M. H. Abrams

{{Infobox person

| name = M. H. Abrams

| image = MHAbrams.png

| alt = an image of an older man in light blue sweater smiling

| caption =

| birth_name = Meyer Howard Abrams

| birth_date = {{birth date|1912|7|23}}

| birth_place = Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|4|21|1912|7|23}}

| death_place = Ithaca, New York, U.S.

| nationality = American

| other_names = Mike Abrams

| education = Harvard University (AB, MA, PhD)
Magdalene College, Cambridge

| alma_mater = Harvard University

| occupation = Literary critic

| known_for = The Norton Anthology of English Literature (general editor); The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition (1953); Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature (1971)

}}

Meyer Howard Abrams (July 23, 1912 – April 21, 2015), usually cited as M. H. Abrams, was an American literary critic, known for works on romanticism, in particular his book The Mirror and the Lamp. Under Abrams's editorship, The Norton Anthology of English Literature became the standard text for undergraduate survey courses across the U.S. and a major trendsetter in literary canon formation.

Early life and education

Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, Abrams was the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants.{{cite web|url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/105843/the-last-critic-turns-100/2|title=Adam Kirsch Pays a 100th Birthday Visit to M. H. Abrams, the Romanticist and Norton Anthology Editor|work=Tablet Magazine|access-date=23 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123135429/http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/105843/the-last-critic-turns-100/2|archive-date=23 November 2015}} The son of a house painter and the first in his family to go to college, he entered Harvard University as an undergraduate in 1930. He went into English because, he says, "there weren't jobs in any other profession..., so I thought I might as well enjoy starving, instead of starving while doing something I didn't enjoy."{{cite web|last1=Crawford|first1=Franklin|title=A Literary Century: English Professor Mike Abrams Fêted at 100th Birthday Bash|url=http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1451|website=Cornell Alumni Magazine|publisher=Cornell University|access-date=11 February 2016|date=September 2012}} After earning his bachelor's degree in 1934, Abrams won a Henry Fellowship to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where his tutor was I. A. Richards. He returned to Harvard for graduate school in 1935 and received a master's degree in 1937 and a Ph.D. in 1940.{{cite news|last1=Grimes|first1=William|title=M.H. Abrams, 102, Dies; Shaped Romantic Criticism and Literary 'Bible'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/books/mh-abrams-professor-who-shaped-the-study-of-romanticism-dies-at-102.html?_r=0|access-date=11 February 2016|work=The New York Times|date=22 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518224808/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/books/mh-abrams-professor-who-shaped-the-study-of-romanticism-dies-at-102.html?_r=0|archive-date=18 May 2015}}

Career

During World War II, he served at the Psycho-Acoustics Laboratory at Harvard. He describes his work as solving the problem of voice communications in a noisy military environment by establishing military codes that are highly audible and inventing selection tests for personnel who had a superior ability to recognize sound in a noisy background.{{Cite web |title=Honored literary scholar M.H. Abrams continues his labors (of love) |url=https://news.cornell.edu/stories/1999/06/mh-abrams-continues-his-labors-love |access-date=2023-02-01 |website=Cornell Chronicle |language=en}}

In 1945, Abrams became a professor at Cornell University. The literary critics Harold Bloom, Gayatri Spivak and E. D. Hirsch, and the novelists William H. Gass and Thomas Pynchon were among his students.{{cite web |url=http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/99/6.10.99/Abrams.html |title=M.H. Abrams continues his labors (of love) |publisher=News.cornell.edu |access-date=2011-07-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228014936/http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/99/6.10.99/Abrams.html |archive-date=2012-02-28 }} He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1963{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=20 March 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510021801/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|archive-date=10 May 2011}} and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1973.{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Abrams&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-08-11 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}} In 1981, Northwestern University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.{{Cite web |title=Recipients: Office of the Provost - Northwestern University |url=https://www.northwestern.edu/provost/about/committees/honorary-degrees/honorary-degree-recipients.html |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=www.northwestern.edu |language=en}} As of March 4, 2008, he was Class of 1916 Professor of English Emeritus there.See [http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/March08/Abrams.mosaic.sr.html article] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704151109/http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/March08/Abrams.mosaic.sr.html |date=2008-07-04 }} in the Cornell Chronicle.

Personal life

His wife of 71 years, Ruth, predeceased him in 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theithacajournal/obituary.aspx?n=ruth-abrams&pid=119416918#fbLoggedOut|title=Ruth Abrams|work=Ithaca Journal|access-date=23 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602182520/http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theithacajournal/obituary.aspx?n=ruth-abrams&pid=119416918#fbLoggedOut|archive-date=2 June 2015}} He turned 100 in July 2012.{{cite news|last = Seely|first = Hart|title = The man behind the Norton Anthology of English Literature is turning 100 today|newspaper = The Post-Standard|publisher = Advance Publications|date = 2012-07-23|url = http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/07/the_man_behind_the_norton_anth.html|access-date = 2012-07-23|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120725234138/http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/07/the_man_behind_the_norton_anth.html|archive-date = 2012-07-25}} Abrams died on April 21, 2015, in Ithaca, New York, at the age of 102.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/books/mh-abrams-professor-who-shaped-the-study-of-romanticism-dies-at-102.html|title=M.H. Abrams, 102, Dies; Shaped Romantic Criticism and Literary 'Bible'|first=William|last=Grimes|work=The New York Times |date=22 April 2015|access-date=29 May 2017|via=NYTimes.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722103250/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/books/mh-abrams-professor-who-shaped-the-study-of-romanticism-dies-at-102.html|archive-date=22 July 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://ithacavoice.com/2015/04/one-greatest-professors-cornell-history-died/|title=One of the greatest professors in Cornell history has died|author=Jeff Stein|date=22 April 2015|work=The Ithaca Voice|access-date=23 April 2015}}

''The Mirror and the Lamp''

Abrams offers evidence that until the Romantics, literature was typically understood as a mirror reflecting the real world in some kind of mimesis; whereas for the Romantics, writing was more like a lamp: the light of the writer's inner soul spilled out to illuminate the world.{{Cite news |last=Grimes |first=William |date=2015-04-23 |title=M.H. Abrams, 102, Dies; Shaped Romantic Criticism and Literary 'Bible' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/books/mh-abrams-professor-who-shaped-the-study-of-romanticism-dies-at-102.html |access-date=2023-01-13 |issn=0362-4331}} In 1998, Modern Library ranked The Mirror and the Lamp one of the 100 greatest English-language nonfiction books of the 20th century.{{cite web |url=http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-nonfiction/ |title=100 Best Nonfiction |publisher=Modern Library |date=1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825211346/http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-nonfiction/ |archive-date=2012-08-25 |access-date=2015-03-05 }}

''The Norton Anthology of English Literature''

Abrams was the general editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature, as well as the editor of that anthology entitled The Romantic Period (1798–1832)M. H. Abrams (1962), ed., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, New York: Norton, back cover. where he evaluated writers and their reputations. For example, in his introduction to Lord Byron, he emphasizes how Byronism relates to Nietzsche's idea of the superman,M. H. Abrams (1962), ed., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, New York: Norton, p. 253. and in the introduction to Percy Bysshe Shelley, Abrams says, "The tragedy of Shelley's short life was that intending always the best, he brought disaster and suffering upon himself and those he loved."M. H. Abrams (1962), ed., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, New York: Norton, p. 415.

= Classification of literary theories =

File:Abrams mirror and the lamp.svg]]

Literary theories, Abrams argues, can be divided into four main groups:{{Cite journal |last=Rooden |first=Aukje van |date=2012-08-01 |title=Magnifying the Mirror and the Lamp: A Critical Reconsideration of the Abramsian Poetical Model and its Contribution to the Research on Modern Dutch Literature |url=https://journalofdutchliterature.org/index.php/jdl/article/view/27 |journal=Journal of Dutch Literature |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |issn=2211-0879}}

Mimetic Theories (interested in the relationship between the Work and the Universe)
Pragmatic Theories (interested in the relationship between the Work and the Audience)
Expressive Theories (interested in the relationship between the Work and the Artist)
Objective Theories (interested in close reading of the Work)

Works

The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition (1953) {{ISBN|978-0-19-501471-6}}
The Poetry of Pope: A Selection (1954) {{ISBN|978-0-88295-067-9}}
Literature and Belief: English Institute Essays, 1957 (1957) editor {{ISBN|978-0-231-02278-1}}
A Glossary of Literary Terms (Geoffrey Harpham, 1957; 9th ed. 2009) {{ISBN|978-1-4130-3390-8}}
English Romantic Poets: Modern Essays in Criticism (1960) {{ISBN|978-0-19-501946-9}}
The Norton Anthology of English Literature (1962) founding editor, many later editions
The Milk of Paradise: The Effect of Opium Visions on the Works of DeQuincey, Crabbe, Francis Thompson, and Coleridge (1970) {{ISBN|978-0-374-90028-1}}
Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature (1971) {{ISBN|978-0-393-00609-4}}
The Correspondent Breeze: Essays on English Romanticism (1984) {{ISBN|978-0-393-30340-7}}
Doing Things With Texts: Essays in Criticism and Critical Theory (1989) {{ISBN|978-0-393-02713-6}}
The Fourth Dimension of a Poem and Other Essays (2012) {{ISBN|978-0-393-05830-7}}

References

Bibliography

Lawrence Lipking, editor (1981) High Romantic Argument: Essays For M.H. Abrams {{ISBN|978-0-8014-1307-0}}

External links

[http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/hopkins_guide_to_literary_theory/free/m._h._abrams.html "The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism" entry] Short informative text on him.
[https://vimeo.com/125686419 M.H. Abrams reads poetry aloud at the National Humanities Center]

Category:1912 births

Category:2015 deaths

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:American academics of English literature

Category:American literary critics

Category:American literary theorists

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:American men centenarians

Category:Cornell University faculty

Category:Literary critics of English