Van Doren, Carl

Van Doren, Carl (Clinton)

(1885–1950) writer, critic; born in Hope, Ill. (brother of Mark Van Doren). He studied at the University of Illinois (B.A. 1907), and Columbia University (Ph.D. 1911). He taught at the University of Illinois (1907–08), and Columbia (1911–30), and was headmaster of the Brearley School (New York City) (1916–19). Editor of the Nation (1919–22), Century (1922–25), and the Library Guild (1926–34), he wrote for many prestigious periodicals and reference works. He wrote poetry when young, but is best known for his translations, literary criticism, and distinguished biographies, such as Swift (1930), and Benjamin Franklin (1938), a winner of a Pulitzer Prize. He lived in New York City.

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