
- American male non-fiction writers
- American men centenarians
- Cornell University faculty
- Literary critics of English
- Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
- Jewish American academics
- Writers from Long Branch, New Jersey
- Harvard College alumni
- Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- National Humanities Medal recipients
- 21st-century American male writers
- Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy
- 21st-century American Jews
- Members of the American Philosophical Society
- Jewish centenarians