Janet Lewis
Encyclopedia
Janet Loxley Lewis was an American novel
ist and poet
.
, where she was a member of a literary circle that included Glenway Wescott
, Elizabeth Madox Roberts
, and her future husband Yvor Winters
. She was an active member of the University of Chicago Poetry Club
. She taught at both Stanford University
in California
, and the University of California at Berkeley
.
She wrote The Wife of Martin Guerre
(1941) which is the tale of one man's deception and another’s cowardice. Her first novel was The Invasion: A Narrative of Events Concerning the Johnson Family of St. Mary's (1932). Other prose works include The Trial of Soren Qvist (1947), The Ghost of Monsieur Scarron (1959), and the volume of short fiction, Good-bye, Son, and Other Stories (1946).
Lewis was also a poet, and concentrated on imagery, rhythms, and lyricism to achieve her goal. Among her works are The Indians in the Woods (1922), and the later collections Poems, 1924-1944 (1950), and Poems Old and New, 1918-1978 (1981). She also collaborated with Alva Henderson, a composer for whom she wrote three libretti and several song texts.
She married the American poet and critic Yvor Winters
in 1926. Together they founded Gyroscope, a literary magazine that lasted from 1929 until 1931.
Lewis died at her home in Los Altos, California
, in 1998, at the age of 99.
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 poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
.
Biography
Lewis was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was a graduate of the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, where she was a member of a literary circle that included Glenway Wescott
Glenway Wescott
Glenway Wescott was a major American novelist during the 1920-1940 period and a figure in the American expatriate literary community in Paris during the 1920s. Wescott was gay. His relationship with longtime companion Monroe Wheeler lasted from 1919 until Wescott's death.-Biography:Wescott was...
, Elizabeth Madox Roberts
Elizabeth Madox Roberts
Elizabeth Madox Roberts was a Kentucky novelist and poet, primarily known for her novels and stories about the Kentucky mountain people, including The Time of Man , The Great Meadow and A Buried Treasure . All of her writings are characterized by her distinct, rhythmic prose...
, and her future husband Yvor Winters
Yvor Winters
Arthur Yvor Winters was an American poet and literary critic.-As modernist:Winters's early poetry, which appeared in small avant-garde magazines alongside work by writers like James Joyce and Gertrude Stein, was written in the modernist idiom, and was heavily influenced both by Native American...
. She was an active member of the University of Chicago Poetry Club
University of Chicago Poetry Club
University of Chicago Poetry Club, a group formed in 1917 by students who wished to address the absence of modern poetry in the University of Chicago curriculum....
. She taught at both Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and the University of California at Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
.
She wrote The Wife of Martin Guerre
The Wife of Martin Guerre
The Wife of Martin Guerre is a short novel by an American writer Janet Lewis. The novel speculates how the life of Bertrande, Martin Guerre’s wife, copes with exceptional circumstances in 16th century France.-Plot summary:...
(1941) which is the tale of one man's deception and another’s cowardice. Her first novel was The Invasion: A Narrative of Events Concerning the Johnson Family of St. Mary's (1932). Other prose works include The Trial of Soren Qvist (1947), The Ghost of Monsieur Scarron (1959), and the volume of short fiction, Good-bye, Son, and Other Stories (1946).
Lewis was also a poet, and concentrated on imagery, rhythms, and lyricism to achieve her goal. Among her works are The Indians in the Woods (1922), and the later collections Poems, 1924-1944 (1950), and Poems Old and New, 1918-1978 (1981). She also collaborated with Alva Henderson, a composer for whom she wrote three libretti and several song texts.
She married the American poet and critic Yvor Winters
Yvor Winters
Arthur Yvor Winters was an American poet and literary critic.-As modernist:Winters's early poetry, which appeared in small avant-garde magazines alongside work by writers like James Joyce and Gertrude Stein, was written in the modernist idiom, and was heavily influenced both by Native American...
in 1926. Together they founded Gyroscope, a literary magazine that lasted from 1929 until 1931.
Lewis died at her home in Los Altos, California
Los Altos, California
Los Altos is a city at the southern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 28,976 according to the 2010 census....
, in 1998, at the age of 99.
Poetry
- The Indians in the Woods. Published by Monroe Wheeler, as Manikin Number One, BonnBonnBonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, Germany, n.d. [1922]. - The Wheel in Midsummer Lynn, Mass, The Lone Gull, 1927.
- The Earth-Bound' Aurora, New York, Wells College Press, 1946
- Poems 1924 – 1944 Denver, Alan Swallow, 1950
- The Ancient Ones Portola Valley, California: No Dead Lines, 1979
- The Indians in the Woods 2nd edition with new preface, Palo-Alto California, Matrix Press, 1980.
- Poems Old and New 1918 – 1978 Chicago/Athens, Ohio: Swallow Press / Ohio University Press 1981
- Late Offerings Florence, Ky, Robert L. Barth, 1988
- Janet and Deloss: Poems and Pictures San Diego, Brighton Press 1990
- The Dear Past and other poems 1919 – 1994 Edgewood Ky, Robert L. Barth, 1994
- The Selected Poems of Janet Lewis thens Ohio, Swallow Press / Ohio University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0804010238.
External links
- Kathleen Foster Campbell Papers at Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library