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Richard Warrington Baldwin Lewis

リチャード・ウォリントン・ボールドウィン・ルイス

Richard Warrington Baldwin Lewis

Aliases: R. W. B. Lewis / RWB Lewis

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1917-11-01 （Chicago, Illinois, USA）
Died
2002-06-13 （Bethany, Connecticut, USA） age 84
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Episcopal
Residence History
Chicago, Illinois, USA → Bethany, Connecticut, USA (residence while at Yale) → New Haven, Connecticut, USA (Yale affiliation) → Florence, Italy (frequent visits)

Career

Occupations
literary scholar, critic, university professor, biographer
Active Years
1948-2002
Affiliations
Bennington College (faculty), Salzburg Seminar (dean of studies), Smith College (visiting lecturer), Princeton University (resident fellow), Rutgers–Newark (professor of English), Yale University (Neil Gray Professor of English and American Studies; master of Calhoun College), American Academy of Arts & Sciences (member)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Influenced By
Norman Maclean, John William Ward, Robert Penn Warren (friend and colleague)
Influenced
American Studies (helped shape the academic field), Numerous scholars of literary history and biography

Education

Phillips Exeter Academy
Period: 準備教育（就学年不詳）
Country: United States
Preparatory education
Harvard University
English
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1935–1939
Year of Graduation: 1939
Country: United States
Received B.A.
University of Chicago
English
Degree: M.A., Ph.D.
Period: 1940–1954（MA 1941、Ph.D. 1954）
Year of Graduation: 1954
Country: United States
Graduate studies; studied under Norman Maclean

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
1976
Work: Edith Wharton: A Biography
Organization: Columbia University (Pulitzer Prize)
Result: 受賞
National Book Critics Circle Award (nonfiction; among first recipients)
1976
Work: Edith Wharton: A Biography
Category: ノンフィクション
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 受賞
Bancroft Prize
1976
Work: Edith Wharton: A Biography
Organization: Columbia University (Bancroft Prize)
Result: 受賞
Honorary Litt.D.
1988
Organization: Bates College
Result: 授与
American Academy of Arts & Sciences Gold Medal for Biography
2000
Organization: American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The American Adam: Innocence, Tragedy, and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century

1955 literary criticism / cultural history

Explores the 'American Adam' theme of innocence and new beginnings in 19th-century American literature, tracing the motif through Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Henry James, and others.

American identityinnocence vs. experience19th-century literature

Edith Wharton: A Biography

1975 Biography

A comprehensive biography of Edith Wharton, integrating her personal life and literary achievements to present a rounded portrait of the author.

biographyAmerican upper-class societygender and literature

The Jameses: A Family Narrative

1991 family history / biography

A study of the James family that examines the intersection of literary tradition and personal narrative.

family historyliterature and tradition

The City of Florence: Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings

1995 travel / history

An essayistic work that blends Lewis's affection for Florence with historical insights, combining personal observations with the city's cultural history.

Italyurban historycultural observation

Dante

2001 literary criticism

A critical overview of Dante's life and works, discussing his literary and cultural significance.

Dantemedieval literaturereligion and literature

Bibliography

  • The American Adam: Innocence, Tragedy, and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century (1955)
  • The Picaresque Saint. Representative Figures in Contemporary Fiction (1959)
  • Herman Melville (1962)
  • Trials of the Word: Essays in American Literature and the Humanistic Tradition (1965)
  • The Poetry of Hart Crane: A Critical Study (1967)
  • American Literature: The Makers and the Making: Book C / 1861 to 1914 (1974, with Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren)
  • Edith Wharton: A Biography (1975)
  • The Jameses: A Family Narrative (1991)
  • Literary Reflections: A Shoring of Images 1960-1993 (1993)
  • The City of Florence: Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings (1995)
  • American Characters: Selections from the National Portrait Gallery, Accompanied by Literary Portraits (1999, with Nancy Lewis)
  • Dante (2001)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
clear, scholarly proseblend of biographical narrative and critical analysisrich historical contextualization
Recurring Motifs
exploration of American identitytension between tradition and innovationinterest in Italy and Dante

Legacy

A major influence in American literary studies and biography. He contributed to conceptualizing American culture (notably in The American Adam) and gained broad recognition for his biography of Edith Wharton. He was also highly regarded as a teacher at Yale.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Archives

  • Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library (materials related to R. W. B. Lewis)
  • Bates College (records related to honorary degree and honors)

Quotes

  • "a beautifully wrought, rounded portrait of the whole woman, including the part of her that remained in shade during her life" and that the "expansive, elegant biography ... can stand as literature, if nothing else."
    Source: The New York Times (review) (1976)

Trivia

  • Served in the U.S. Air Force during WWII and received the Legion of Merit in 1944.
  • While at Yale he lived in Bethany and worked in an octagonal writing studio on his property.
  • Continued to write on a typewriter into his later years.
  • Father of historian David Gress (by Elsa Gress) and co-author with his wife Nancy Lewis on some projects.