Irving Howe

Irving Howe 1920-93, American literary and social critic, b. New York City. From his early days as a Trotskyist to his later (and lifelong) position as a democratic socialist, Howe criticized Stalinism and left-wing totalitarianism. His roles as a cofounder (1954) of Dissent magazine and frequent contributor to such journals as The Partisan Review, The New Republic, and The New York Review of Books made him influential in the New York literary world. His many books include William Faulkner: A Critical Study (1952), Politics and the Novel (1957), The Critical Point (1974), World of Our Fathers (1978), Socialism and America (1985), and A Critic's Notebook (1994). Howe, who was a professor at the City Univ. of New York, also played a key role in introducing Yiddish literature to America.

Bibliography: See his autobiography, A Margin of Hope (1982); biography by G. Sorin (2003).

Howe, Irving (1920–93), professor at Hunter College (1963–86) and literary and social critic. His books include Sherwood Anderson: A Critical Biography (1951); William Faulkner: A Critical Study (1952, revised 1962); Politics and the Novel: A World More Attractive (1963); Steady Work (1966), essays on the politics of democratic radicalism; Thomas Hardy (1967); The Decline of the New (1969), a study of the decline of modernism in literature; The Critical Point (1973), literary essays; World of Our Fathers (1976, National Book Award), about the experiences of East European Jews in the U.S.; Leon Trotsky (1978); and Celebrations and Attacks (1979), a collection of occasional writings. A Margin of Hope (1982) is subtitled “An Intellectual Biography.” It was followed by Socialism and America (1985) and The American Newness: Culture and Politics in the Age of Emerson (1986).