(born May 8, 1895, Red Bank, N.J., U.S.—died June 12, 1972, Talcottville, N.Y.) U.S. critic and essayist. He attended Princeton University and initially worked as a reporter and magazine editor. Much of his writing, in which he probed diverse subjects with scholarship and common sense in clear and precise prose, was published in
The New Republic and
The New Yorker. Among his influential critical works are
Axel's Castle (1931), a survey of the Symbolist poets;
To the Finland Station (1940), a study of the thinkers who set the stage for the Russian Revolution; and
Patriotic Gore (1962), analyzing American Civil War literature. His other writings include plays, poetry, the short-story collection
Memoirs of Hecate County (1946), and five volumes of posthumously published journals. He was widely regarded as the leading critic of his time.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
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