Orville Prescott

Orville Prescott ( born September 8, 1906 in Cleveland, Ohio, † April 28, 1996 in New Canaan, Connecticut ) was an American literary critic. From 1942 to 1966 he was chief critic of the New York Times.

Prescott studied English Philology at Williams College (BA 1930) and began his journalistic career at the local newspaper Town Tidings in Cleveland, later moving to Newsweek. As a literary critic, he joined in the 1930s, first as a freelancer with reviews for the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Times in appearance. 1942 made ​​him the Times as a solid editor; Here he published until his retirement in 1966, up to four book reviews per week and so exercised a great influence on the American literary scene from. His taste in literature was pronounced conservative, formal experiments he was skeptical, but especially works that injured his morality. This earned him the wrath of Gore Vidal, who in several of his essays took Prescott's fussiness targeted.

His son Peter S. Prescott (1935-2004) also made ​​himself a name as a literary critic.

Works (selection)

• In my Opinion: An Inquiry into the Contemporary Novel. Bobbs- Merrill, Indianapolis, 1952.
• The Five - Dollar Gold Piece: The Development of a Point of View. Random House, New York 1956. ( Autobiography)
• Princes of the Renaissance. Random House, New York 1969.
• Lords of Italy: Portraits from the Middle Ages. Harper & Row, New York 1972.