Volume 16, Number 9 · May 20, 1971
Delmore Schwartz: The Paradox of Precocity
By Philip Rahv
Selected Essays of Delmore Schwartz
edited by Donald A. Dike, edited by David H. Zucker, with an Appreciation by Macdonald Dwight
University of Chicago, 500 pp., $10.00
This book, a selection of the late Delmore Schwartz's essays and reviews, has been much too long in the making. Its author, who died of a heart attack in 1966 at the age of fifty-three, was an exceptionally able literary critic. Far too sophisticated intellectually and too much at home with conceptual matters to turn himself into an exponent of any given exclusive 'method,' he also understood the pitfalls to which critical discourse is exposed when it oversteps its limits to indulge in philosophical or sociological divagations. Sound in his literary judgments, he wrote without pretension or solemnity and without ever divesting himself of his fine and highly original sense of humor.
Review, 3276 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |