Robert D. Richardson
Robert D. Richardson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Dale Richardson III June 14, 1934 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | June 16, 2020 (aged 86) Hyannis, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation |
|
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Phillips Exeter Academy Harvard University (PhD) |
| Notable awards | Francis Parkman Prize (1996) Bancroft Prize (2007) |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Hall |
| Children | 2 |
Robert Dale Richardson III (June 14, 1934 – June 16, 2020) was an American historian and biographer.
Early life
Richardson was born in Milwaukee and brought up in Medford, Massachusetts, and Concord, Massachusetts.[1][2] He graduated from Exeter, in 1952,[3] and from Harvard University, with a PhD.[1]
Career
He taught at the University of Denver,[1] Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Colorado, Queens College, City University of New York, Sichuan University, Wesleyan University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Richardson was known for his biographies of Henry Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and William James.[1] Emerson: The Mind on Fire won the Francis Parkman Prize in 1996, and William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism won the Bancroft Prize in 2007.[1]
In the first half of his career, he published as Robert D. Richardson, Jr. Later, he dropped the "Jr."
Personal life and death
Richardson was first married to Elizabeth Hall; they had two daughters.[1]
He married Annie Dillard in 1988, after she wrote him a fan letter about Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind.[1][4]
He was program chair for New Voices at the Key West Literary Seminar.[5]
Richardson died in Hyannis, Massachusetts, on June 16, 2020, two days after his 86th birthday, from a subdural hematoma suffered in a fall.[1][2]
Awards
- 2007 Bancroft Prize[1]
- 1990 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1996 Francis Parkman Prize[1]
- Melcher Book Award
Works
This section lists only Richardson's book-length publications. For his dozens of essays, forwards, and reviews, see the author's official website.
Biographical books
- Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind. University of California Press. 1986.
- Emerson: The Mind on Fire. University of California Press. 1996.
- William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2007
- First We Read, Then We Write: Emerson on the Creative Process. University of Iowa Press. 2009.
- Splendor of Heart: Walter Jackson Bate and the Teaching of Literature. David R. Godine, Publisher. 2013.
- Nearer the Heart's Desire: Poets of the Rubaiyat: A Dual Biography of Omar Khayyam and Edward FitzGerald. Bloomsbury. 2016.
- Three Roads Back: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives. Princeton University Press. 2023.
Scholarly monographs
- Literature and Film. Indiana University Press. 1969.
- Myth and Literature in the American Renaissance. Indiana University Press. 1978.
Edited and introduced collections
- With Burton Feldman. The rise of modern mythology, 1680-1860. Indiana University Press. 2000.
- Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Selected Essays, Lectures, and Poems. Bantam. 1990.
- With Allen Mandelbaum. Three Centuries of American Poetry. Bantam. 1999. (Also published as A Treasury of American Poetry.)
- James, William. The Heart of William James. Harvard University Press. 2010.
- Thoreau, Henry David. October, or Autumnal Tints. Norton. 2012.
- Khayyam, Omar. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Bloomsbury. 2016.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Roberts, Sam (June 24, 2020). "Robert Richardson Jr., Biographer of Literary Giants, Dies at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ a b "Prize-winning historian Robert D. Richardson dies at age 86". Associated Press. June 21, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
- ^ "Robert Richardson '52", The Exeter Bulletin, Eric Gershon, Spring 1999
- ^ MARY CANTWELL (April 26, 1992). "A Pilgrim's Progress". The New York Times.
- ^ Barbara Chai (February 2, 2008). "Robert D. Richardson on Attracting New Writers to Key West Seminar". The Wall Street Journal.
External links
- "Author's website"
- "An Interview with Robert D. Richardson", Bookslut, December 2006
- "An Interview with Robert D. Richardson", College Hill Review, James Barszcz, No. 4, Fall 2009
- "Chasing William James", Len Edgerly, November 29, 2006 on YouTube
- "A Talk by Robert D. Richardson", Blackbird, Spring 2007
- "Review - The pragmatic American: William James and our homegrown way of thought", Harper's, January 2007
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- 1934 births
- 2020 deaths
- 20th-century American historians
- 20th-century American male writers
- 21st-century American historians
- 21st-century American male writers
- Accidental deaths from falls
- Accidental deaths in Massachusetts
- American biographers
- Harvard University alumni
- People from Concord, Massachusetts
- People from Medford, Massachusetts
- Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
- Wesleyan University faculty
- Writers from Massachusetts
- Writers from Milwaukee
- Bancroft Prize winners
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