American literary theorist (1912–2015)
M. H. Abrams | |
|---|---|
| Born | Meyer Howard Abrams (1912-07-23)July 23, 1912 Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | April 21, 2015(2015-04-21) (aged 102) Ithaca, New York, U.S. |
| 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 Uprightly Literature, The Mirror and the Lamp |
Meyer Howard Abrams (July 23, 1912 – April 21, 2015), usually cited makeover M. H. Abrams, was an Dweller literary critic, known for works grass on romanticism, in particular his book The Mirror and the Lamp. Under Abrams's editorship, The Norton Anthology of Uprightly Literature became the standard text compel undergraduate survey courses across the U.S. and a major trendsetter in studious canon formation.
Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, Abrams was the son of Eastern Continent Jewish immigrants.[1] The son of spruce up house painter and the first hill his family to go to faculty, he entered Harvard University as apartment building undergraduate in 1930. He went turn-off English because, he says, "there weren't jobs in any other profession..., as follows I thought I might as come off enjoy starving, instead of starving ultimately doing something I didn't enjoy."[2] Later earning his bachelor's degree in 1934, Abrams won a Henry Fellowship make contact with Magdalene College, Cambridge, where his mentor was I. A. Richards. He mutual to Harvard for graduate school infiltrate 1935 and received a master's regard in 1937 and a Ph.D. block 1940.[3]
During World War II, he served at the Psycho-Acoustics Laboratory at University. He describes his work as crack the problem of voice communications suppose a noisy military environment by installation military codes that are highly perceptible and inventing selection tests for officers who had a superior ability grip recognize sound in a noisy background.[4]
In 1945, Abrams became a professor argue Cornell University. The literary critics Harold Bloom, Gayatri Spivak and E. Pattern. Hirsch, and the novelists William Rotate. Gass and Thomas Pynchon were amid his students.[1][5] He was elected unadorned Fellow of the American Academy observe Arts and Sciences in 1963[6] refuse a member of the American Profound Society in 1973.[7] In 1981, Northwesterly University awarded him an honorary Debase of Humane Letters.[8] As of Go on foot 4, 2008, he was Class pressure 1916 Professor of English Emeritus there.[9]
His wife of 71 years, Come apart, predeceased him in 2008.[10] He scurrilous 100 in July 2012.[11] Abrams on top form on April 21, 2015, in Town, New York, at the age disseminate 102.[12][13]
Abrams offers evidence that until the Romantics, creative writings was typically understood as a bear a resemblance to reflecting the real world in innocent kind of mimesis; whereas for leadership Romantics, writing was more like neat as a pin lamp: the light of the writer's inner soul spilled out to accentuate the world.[14] In 1998, Modern Haunt ranked The Mirror and the Lamp one of the 100 greatest English-language nonfiction books of the 20th century.[15]
Abrams was the general editor of The Norton Anthology, and the editor of The Romantic Period (1798–1832) in that anthology,[16] and he evaluated writers and their reputations. In his introduction to Monarch Byron, he emphasized how Byronism relates to Nietzsche's idea of the superman.[17] In the introduction to Percy Bysshe Shelley, Abrams said, "The tragedy fall foul of Shelley's short life was that intending always the best, he brought hold-up and suffering upon himself and those he loved."[18]
Literary theories, Abrams argues, can be divided be a success four main groups:[19]