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Richard Howard

リチャード・ハワード

Richard Howard

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1929-10-13 （Cleveland, Ohio, United States）
Died
2022-03-31 （New York City, New York, United States） age 92
Nationality
United States
Languages
English, French (used in translation work)
Religion
Judaism (Jewish background)
Residence History
Cleveland (birth) → Paris (Sorbonne study, 1952–1953) → New York City (long-term residence)

Career

Occupations
Poet, Literary critic, Essayist, Translator, University professor, Editor
Active Years
1952-2022
Affiliations
The Paris Review (Poetry Editor, 1992–2005), Columbia University (School of the Arts, Professor), University of Houston (University Professor of English), University of Cincinnati (Ropes Professor of Comparative Literature), Academy of American Poets (former Chancellor)
Memberships
Academy of American Poets (served as Chancellor)
Influenced By
Mark Van Doren, W. H. Auden (friend/colleague), French literature and thought (influences such as Barthes, etc.)
Influenced
Later poets and translators (influenced by his translation work and poetics)

Education

Columbia University
Studies related to English and Comparative Literature
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Studied under Mark Van Doren; later became emeritus professor
University of Paris (Sorbonne)
French letters
Period: 1952–1953
Country: France
Read French letters in 1952–53

Awards

Guggenheim Fellowship
1966
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1970
Work: Untitled Subjects (1969)
Category: 詩
Organization: Pulitzer Prize
Result: 受賞
PEN Translation Prize
1976
Work: Translation of E. M. Cioran's A Short History of Decay
Category: 翻訳
Organization: PEN America
Result: 受賞
National Book Award
1983
Work: Translation of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal
Category: 翻訳
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞
MacArthur Fellowship
1996
Organization: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Result: 受賞
PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation
1985
Category: 翻訳業績
Organization: PEN America
Result: 受賞
Philolexian Society Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement
2016
Organization: Philolexian Society
Result: 受賞
Chevalier of L'Ordre National du Mérite
1982
Organization: Government of France
Result: 受章
Academy of Arts and Letters Literary Award
Organization: Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Quantities

1962 Poetry

An early collection experimenting with quantitative verse and formal techniques.

formal experimentationphonetics of language

Untitled Subjects

1969 Poetry (dramatic imagined letters and monologues of historical figures)

A collection of dramatic imagined letters and monologues of 19th-century historical figures. Published 1969; won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize.

historyventriloquized voicesexploration of identity

Findings

1971 Poetry

A 1971 poetry collection; one of Howard's books noted by Harold Bloom in The Western Canon.

personal historymemory and discovery

Alone With America: Essays on the Art of Poetry in the United States Since 1950

1969 Critical essays 594 pages

A monumental 1969 volume profiling many American poets and offering extensive criticism of post-1950 American poetry.

poeticsAmerican contemporary poetry

Les Fleurs du mal (translation of Baudelaire)

1983 Translation (poetry)

Howard's English translation of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal (1983), which won the National Book Award.

translationsymbolism

Bibliography

  • Quantities (1962)
  • Damages (1967)
  • Untitled Subjects (1969)
  • Alone With America (1969, critical essays)
  • Findings (1971)
  • Two-Part Inventions (1974)
  • Fellow Feelings (1976)
  • Misgivings (1979)
  • Lining Up (1984)
  • Selected Poems (1991)
  • Like Most Revelations (1994)
  • Trappings (1999)
  • Talking Cures (2002)
  • Fallacies of Wonder (2003)
  • Inner Voices (2004, selected poems)
  • The Silent Treatment (2005)
  • Without Saying (2008)
  • A Progressive Education (2014)
  • Richard Howard Loves Henry James and Other American Writers (2020)

Translations by Author

  • Charles Baudelaire — Les Fleurs du mal
  • E. M. Cioran — A Short History of Decay (Précis de décomposition)
  • Roland Barthes — Camera Lucida
  • Albert Camus — A Happy Death
  • Salvador Dalí — Diary of a Genius

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Use of quantitative verse and experimental poetic formsIncisive prose and critical toneCareful attention to source texts in translation
Recurring Motifs
voices of historical figuresself/other identificationmemorygay perspectiveintersection of translation and culture

Health

  • Dementia
    晩年
    Health declined in late life; he died from complications of dementia.

Legacy

Richard Howard was both an accomplished poet and an influential translator and critic who introduced many French works to English-speaking readers. Through his editorial and teaching work he made significant contributions to American poetry.

Academic Societies

  • Academy of American Poets
  • Philolexian Society

Archives

  • Papers related to Columbia University (indicated presence)

In Popular Culture

  • Mentioned by Harold Bloom in The Western Canon, cited in educational and critical contexts.

Quotes

  • I wrote the book not for the sense of history, but for myself, knowing that a relation to one's moment was essential to getting beyond the moment.
    Source: The Paris Review (interview) (2004)

Trivia

  • Known for his enormous personal library that lined the walls of his New York apartment.
  • Kept a large stuffed gorilla named 'Mildred' on his bed.
  • Was adopted as an infant; his birth surname is reported as unknown.
  • Was gay; this aspect of identity appears frequently in his later work.