Bodenheim, Maxwell

Bodenheim, Maxwell (b. Bodenheimer)

(1893–1954) poet, writer; born in Hermanville, Miss. He lived in Chicago from 1902; after being expelled from high school (1908), he mixed with the literary figures of Chicago before moving to New York City (1915). He published Minna and Myself (1918), the first of his 11 volumes of poetry; he also published novels, including Replenishing Jessica (1925), which were considered cynical and indecent. As the editor of Others, a poetry magazine, he is credited with discovering Hart Crane. Having lived most of his life as a bohemian and alcoholic, he and his third wife were murdered in Greenwich Village.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.