Edmund Wilson

:Edmund Beecher Wilson (1856 - 1939) was an American geneticist.

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Edmund Beecher Wilson - 1856 - 1939

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Edmund Wilson (May 8, 1895 – June 12 1972) was an American writer, noted chiefly for his literary criticism. He was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, and educated first at The Hill School and then Princeton. He began his writing career as a reporter for the New York Sun, and served in the army during the First World War. He was the managing editor of Vanity Fair in 1920 and 1921, and later served on the staffs of The New Republic and The New Yorker.

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May 8 - 1895 - June 12 - 1972 - American - Literary criticism - Red Bank, New Jersey - The Hill School - Princeton - New York Sun - First World War - Vanity Fair - 1920 - 1921 - The New Republic - The New Yorker

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Axel's Castle: A Study in the Imaginative Literature of 1870-1930 (1931) was a sweeping survey of Symbolism and Arthur Rimbaud, Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (author of Axel), W. B. Yeats, Paul Valéry, T. S. Eliot, Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and Gertrude Stein. Wilson was interested in modern culture as a whole, and many of his writings go beyond the realm of pure literary criticism. In his book To the Finland Station, he studied the course of European socialism, culminating in the arrival of Lenin at the Finland Station of Saint Petersburg to lead the Bolshevik Revolution. Wilson's early works are heavily influenced by the ideas of Freud and Marx, reflecting his deep interest in their work.

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Symbolism - Arthur Rimbaud - Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam - W. B. Yeats - Paul Valéry - T. S. Eliot - Marcel Proust - James Joyce - Gertrude Stein - To the Finland Station - Socialism - Lenin - Saint Petersburg - Bolshevik - Freud - Marx

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He was a close friend of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and edited his final book for posthumous publication, and also a friend of Vladimir Nabokov, with whom he corresponded extensively and whose writing he introduced to Western audiences; however, their friendship was damaged by Wilson's cool reaction to Nabokov's Lolita and by a dispute over Wilson's criticism of Nabokov's translation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald - Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita - Pushkin - Eugene Onegin

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Wilson's wife, Mary McCarthy, was also well-known for her literary criticism, and they co-operated on numerous works before their divorce.

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Wilson's critical works helped foster public appreciation for U.S. novelists Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, William Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Nabokov.

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Ernest Hemingway - John Dos Passos - William Faulkner

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Wilson was also an outspoken critic of U.S. Cold War policies. He failed to pay his income tax from 1946 to 1955 and was subsequently hounded by the Internal Revenue Service. In his essay ' (1963), Wilson argues that, as a result of competitive militarization against the Soviet Union, the civil liberties of Americans were being paradoxically infringed upon under the guise of defense from Communism. Likewise he opposed US involvement in the Vietnam War.

Related Topics:
Cold War - Failed to pay - Income tax - 1946 - 1955 - Internal Revenue Service - Soviet Union - Civil liberties - Communism

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