Janet Lewis

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Janet Lewis (born August 17, 1899 in Chicago ; died December 1, 1998 in Los Altos, California ) was an American writer.

Life

Janet Loxley Lewis was the daughter of the English teacher at the Lewis Institute Edwin Herbert Loxley Lewis and Elizabeth Taylor. She grew up in Oak Park . She studied French literature at the University of Chicago , where she became part of a literary circle that included Glenway Wescott , Elizabeth Madox Roberts and Maurice Leeseman . Her future husband Yvor Winters had left the year before due to illness. Lewis graduated with a Bachelor of Philosophy (PhB) degree in 1920.

In 1922 she published the volume of poetry The Indians in the Woods . Her first novel, The Invasion, about a Scottish-Irish-Indian family, was published in 1932.

Lewis fell ill with tuberculosis in 1922 and, after a long recovery, married the writer and literary critic Yvor Winters in 1926.They had two children and moved to California , where Winters was a professor at Stanford University in 1928 . Together they founded the literary magazine Gyroscope in 1929 , which was discontinued in 1931. Lewis published several volumes of poetry. She wrote six librettos, which were set to music, and several lyrics.

With The Wife of Martin Guerre , Lewis took up an early modern justice case from France, the novel was a popular success. She wrote a libretto from it for the composer William Bergsma . The material was filmed in 1982 under the title Le Retour de Martin Guerre by Daniel Vigne . Lewis wrote The Trial of Soren Qvist (1947) and The Ghost of Monsieur Scarron (1959), two other novels on court cases.

Lewis received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1950 . She became a member of the PEN Lewis held teaching positions at Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley . In 1992 she became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . Lewis was politically active and engaged in pacifist actions. She fought against racism against Indians and supported the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Works (selection)

Novels
  • The Invasion: A Narrative of Events Concerning the Johnston Family of St. Mary's (1932)
  • The Wife of Martin Guerre (1941)
  • Good-bye, Son, and Other Stories (1946)
  • The Trial of Soren Qvist (1947)
  • The Ghost of Monsieur Scarron (1959)
  • Against a Darkening Sky (1985)
Poetry
  • The Indians in the Woods . Published by Monroe Wheeler, as Manikin Number One, Bonn :, [1922].
  • The Wheel in Midsummer Lynn, Mass: The Lone Gull, 1927.
  • The Earth-Bound 'Aurora . New York: Wells College Press, 1946
  • Poems 1924-1944 . Denver: Alan Swallow, 1950
  • The Ancient Ones . Portola Valley, California: No Dead Lines, 1979
  • The Indians in the Woods . 2nd edition with new preface, Palo-Alto California: Matrix Press, 1980.
  • Poems Old and New 1918-1978 . Chicago: Swallow Press, 1981
  • Late offerings . Florence, Ky: Robert L. Barth, 1988
  • Janet and Deloss: Poems and Pictures . San Diego: Brighton Press, 1990
  • The Dear Past and other poems 1919-1994 . Edgewood Ky: Robert L. Barth, 1994
  • The Selected Poems of Janet Lewis . Athens: Swallow Press, 2000
Libretti
  • The Wife , composition by William Bergsma
  • The Legend , composition Bain Murray
  • The Birthday of the Infanta , after Oscar Wilde, composition Macolm Seagrave
  • The Swans , after the Brothers Grimm, composition Alva Anderson
  • Mulberry Street , after O. Henry, composition Alva Anderson
  • The Manger , composition by John Edmunds

literature

  • Douglas Basford: Lewis, Janet , in: Jeffrey Gray (Ed.): The Greenwood encyclopedia of American poets and poetry. 3. H-L . Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2006 ISBN 0-313-33011-5 , pp. 923-925
  • Winters, Janet Lewis , in: Who's who in writers, editors & poets: United States & Canada. 3. Highland Park, Ill.: December Pr., 1989 ISBN 0-913204-22-6 , p. 575

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lewis Institute Chicago, Illinois 1896-1940 , at Lost Colleges
personal data
SURNAME Lewis, Janet
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Winters Lewis, Janet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH 17th August 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 1998 or December 1, 1998
Place of death Los Altos (California)