Schwartz, Delmore

Schwartz, Delmore,

1913–66, American poet, b. New York City, grad. New York Univ., 1935. He was an editor of the Partisan Review (1943–55). His first work, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities, including the famous title story, appeared in 1938. Among his later writings are Shenandoah (1941), a verse play; Genesis (1943), a prose poem on the growth of a human being; World Is a Wedding (1948), a collection of short stories; Vaudeville for a Princess and Other Poems (1950); Summer Knowledge (1959); and Successful Love and Other Stories (1961). The tragic course of Schwartz's career, in which his early success was followed by a descent into alcoholism and madness, was the basis of Saul Bellow's novel, Humboldt's Gift (1975).

Bibliography

See his letters, ed. by R. Phillips (1985); biography by J. Atlas (1977); study by R. McDougall (1974).

Schwartz, Delmore

(1913–66) poet, writer; born in New York City. He studied at the University of Wisconsin (1931), New York University (1933–35), and Harvard (1935–37). He taught at many institutions, notably Harvard (1941–47), and was the editor of the Partisan Review (1941–55), but he spent his final years as an increasingly erratic and reclusive bohemian and he died of a heart attack while living in a Times Square hotel. He is known for his ironic poetry, such as In Dreams Begin Responsibilities (1938).