Allan Seager
Encyclopedia
Allan Seager was a novel
ist and short-story writer. Seager published more than 80 short stories in publications including Esquire
, The New Yorker
, The Atlantic, and Sports Illustrated
. E.J. O'Brien, editor of the yearly Best American Short Stories series, once stated that the "apostolic succession of the American short story" ran from Sherwood Anderson
to Ernest Hemingway
to Seager. Poet and novelist James Dickey
credited Seager's novel Amos Berry as a principal reason that he chose to pursue poetry.
As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan
, Seager was a member of two national championship swimming teams. He subsequently earned a Rhodes Scholarship
to Oxford University, but his studies were interrupted by a bout of tuberculosis
. He spent a year "curing" at the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium
in Saranac Lake, New York
; his experiences there and in Ann Arbor and Oxford
led to the semi-autobiographical short stories published in the collection A Frieze of Girls. Subsequent to his Rhodes Scholarship, Seager worked for Vanity Fair
magazine as an assistant editor. He returned to Ann Arbor in 1935, where he taught creative writing at the University of Michigan until 1968.
Seager died of lung cancer in Tecumseh, Michigan
, in 1968.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist and short-story writer. Seager published more than 80 short stories in publications including Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The Atlantic, and Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
. E.J. O'Brien, editor of the yearly Best American Short Stories series, once stated that the "apostolic succession of the American short story" ran from Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, J. D. Salinger, and Amos Oz.-Early life:Anderson was born in Clyde, Ohio,...
to Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
to Seager. Poet and novelist James Dickey
James Dickey
James Lafayette Dickey was an American poet and novelist. He was appointed the eighteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1966.-Early years:...
credited Seager's novel Amos Berry as a principal reason that he chose to pursue poetry.
As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, Seager was a member of two national championship swimming teams. He subsequently earned a Rhodes Scholarship
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
to Oxford University, but his studies were interrupted by a bout of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. He spent a year "curing" at the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium
Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium
The Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium was a tuberculosis sanatorium established in Saranac Lake, New York in 1885 by Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau. After Trudeau's death in 1915, the institution's name was changed to the Trudeau Sanatorium, following changes in conventional usage...
in Saranac Lake, New York
Saranac Lake, New York
Saranac Lake is a village located in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406. The village is named after Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac Lakes, which are nearby....
; his experiences there and in Ann Arbor and Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
led to the semi-autobiographical short stories published in the collection A Frieze of Girls. Subsequent to his Rhodes Scholarship, Seager worked for Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
magazine as an assistant editor. He returned to Ann Arbor in 1935, where he taught creative writing at the University of Michigan until 1968.
Seager died of lung cancer in Tecumseh, Michigan
Tecumseh, Michigan
Tecumseh is a small city in Lenawee County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated where M-50 crosses the River Raisin, a few miles east of M-52. Tecumseh is about SW of Detroit, south of Ann Arbor and north of Toledo, OH....
, in 1968.
Novels
- Amos Berry. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1953.
- Death of Anger. New York: McDowell, Obolensky, 1960.
- Equinox. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943.
- Hilda Manning. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956
- The Inheritance. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1948
Short Stories
- A Frieze of Girls: Memoirs as Fiction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964
- The Old Man of the Mountain. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1950
Nonfiction
- The Glass House: The Life of Theodore Roethke. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968 (First Edition)
- The Glass House: The Life of Theodore Roethke. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991 (Reprint Edition including introduction by Donald Hall)
- They Worked for a Better World. New York: Macmillan, 1939.
Translation
- Memoirs of a Tourist. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1962. (from Stendahl’s Memoires d’un Touriste)