Anderson, Quentin 1912-2003
ANDERSON, Quentin 1912-2003
OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 21, 1912, in Minnewaukan, ND; died February 18, 2003, in New York, NY. Educator and author. Anderson was a noted expert on nineteenth-century American writers Henry James, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. After attending Dartmouth College for a year, he transferred to Columbia University where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1937 and a doctorate in 1953. In between, he also received a master's degree from Harvard University in 1945. Anderson spent his entire academic career at Columbia, joining the faculty in 1939, becoming a full professor in 1961, and retiring as professor emeritus in 1981. As a literary critic and cultural historian, he is best remembered for his book The Imperial Self: An Essay in American Literary and Cultural History (1971); more recently, he completed Making Americans: An Essay on Individualism and Money (1992). Anderson was also an editor or contributor to several other scholarly books, and was highly regarded for his analysis of what makes American literature distinctly American and how it has evolved from its European roots.
OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:
books
Writers Directory, 18th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2003.
periodicals
Los Angeles Times, February 25, 2003, p. B11.
New York Times, February 24, 2003, p. A19.
Washington Post, February 27, 2003, p. B6.