Edmund Wilson: the story on HearLore

Vanity Fair Editor

Wilson became managing editor of Vanity Fair during 1920 and 1921. He started writing professionally for the New York Sun before joining the army with Base Hospital 36 from Detroit, Michigan. During World War I he worked as a translator for military service. Later roles included associate editor of The New Republic and book reviewer positions at The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. His editorial work influenced novelists like Upton Sinclair, John Dos Passos, and Sinclair Lewis. The Coal War in Harlan County brought Mary Heaton Vorse and Malcolm Cowley into his orbit when monitoring events in Kentucky. Nightriders ran them out of the region during that investigation period.

Axel Castle Study

Axel's Castle: A Study in the Imaginative Literature of 1870, 1930 arrived in 1931 as a sweeping survey of Symbolism. Joyce Carol Oates later called it "a groundbreaking study of modern literature." Wilson covered Arthur Rimbaud, Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, W. B. Yeats, Paul Valéry, T. S. Eliot, Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and Gertrude Stein. To the Finland Station published in 1940 traced European socialism from Jules Michelet's 1824 discovery to Vladimir Lenin's 1917 arrival at the Finland Station of Saint Petersburg. The Dead Sea Scrolls appeared in 1955 while Apologies to the Iroquois came out in 1960. Patriotic Gore examined American Civil War literature in 1962.

When and where was Edmund Wilson born?

Edmund Wilson Jr. entered the world on the 8th of May 1895 in Red Bank, New Jersey.

What major literary works did Edmund Wilson publish during his career?

Edmund Wilson published Axel's Castle: A Study in the Imaginative Literature of 1870, 1930 in 1931, To the Finland Station in 1940, The Dead Sea Scrolls in 1955, Apologies to the Iroquois in 1960, and Patriotic Gore in 1962.

Why did Edmund Wilson refuse paying federal income tax from 1946 through 1955?

Edmund Wilson refused paying federal income tax from 1946 through 1955 due to opposition against Cold War policies.

Who were the wives of Edmund Wilson and when were their children born?

Edmund Wilson had four wives including Mary Blair who produced daughter Rosalind Baker Wilson born the 19th of September 1923, Mary McCarthy who bore son Reuel arrived the 25th of December 1938, and Elena Mumm Thornton giving birth to Helen Miranda Wilson the 19th of February 1948.

When did Edmund Wilson die and what awards did he receive during his lifetime?

Wilson died the 12th of June 1972 at age 77 and received the Edward MacDowell Medal by The MacDowell Colony in 1964 for outstanding contributions to American culture along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom absentia on the 6th of December 1963 from President Lyndon Johnson.

Edmund Wilson.

Vanity Fair Editor

Axel Castle Study

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Common questions

When and where was Edmund Wilson born?

What major literary works did Edmund Wilson publish during his career?

Why did Edmund Wilson refuse paying federal income tax from 1946 through 1955?

Who were the wives of Edmund Wilson and when were their children born?

When did Edmund Wilson die and what awards did he receive during his lifetime?

Tax Protest Campaign

Four Marriages Complex

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