Who was Edmund Wilson and why is he considered important?
Edmund Wilson Jr. (the 8th of May 1895 - the 12th of June 1972) was an American writer, literary critic, and journalist widely regarded as one of the most important literary critics of the 20th century. He served as chief book critic for The New Yorker, helped edit The New Republic, and wrote landmark works including Axel's Castle (1931) and To the Finland Station (1940). He won the National Book Award twice and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.
What did Edmund Wilson think of The Lord of the Rings?
Edmund Wilson called J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings "juvenile trash" and wrote that Tolkien had "little skill at narrative and no instinct for literary form." Wilson was known for blunt negative verdicts; he similarly dismissed H. P. Lovecraft's work as hackwork and attacked W. Somerset Maugham without having read Maugham's most celebrated novels.
What was Edmund Wilson's relationship with F. Scott Fitzgerald?
Wilson and Fitzgerald became friends at Princeton University, where Fitzgerald was a year-and-a-half Wilson's junior. In his 1936 "Crack-Up" essays, Fitzgerald called Wilson his "intellectual conscience" for twenty years. After Fitzgerald died at the age of 44 in December 1940, Wilson edited two posthumous books, The Last Tycoon and The Crack-Up, donating his editorial services to help Fitzgerald's family.
Why did Edmund Wilson refuse to pay his income taxes?
Wilson refused to pay his federal income taxes from 1946 to 1955 as a protest against Cold War militarization. He argued in his 1963 book The Cold War and the Income Tax: A Protest that competitive military buildup against the Soviet Union was paradoxically eroding American civil liberties. After an IRS investigation, he settled for a $25,000 fine rather than the original $69,000 sought, with no prison time.
What is the Library of America and how is it connected to Edmund Wilson?
The Library of America is a series publishing authoritative editions of American literary classics, modeled on France's Bibliotheque de la Pleiade. Wilson lobbied for its creation during his lifetime but died in 1972 before it launched. The series was established in 1982 through the efforts of Jason Epstein, and Wilson's own writing was included in two volumes published in 2007.
How did Edmund Wilson's friendship with Vladimir Nabokov end?
Wilson introduced Nabokov's writing to Western audiences and the two men corresponded extensively, but the friendship broke down over two literary disputes. Wilson reacted coolly to Nabokov's Lolita and then publicly criticized what he considered Nabokov's eccentric translation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. The public criticism was irreparable.