Christian Gauss

{{Short description|American literary critic and professor of literature}}

Christian Gauss (1878 – 1951) was a literary critic and professor of literature.

Biography

Gauss was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His father had fled Württemberg when Prussia began to dominate it in the 1860s.{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}} The son graduated from the University of Michigan at 20, worked as a newspaper correspondent in Paris, covering the Dreyfus case during which time he met Oscar Wilde [https://oscarwildeinamerica.blog/2024/12/17/oscar-wilde-poem-video/ who dedicated one of his poems to Gauss].

Later Gauss taught at Michigan and Lehigh University in the United States, and in 1905 became a first preceptor at Princeton University, where he remained until his retirement in 1946.{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}}

At Princeton, Gauss became a full professor of French Literature two years after his arrival; he was chairman of the department of modern languages; and he served as dean.{{Cite book |last=Boes |first=Tobias |title=Thomas Mann's War: Literature, Politics, and the World Republic of Letters |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-5017-4499-0 |location=Ithaca; London |pages=110}} After retiring from Princeton, he was president of Phi Beta Kappa.{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}} The academic society awards a Christian Gauss Award.{{Cite web |title=PBK - Phi Beta Kappa Awards |url=https://www.pbk.org/awards |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=www.pbk.org}}

Though he was not a prolific author or a public figure, Gauss left a mark on literary scholarship: Princeton University's semiannual series of Christian Gauss Seminars in Criticism (founded in 1949 by R.P. Blackmur), and Phi Beta Kappa's annual Christian Gauss Award (est. 1950) for a book of literary criticism are named in his honor.

Moreover, he has written and introduction for ‘The Prince’ by Niccolo Machiavelli and a plethora of other books.

Gauss influenced and corresponded frequently with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edmund Wilson.{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}}

References

External sources

{{Cite book|url=http://etcweb1.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/gauss_christian.html|chapter=Christian Gauss|title=A Princeton Companion|year=1978|publisher=Princeton University Press|author=Alexander Leitch|access-date=2006-02-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212183541/http://etcweb1.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/gauss_christian.html|archive-date=2006-02-12|url-status=dead}}

External links

{{Gutenberg author | id=42353| name=Christian Gauss}}
{{Internet Archive author |sname=Christian Gauss}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060211013142/http://www.pbk.org/scholarships/books.htm Gauss Award] from Phi Beta Kappa
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060212183244/http://etcweb1.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/gauss_seminars.html Gauss Seminars] from A Princeton Companion

Category:1878 births

Category:1951 deaths

Category:American literary critics

Category:Princeton University faculty

Category:University of Michigan alumni

Category:Academics from Ann Arbor, Michigan

Category:American people of German descent