With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Mark Van Doren
Education/Curation, Journalism/Non-Fiction, Poetry
1894 – 1972
Mark Van Doren was an American poet, scholar and professor of English, said to have influenced a generation of thinkers including Trappist Monk and Catholic author Thomas Merton, John Berryman of the school of confessional poets, and Beat Generation writers such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. He did most of his writing at his Cornwall home in between academic years.
- Biography/Description of Work
Earning a doctorate from Columbia University in 1920, Van Doren immediately joined the faculty as English professor. During the 1920s he was literary editor at the progressive weekly newspaper, ‘The Nation,’ and their film critic in the 1930s. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1940, and wrote several critical studies of literature. He authored 36 books, mostly non-fiction, scholarly works and poetry. He was an ardent advocate of liberal education. Van Doren bought a summer home in Cornwall in the 1920s, and moved there full time upon his retirement in 1959.
- Sources view
- Lehman, Eric D. and Amy Nawrocki. 2014 Literary Connecticut. Charleston: The History Press. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Van_Doren, ] [ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/622673/Mark-Van-Doren, ] [ http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/oasis/profiles/van_doren.php, ] [ http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/mark_van_doren.html, ] [ http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/mark-van-doren, ] [ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/opinion/21iht-edbeam.1.14660467.html?_r=0, ] [ http://www.countytimes.com/articles/2013/01/04/news/northwest_corner_journal/doc50e5a3019ee5a024953759.txt, ] [ http://www.my-tax-bill.info/cgi-local/looktax.pl?ID=cw&a=SEE&p=947128&ss=2013/101198 ]
- Associated Resource(s)
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