Schwartz, Delmore

Schwartz, Delmore, 1913–66, American poet, b. New York City, grad. New York Univ., 1935. He was an editor of the Partisan Review (1943–55). His first work, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities, including the famous title story, appeared in 1938. Among his later writings are Shenandoah (1941), a verse play; Genesis (1943), a prose poem on the growth of a human being; World Is a Wedding (1948), a collection of short stories; Vaudeville for a Princess and Other Poems (1950); Summer Knowledge (1959); and Successful Love and Other Stories (1961). The tragic course of Schwartz's career, in which his early success was followed by a descent into alcoholism and madness, was the basis of Saul Bellow's novel, Humboldt's Gift (1975).

Bibliography

See his letters, ed. by R. Phillips (1985); biography by J. Atlas (1977); study by R. McDougall (1974).

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Schwartz, Delmore

(born Dec. 8, 1913, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died July 11, 1966, New York, N.Y.) U.S. poet, short-story writer, and critic. He taught at Harvard and other schools and was an editor of Partisan Review (1943–55). His works include In Dreams Begin Responsibilities (1939), consisting of a short story and poetry; Shenandoah (1941), a verse play; and The World Is a Wedding (1948) and Successful Love (1961), collections of short stories dealing primarily with middle-class Jewish family life. His work is noted for its lyrical descriptions of cultural alienation and the search for identity. Brilliant but unstable, he became alcoholic and declined into insanity.

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Schwartz, Delmore (1913–66) poet, writer; born in New York City. He studied at the University of Wisconsin (1931), New York University (1933–35), and Harvard (1935–37). He taught at many institutions, notably Harvard (1941–47), and was the editor of the Partisan Review (1941–55), but he spent his final years as an increasingly erratic and reclusive bohemian and he died of a heart attack while living in a Times Square hotel. He is known for his ironic poetry, such as In Dreams Begin Responsibilities (1938).