Louis Kronenberger
Louis Kronenberger was an American literary critic, novelist, and biographer who wrote extensively on drama and the 18th century.
Background
Kronenberger was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Louis Kronenberger Sr., a merchant, and Mabel Newwitter. Kronenberger attended the University of Cincinnati from 1921 to 1924, but did not graduate.Career
Writer
He moved to New York in 1924 and began his career at the New York Times. In 1926, he became an editor at Boni & Liveright and in 1933, at Alfred A. Knopf.In 1938, he became drama critic for Time, where he continued to write until 1961. In 1940, William Saroyan listed Kronenberger among the associate editors at Time in the play, Love's Old Sweet Song. Starting in 1942, he worked under Whittaker Chambers, who became editor for the "Back of the Book". During this period Time was, according to Chambers, "consistently able and sometimes brilliant, because of a small group of men" that included Kronenberger, T. S. Matthews, James Agee, Robert Fitzgerald, Robert Cantwell, Winthrop Sargeant, John K. Jessup, and Calvin Fixx.
In 1940, he also served as a critic for PM and worked there until 1948.
Academic
Kronenberger was a visiting professor at several universities, including City College of New York, Columbia, Harvard, Berkeley. In 1951, he founded the Department of Theater Arts at Brandeis.He was associated with numerous organizations for promoting the arts: Yaddo, Lincoln Center Library-Museum, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Personal and death
Kronenberger married Emily L. Plaut in 1940; they had two children : Liza Wanklyn and John Kronenberger.He died on April 30, 1980.
Legacy
"Kronenberger's praise was a near guarantee of box-office success."A collection of Louis Kronenberger's papers is held by Princeton University.
Works
In his later years, Kronenberger wrote biographies, including one of John Wilkes and another of Oscar Wilde.Books:The Grand Manner Kings and Desperate Men: Life in Eighteenth-Century England Grand Right and Left The Thread of Laughter: Chapters on English Stage Comedy from Jonson to Maugham Company Manners: A Cultural Inquiry into American Life Republic of Letters: Essays on Various Writers Marlborough's Duchess: A Study in Worldliness Madame De Lafayette: The Story of a Patriot's Wife A Month of Sundays The Viking Book of Aphorisms Great World: Portraits and Scenes from Greville's Memoirs, 1814-1860 The Cart and the Horse The Polished Surface: Essays in the Literature of Worldliness The Cutting Edge: A Collection of Witty Insults and Wicked Retorts, of Polished Snubs and Homicidal Repartee No Whippings, No Gold Watches memoirsA Mania for Magnificence Animal, Vegetable, Mineral The Last Word: Portraits of Fourteen Master Aphorists Extraordinary Mr. Wilkes: His Life and Times Oscar Wilde
Editing:An Anthology of Light Verse An Eighteenth Century Miscellany Reader's Companion editorThe Pleasure of Their Company: An Anthology of Civilized Writing The Indispensable Johnson and Boswell Alexander Pope: Selected Works Cavalcade of Comedy George Bernard Shaw : A Critical Survey * The Portable Johnson and Boswell The Maxims of La Rochefoucauld Novelists on Novelists editorQuality: Its Image in the Arts Brief Lives: a Biographical Companion to the Arts
Books edited with others:The Faber Book of Aphorisms with W. H. Auden
Plays written:The Heavenly Twins
Plays translated, adapted:Mademoiselle Colombe by Jean Anouilh translated and adapted from the original Colombe
Plays edited:
- Best Plays series :
- * The Best Plays of 1952-1953, Burns Mantle Yearbook
- * The Best Plays of 1953-1954
- * The Best Plays of 1954-1955
- * The Best Plays of 1955-1956
- * The Best Plays of 1956-1957
- * The Best Plays of 1957-1958
- * The Best Plays of 1958-1959
- * The Best Plays of 1959-1960
- * The Best Plays of 1960-1961 Four Plays by Bernard Shaw Richard Brinsley Sheridan: Six Plays