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William H. Pritchard

{{short description|American language and literary scholar and educator}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{infobox academic

| birth_name = William Harrison Pritchard, Jr.

| education = 1953, A.B., Amherst College
1956, M.A., Harvard University
1960, Ph.D., Harvard University

| known_for = Teaching, literary criticism

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1932}}

| honorific_suffix = Emeritus

| thesis_title = The uses of nature; a study of Robert Frost's poetry

| thesis_year = 1960

| honorific_prefix = Henry Clay Folger Professor

}}

William H. Pritchard (born 1932) is an American literary critic and the Henry Clay Folger Professor of English, Emeritus, at Amherst College.

Early life and education

William Harrison Pritchard, Jr., was born in 1932, the son of William H. Pritchard and Marion (LaGrange) Pritchard of Johnson City, New York.{{Cite news |date=1959-11-25 |title=William H. Pritchard Dead at 56; EJ Official, JC School Board Head |pages=35 |work=Press and Sun-Bulletin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99482821/william-h-pritchard-dead-at-56-ej/ |access-date=2022-04-10}} A graduate of Johnson City High School at age 16,{{Cite web |title=Amherst at 200, Celebrating Mind, Heart, and Community: Bill Pritchard |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast/bill-pritchard/id1592523451?i=1000545022103 |access-date=2022-04-10}}[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hwNB6l0DIv8Z2yNqzX31aYlN1FB_l9zs/view Transcript] he earned an A.B. in philosophy at Amherst College in 1953, and an M.A. (1956) and a Ph.D. in English (1960) at Harvard University,{{Cite web |title=Pritchard, William H. {{!}} Faculty & Staff {{!}} Amherst College |url=https://www.amherst.edu/people/facstaff/whpritchard |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=www.amherst.edu}} with the dissertation, The uses of nature; a study of Robert Frost's poetry.{{Cite web |last=Pritchard |first=William Harrison |date=1960 |title=The uses of nature; a study of Robert Frost's poetry |url=https://hollis.harvard.edu/primo-explore/printPage/L/01HVD_ALMA211896811610003941?vid=HVD2 |access-date=2022-05-05 |website=hollis.harvard.edu |language=en}}

Pritchard and Marietta Perl wed in August, 1957, in the Harvard University Chapel.{{Cite news |date=August 24, 1957 |title=Marietta Perl a Bride; Married in Harvard Chapel to William H. Pritchard Jr. |website=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/08/25/95814603.html?pageNumber=88 |access-date=2022-05-04 |via=Times Machine}}

Career

Pritchard began teaching at Amherst in 1958. His academic interests include American and British 20th century fiction, poetry and literary criticism.{{Cite web |title=Peter Pouncey {{!}} Friends of the Library Oral Histories {{!}} Amherst College |url=https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/holdings/friends-of-the-library-oral-histories/peter-pouncey |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=www.amherst.edu}}

Selected publications

= Books =

  • {{Cite book |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |title=On Poets and Poetry |publisher=Swallow Press |date=June 23, 2009 |isbn=978-0804011150}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |title=Shelf Life: Literary Essays and Reviews |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-1558493759}}Review:{{Cite news |last=Ciolkowski |first=Laura |date=2003-07-27 |title=Books in Brief: Nonfiction |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/books/books-in-brief-nonfiction-565040.html |access-date=2022-05-08 |issn=0362-4331}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |title=Updike: America's Man of Letters |publisher=Steerforth Pres |year=2000 |isbn=978-1586420024}}Review:{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Jonathan |date=2000-09-24 |title=Iron John |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/24/books/iron-john.html |access-date=2022-05-08 |issn=0362-4331}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |title=Lives of the Modern Poets |publisher=University Press of New England |year=1997 |isbn=978-0874517873}}Review: {{Cite news |last=Leonard |first=John |title=Books of The Times: Lives of the Modern Poets |work=The New York Times |language=en |pages=C23 |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/24/111232644.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |access-date=2022-05-04 |via=timesmachine.nytimes.com}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |title=English Papers: A Teaching Life |publisher=Graywolf Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-1555972349}}Review:{{Cite news |last=Harshaw |first=Tobin |date=1996-01-07 |title=Books in Brief: Nonfiction |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/07/books/books-in-brief-nonfiction-050270.html |access-date=2022-05-08 |issn=0362-4331}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |title=Randall Jarrell: A Literary Life |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=1990 |isbn=978-0374246778}}Review:{{Cite news |last=Broyard |first=Anatole |date=1990-05-06 |title='Wittier than Anybody' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/06/books/wittier-than-anybody.html |access-date=2022-05-08 |issn=0362-4331}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |title=Frost: A Literary Life Reconsidered |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0195034622}}
  • {{Cite book |last1=Gottesman |first1=R. |last2=Holland |first2=L. B. |last3=Kalstone |first3=D. |last4=Murphy |first4=F |last5=Parker |first5=H. |last6=Pritchard |first6=W. H. |title=The Norton anthology of American literature |publisher=WW Norton & Company, Inc., New York |year=1980 |isbn=0-393-95119-7 |location=New York}}

= Articles =

  • {{Cite news |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=1985-12-22 |title=John Ashbery and the Shock of the New |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1985/12/22/john-ashbery-and-the-shock-of-the-new/e28a30b8-4508-4552-9a38-fc1fdfa34067/ |access-date=2022-05-10 |issn=0190-8286}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=1995 |editor-last=Salwak |editor-first=Dale |editor2-last=Moseley |editor2-first=Merritt |editor3-last=Fussell |editor3-first=Paul |title=Appreciating Kingsley Amis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3852071 |journal=The Hudson Review |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=137–144 |doi=10.2307/3852071 |jstor=3852071 |issn=0018-702X}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=2003 |editor-last=Hitchens |editor-first=Christopher |editor2-last=Orwell |editor2-first=George |editor3-last=Carey |editor3-first=John |title=Orwell Matters |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3852935 |journal=The Hudson Review |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=183–190 |doi=10.2307/3852935 |jstor=3852935 |issn=0018-702X}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=1975 |editor-last=Larkin |editor-first=Philip |title=Larkin Lives |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3850193 |journal=The Hudson Review |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=302–308 |doi=10.2307/3850193 |jstor=3850193 |issn=0018-702X}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=2009 |editor-last=Huxley |editor-first=Aldous |editor2-last=Sexton |editor2-first=James |editor3-last=Dee |editor3-first=Ivan R. |title=Huxley in His Letters |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40211698 |journal=The Sewanee Review |volume=117 |issue=1 |pages=121–125 |jstor=40211698 |issn=0037-3052}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=1976 |title=The Grip of Frost |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3849927 |journal=The Hudson Review |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=185–204 |doi=10.2307/3849927 |jstor=3849927 |issn=0018-702X}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=1968 |editor-last=Dickey |editor-first=James |editor2-last=Schorer |editor2-first=Mark |title=Why Read Criticism? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3849505 |journal=The Hudson Review |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=585–592 |doi=10.2307/3849505 |jstor=3849505 |issn=0018-702X}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=2008 |title=Bishop's Time |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20464863 |journal=The Hudson Review |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=321–334 |jstor=20464863 |issn=0018-702X}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=1995 |editor-last=Eliot |editor-first=T. S. |editor2-last=Schuchard |editor2-first=Ronald |title=A Mind So Fine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41212358 |journal=The American Scholar |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=452–456 |jstor=41212358 |issn=0003-0937}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=1994 |title=Reading Hawthorne |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3852140 |journal=The Hudson Review |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=757–764 |doi=10.2307/3852140 |jstor=3852140 |issn=0018-702X}}

Awards, honors

= Scholarly and Professional Activities =

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/140858/original/pritchard-01Mix.mp3 David Sofield and William H. Pritchard] (mp3 audio, 32:08)
  • [https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/holdings/friends-of-the-library-oral-histories/william-pritchard#Permissions Friends of the Library Oral Histories: William Pritchard] Interviewed by Rand R. Cooper (August 15, 2002)(video, 1:55:31)
  • [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hwNB6l0DIv8Z2yNqzX31aYlN1FB_l9zs/view Bill Pritchard, Amherst at 200: Celebrating Mind, Heart, and Community]
  • [https://www.c-span.org/video/?286892-1/tribute-john-updike A tribute to John Updike] (video, 1:02:06; Pritchard's speech from 47:47–55:02)
  • [https://theamericanscholar.org/remembering-john-updike/ Remembering John Updike]

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Category:1932 births

Category:Literary critics of English

Category:American academicians

Category:Amherst College alumni

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:Amherst College faculty

Category:American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:Living people