John W. Aldridge
Encyclopedia
John W. Aldridge was an American writer, literary critic, teacher and scholar. He was a professor of English at the University of Michigan
, director of the Hopwood Program
, USIA Special Ambassador to Germany and an esteemed literary critic.
and sharply differentiated from the specialized academic criticism that dominated his era, was what he called “the long, analytical essay-review.”
Using American Modernist writing of the 1920s as his lofty standard, Aldridge was bracingly articulate about the creative dilemmas faced by those writers who arrived on the literary scene a generation later, yet still hoped to create fresh depictions of their experience. Reviewing new work as it appeared, he could be merciless in his evisceration of those who, in his view, failed to measure up. As he wrote memorably in 1951, the new writers “have learned that after the innovators come the specialists and after the specialists the imitators and that after a movement has spent itself there can only come the incestuous, the archaeologists, and the ghouls.”
Reviewing After the Lost Generation, Malcolm Cowley
noted Aldridge’s hostile judgments on the novelists of World War II, but pointed out that no one else had brought such close and invigorating scrutiny to their work. Aldridge himself said, “Perhaps for reasons of innate perverseness, I seem always to have functioned best in an adversary position….This has been especially true of my evaluations of various writers whose reputations seemed to me to have become inordinately enlarged and upon whom I saw it as my sacred duty to perform a deflating operation.” No one came in for more deflation than William Styron
, whose work Aldridge regarded as derivative and cliché-ridden.
Aldridge’s work includes one of the first favorable notices of Joseph Heller
’s novel Something Happened and several essays on the creative strengths of Norman Mailer
. It was Mailer who once remarked of Aldridge, “I wonder if there ever was a critic who understood any better the roots of the problems that beset novelists of his own generation.”
Aldridge's impact is still felt. Peter Anastas has written a moving account of hearing Aldridge speak at Bowdoin College
in the mid-1950s. According to Anastas, who was then an 18 year-old student, "I left Aldridge’s talk reeling." Aldridge had advised young writers in the audience to depart the academy in order to gain life experience and artistic authenticity. "A friend, with whom I had published in the college literary magazine, dropped out immediately and hitchhiked to New York, where he got a job and began living and writing in the Village, subsequently producing a remarkable series of plays. Another classmate left in June, heading for San Francisco..." Anastas himself stayed in college, but was powerfully influenced to become a writer and critic. "[H]ad it not been for hearing John Aldridge speak in 1956, and having then discovered his books, I would not be writing today."
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...
, director of the Hopwood Program
Hopwood Program
The Hopwood Program administers the University of Michigan Hopwood Award in literature, as well as several other awards in writing. It is located in the Hopwood Room at the University of Michigan and serves the needs and interests of Hopwood contestants. The Room was established by Professor Roy W...
, USIA Special Ambassador to Germany and an esteemed literary critic.
Literary influence
Aldridge wrote penetrating assessments of postwar American writers, in a style that was marked by eloquence and sometimes condescending humor. His preferred métier, inherited from Edmund WilsonEdmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson was an American writer and literary and social critic and noted man of letters.-Early life:Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father, Edmund Wilson, Sr., was a lawyer and served as New Jersey Attorney General. Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory...
and sharply differentiated from the specialized academic criticism that dominated his era, was what he called “the long, analytical essay-review.”
Using American Modernist writing of the 1920s as his lofty standard, Aldridge was bracingly articulate about the creative dilemmas faced by those writers who arrived on the literary scene a generation later, yet still hoped to create fresh depictions of their experience. Reviewing new work as it appeared, he could be merciless in his evisceration of those who, in his view, failed to measure up. As he wrote memorably in 1951, the new writers “have learned that after the innovators come the specialists and after the specialists the imitators and that after a movement has spent itself there can only come the incestuous, the archaeologists, and the ghouls.”
Reviewing After the Lost Generation, Malcolm Cowley
Malcolm Cowley
Malcolm Cowley was an American novelist, poet, literary critic, and journalist.-Early life:...
noted Aldridge’s hostile judgments on the novelists of World War II, but pointed out that no one else had brought such close and invigorating scrutiny to their work. Aldridge himself said, “Perhaps for reasons of innate perverseness, I seem always to have functioned best in an adversary position….This has been especially true of my evaluations of various writers whose reputations seemed to me to have become inordinately enlarged and upon whom I saw it as my sacred duty to perform a deflating operation.” No one came in for more deflation than William Styron
William Styron
William Clark Styron, Jr. was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work.For much of his career, Styron was best known for his novels, which included...
, whose work Aldridge regarded as derivative and cliché-ridden.
Aldridge’s work includes one of the first favorable notices of Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller was a US satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His best known work is Catch-22, a novel about US servicemen during World War II...
’s novel Something Happened and several essays on the creative strengths of Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
. It was Mailer who once remarked of Aldridge, “I wonder if there ever was a critic who understood any better the roots of the problems that beset novelists of his own generation.”
Aldridge's impact is still felt. Peter Anastas has written a moving account of hearing Aldridge speak at Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
in the mid-1950s. According to Anastas, who was then an 18 year-old student, "I left Aldridge’s talk reeling." Aldridge had advised young writers in the audience to depart the academy in order to gain life experience and artistic authenticity. "A friend, with whom I had published in the college literary magazine, dropped out immediately and hitchhiked to New York, where he got a job and began living and writing in the Village, subsequently producing a remarkable series of plays. Another classmate left in June, heading for San Francisco..." Anastas himself stayed in college, but was powerfully influenced to become a writer and critic. "[H]ad it not been for hearing John Aldridge speak in 1956, and having then discovered his books, I would not be writing today."