Delmore Schwartz
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Delmore Schwartz (December 8, 1913 - July 11, 1966) was an American poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first published work was the short story "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities", which was published in 1937 in the Partisan Review. This and other short stories and poems were collected and released in his first book, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities and Other Stories (ISBN 0811206807) (1938). It was well-received, and made him a well-known figure in New York intellectual circles. There he became known as a democratic Socialist, and associated with Irving Howe.
Over the next three decades he published numerous stories, poems, and plays, and edited the Partisan Review from 1943 to 1955. In 1959, he became the youngest recipient of the Bollingen Prize, awarded for a collection of poetry he released that year, Summer Knowledge: New and Selected Poems. His poem "Calmly We Walk Through This April's Day" from this collection, along with "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities", inspired the Star Trek movie Star Trek: Generations.
The expression "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" is a favorite among literary intellectuals and shows up in unexpected places (i.e. the movie Deep Cover [1] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104073/)).
However, his later life was marred by alcoholism and finally insanity; this downward spiral following his initial success formed the basis for Saul Bellow's novel Humboldt's Gift (1975 ISBN 0140189440).
In 1962, Schwartz began teaching creative writing at Syracuse University. One of his students was Lou Reed, who dedicated several songs to his mentor (most notably "European Son").
Published Works
- In Dreams Begin Responsibilities (1938), a collection of short stories and poems
- Shenandoah (1941), a verse play
- Genesis (1943), a prose poem about 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: New and Selected Poems (1959)
- Successful Love and Other Stories (1961)
Published posthumously:
- Selected Essays (1970, ed. Donald Dike, David Zucker)
- Letters of Delmore Schwartz (1984, ed. Robert Phillips)
- The Ego Is Always at the Wheel: Bagatelles (1986, ed. Robert Phillips), a collection of humorously whimsical short essays
- Last and Lost Poems (1989, ed. New Directions Publishing)
External links
- Delmore Schwartz-The Academy of American Poets (http://www.onlinepoetryclassroom.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=1144)
- Arguing the World (http://www.pbs.org/arguing/) a PBS documentary