Richard Howard (1) (1929–2022)
Author of The Best American Poetry 1995
For other authors named Richard Howard, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Richard Howard was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 13, 1929. He received a B.A. from Columbia University in 1951 and studied at the Sorbonne as a Fellow of the French Government in 1952-1953. He briefly worked as a lexicographer, but soon turned his attention to poetry and poetic criticism. His show more works include Trappings: New Poems; Like Most Revelations: New Poems; Selected Poems; No Traveler; Findings; Alone with America; and Quantities. He won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1969 for Untitled Subjects. He is also a translator and published more than 150 translations from the French. He received the PEN Translation Prize in 1976 for his translation of E. M. Cioran's A Short History of Decay and the American Book Award for his 1983 translation of Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal. In 1982, he was named a Chevalier of L'Ordre National du Mérite by the government of France. He teaches in the Writing Division of the School of the Arts, Columbia University. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Eileen Barroso / Columbia University
Works by Richard Howard
Alone With America: Essays on the Art of Poetry in the United States Since 1950. (1970) 45 copies, 1 review
The New Gods 3 copies
Quantities - Poems 1 copy
'A ghost at the banquet of literature' in AFR, 1 Dec 2000 [review of Graham Robb's 'Rimbaud'] 1 copy
Breton: Nadja 1 copy
The erasers 1 copy
La Maison De Rendez-Vous 1 copy
Corydon: A Novel 1 copy
The Trouble with Being Born 1 copy
A Natural Death 1 copy
Associated Works
Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason (1961) — Translator, some editions — 3,694 copies, 28 reviews
Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography (1980) — Translator, some editions — 2,916 copies, 22 reviews
The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (2000) — Contributor — 1,465 copies, 9 reviews
The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (1970) — Translator, some editions — 506 copies, 3 reviews
Main Currents in Sociological Thought. Volume I: Montesquieu, Comte, Marx, De Tocqueville: The Sociologists and the Revolution of 1848 (1968) — Translator, some editions — 260 copies, 2 reviews
The House of Assignation (1965) — Translator, some editions; Translator, some editions — 230 copies, 2 reviews
Main currents in sociological thought. Volume II: Durkheim, Pareto, Weber (1967) — Translator, some editions — 197 copies
Gay and Lesbian Poetry in Our Time (Stonewall Inn Editions) (1988) — Contributor — 189 copies, 1 review
Poetry Speaks Expanded: Hear Poets Read Their Own Work from Tennyson to Plath (2007) — Contributor — 157 copies, 2 reviews
Voyage Around My Room: Selected Works of Xavier de Maistre (1795) — Introduction — 123 copies, 2 reviews
Orpheus and Company: Contemporary Poems on Greek Mythology (1999) — Contributor — 52 copies, 1 review
The New Young American Poets: An Anthology (2000) — Foreword, some editions; Introduction, some editions — 41 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Orwitz, Richard Howard (adopted as, birth name unknown)
Howard, Richard Joseph (mother legally changed to) - Other names
- ORWITZ, Richard HOWARD
HOWARD, Richard Joseph
HOWARD, Richard - Birthdate
- 1929-10-13
- Date of death
- 2022-03-31
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Columbia University
Sorbonne - Occupations
- poet
translator
critic
professor
lexicographer - Organizations
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature, 1983)
- Awards and honors
- Frost Medal (2004)
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets (1989)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (1970)
PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation (1985) - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
Paris, France - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
I found most of the pieces in this collection to be too 'inside baseball' for my taste. But still worth the read and I very much enjoyed 'The Golden Age of Jules Verne' and 'On Fairy Tales'.
Howard is an even-handed critic and one able to appreciate poetry that may not immediately suit his temperament. It's readable, even-handed survey of U.S. poetry post-1950.
Lists
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 45
- Also by
- 84
- Members
- 811
- Popularity
- #31,468
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 97
- Languages
- 5
- Favorited
- 1



















