Elizabeth Hardwick (writer)

Elizabeth Hardwick ( born July 27, 1916 in Lexington ( Kentucky), † December 2, 2007 in New York City ) was an American literary critic and writer. She was also among the founders of the New York Review of Books.

Life and work

Hardwick grew up in Kentucky and completed her literary studies at the University of Kentucky with an academic degree in 1939. Awarded a Guggenheim your 1947 Fellowship. From 1949 to 1972 she was married to the poet Robert Lowell, with whom she raised them a daughter.

In the 1970s and early 80s Hardwick Creative Writing taught at Barnard College and the literature department at Columbia University. In 1959, Hardwick published in Harper's The Decline of Book Reviewing, a harsh criticism of the poor quality of contemporary literary criticism, which she perceived. A New York Printers strike, which extended from 1962 until the following year, Hardwick, Robert Lowell, Jason Epstein, Barbara Epstein and Robert B. Silvers inspired to found a new journal specifically for demanding literary criticism, "The New York Review of Books ".

Works (selection)

• Sleepless Nights (1979 )
• Seduction and Betrayal (1974 )
• The Simple Truth ( 1955)
• The Ghostly Lover ( 1945)