James Wright (poet)

James Arlington Wright (born December 13, 1927 in Martins Ferry , Ohio , † March 25, 1980 in New York City , New York ) was an American poet , literary critic and university professor who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for his collection of poems Collected Poems received for poetry . He was also the editor of anthologies with works by Georg Trakl , César Vallejo , Theodor Storm , Pablo Neruda and Hermann Hesse .

Life

Wright, who came from a working-class family, grew up in the small town of Martins Ferry during the Great Depression and took part in the Second World War as a member of the US Army . He began postgraduate studies at Kenyon College, which he completed in 1952 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA). He then completed a study visit to the University of Vienna between 1952 and 1953 with financial support from the Fulbright Program and completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Washington in 1954 with a Master of Arts (MA).

Wright began writing in the mid-1950s and published his first volume of poetry, The Green Wall , in 1957 . In 1957 he also took over a professorship at the University of Minnesota , where he taught until 1963. In 1959 he dedicated one of his most famous poems to his hometown, “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio”. During this time he also obtained a Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph.D. ) from the University of Washington in 1959 and at the same time began to publish anthologies with works by Georg Trakl , César Vallejo , Theodor Storm , Pablo Neruda and Hermann in the early 1960s Hesse . After 1963 to 1965 professor at Macalester College was, he taught from 1966 until his death in 1980 as professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York . For his collection of poetry Collected Poems , published in 1971 , he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1972 . In 1974 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters . He maintained an exchange of letters with the Indian-American writer Leslie Marmon Silko , which was published by the latter in 1986.

Wright has been married twice. His first marriage to Liberty Kardules, which was closed in 1953 and divorced in 1962, resulted in two sons, Franz and Marshall Wright. His second marriage to Edith Anne Crunk in 1967 remained childless. He died on March 25, 1980 at the age of 52 from complications from cancer . In his honor, the James Wright Poetry Festival was held annually in Martins Ferry from 1980 to 2007 .

Publications

Poetry collections

• The Green Wall , 1957
• Saint Judas , 1959
• The Lion's Tail and Eyes: Poems Written Out of Laziness and Silence , 1962
• The Branch Will Not Break , 1963
• Shall We Gather at the River , 1969
• Collected Poems , 1971
• Two Citizens , 1973
• Moments of the Italian Summer , 1976
• To a Blossoming Pear Tree , 1977
• This Journey , posthumously 1982
• Collected Prose , 1983
• Above the River: The Complete Poems , 1992

Anthologies

• Twenty Poems of Georg Trakl , 1961
• Twenty Poems of César Vallejo , 1962
• The Rider on the White Horse by Theodor Storm , 1964
• Twenty Poems of Pablo Neruda , 1968
• Poems by Hesse , 1970
• Neruda and Vallejo: Selected Poems , 1971
• Wandering: Notes and Sketches by Hesse , 1972

Background literature

• Leslie Marmon Silko : The delicacy and strength of lace. Letters between Leslie Marmon Silko & James Wright , Graywolf Press, Saint Paul 1986, ISBN 978-0-91530-8-743
• Andrew Elkins: The poetry of James Wright , University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa 1991, ISBN 0-8173-0496-7
• Saundra Mauley: Solitary apprenticeship: James Wright and German poetry , Mellen University Press, Lewiston 1996, ISBN 0-7734-2257-9

Web links

• Literature by and about James Wright in the catalog of the German National Library
• James Wright in the nndb (English)
• Entry in poets.org
• Entry in Open Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Winners
2. ^ Members: James A. Wright. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed May 5, 2019 .