Waldo Frank
Encyclopedia
Waldo Frank was a prolific novelist, historian, literary and social critic. Most well-known for his studies of Spanish and Latin American literature
, Frank served as chairman of the First Americans Writers Congress (April 26-27-28, 1935) and became the first president of the League of American Writers
.
. He was a precocious intellect, and was expelled from high school for refusing to take a Shakespeare course saying that he knew more than the teacher. He completed board ing school in Lausanne, Switzerland and returned to the United States to take a B.A. and an M.A. from Yale University
in 1911.
Frank's first published novel, The Unwelcome Man (1917), was a psychoanalytic look into a man contemplating suicide. The novel drew upon the ideas of New England transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson
and Walt Whitman
.
In 1916, he was made associate editor of The Seven Arts
, a journal which ran for just twelve issues but became an important artistic and political journal. With the determined pacifism of its contributors (which also included Randolph Bourne, Van Wyck Brooks, and James Oppenheim, the founder and general editor of the magazine) came a cessation of funds which led to its demise. Frank also became a regular contributor to the New Yorker
in 1925 under the pseudonym, "Search-light." That same year he was named contributing editor of The New Republic
. His cultural study of Spain, Virgin Spain (1926), was mocked and ridiculed by Ernest Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon (1932).
Frank was married in January 1917 to Margaret Naumburg, a prominent postgraduate pupil of John Dewey who developed techniques which later became known as art therapy.
Frank studied mysticism and oriental religions. In the twenties he also came in contact with George Gurdjieff through reading P. D. Ouspensky
, which was introduced to him by Hart Crane
and Gorham Munson
. Frank, Munson and Crane were all preoccupied with a mystical interpretation of American history in which America appears as a visionary place where the spiritual regeneration impossible in the old world is a real possibility, and they wondered whether Gurdjieff might not be the agent of this spiritual renewal. Frank later heavily criticized Gurdjieff and his activities.
After a series of novels which were less successful than he thought they deserved, Frank turned his attention more to politics. He was widely acclaimed in Latin America, which he toured in 1929, in a lecture tour organized by, among others, Argentinian editor Samuel Glusberg and Peruvian cultural theorist José Carlos Mariátegui
; the latter had serialized parts of Frank's Rediscovery of America (without Frank's authorization) in the important journal Amauta in 1927. Frank wrote South American Journey in 1943 and Birth of a World: Simon Bolivar in Terms of His Peoples in 1951. It was in South America that his literary impact was greatest.During a visit to Argentina in 1942 he denounced the pro-Nazi drift of the government of the time, and was declared a persona non-grata.
Latin American literature
Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the second half of the 20th century, largely due to the...
, Frank served as chairman of the First Americans Writers Congress (April 26-27-28, 1935) and became the first president of the League of American Writers
League of American Writers
The League of American Writers was an association of American novelists, playwrights, poets, journalists, and literary critics launched by the Communist Party USA in 1935...
.
Biography
Frank was born into a comfortably well-off Jewish family In Long Branch, New JerseyLong Branch, New Jersey
Long Branch is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 30,719.Long Branch was formed on April 11, 1867, as the Long Branch Commission, from portions of Ocean Township...
. He was a precocious intellect, and was expelled from high school for refusing to take a Shakespeare course saying that he knew more than the teacher. He completed board ing school in Lausanne, Switzerland and returned to the United States to take a B.A. and an M.A. from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1911.
Frank's first published novel, The Unwelcome Man (1917), was a psychoanalytic look into a man contemplating suicide. The novel drew upon the ideas of New England transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
and Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
.
In 1916, he was made associate editor of The Seven Arts
The Seven Arts
The Seven Arts was a literary journal which flourished briefly in 1916-1917. It was edited by James Oppenheim, Waldo Frank, and Van Wyck Brooks. The magazine featured new American writing by figures such as Sherwood Anderson, Amy Lowell, Robert Frost, Eugene O'Neill, and John Dos Passos...
, a journal which ran for just twelve issues but became an important artistic and political journal. With the determined pacifism of its contributors (which also included Randolph Bourne, Van Wyck Brooks, and James Oppenheim, the founder and general editor of the magazine) came a cessation of funds which led to its demise. Frank also became a regular contributor to 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...
in 1925 under the pseudonym, "Search-light." That same year he was named contributing editor of The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
. His cultural study of Spain, Virgin Spain (1926), was mocked and ridiculed by Ernest Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon (1932).
Frank was married in January 1917 to Margaret Naumburg, a prominent postgraduate pupil of John Dewey who developed techniques which later became known as art therapy.
Frank studied mysticism and oriental religions. In the twenties he also came in contact with George Gurdjieff through reading P. D. Ouspensky
P. D. Ouspensky
Peter D. Ouspensky , , a Russian esotericist known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff, whom he met in Moscow in 1915.He was associated with the ideas and practices originating with...
, which was introduced to him by Hart Crane
Hart Crane
-Career:Throughout the early 1920s, small but well-respected literary magazines published some of Crane’s lyrics, gaining him, among the avant-garde, a respect that White Buildings , his first volume, ratified and strengthened...
and Gorham Munson
Gorham Munson
Gorham Bockhaven Munson was an American literary critic.Gorham was born in Amityville, New York to Hubert Barney Munson and Carrie Louise Morrow. He received his B.A. degree from Wesleyan University in 1917. He married Elizabeth Hurwitz on April 2, 1921 Brooklyn...
. Frank, Munson and Crane were all preoccupied with a mystical interpretation of American history in which America appears as a visionary place where the spiritual regeneration impossible in the old world is a real possibility, and they wondered whether Gurdjieff might not be the agent of this spiritual renewal. Frank later heavily criticized Gurdjieff and his activities.
After a series of novels which were less successful than he thought they deserved, Frank turned his attention more to politics. He was widely acclaimed in Latin America, which he toured in 1929, in a lecture tour organized by, among others, Argentinian editor Samuel Glusberg and Peruvian cultural theorist José Carlos Mariátegui
José Carlos Mariátegui
José Carlos Mariátegui La Chira was a Peruvian journalist, political philosopher, and activist. A prolific writer before his early death at age 35, he is considered one of the most influential Latin American socialists of the 20th century...
; the latter had serialized parts of Frank's Rediscovery of America (without Frank's authorization) in the important journal Amauta in 1927. Frank wrote South American Journey in 1943 and Birth of a World: Simon Bolivar in Terms of His Peoples in 1951. It was in South America that his literary impact was greatest.During a visit to Argentina in 1942 he denounced the pro-Nazi drift of the government of the time, and was declared a persona non-grata.
Books
- The Unwelcome Man (1917)
- Our America (1919)
- The Dark Mother (1920)
- City Block (1922)
- Rahab (1922)
- Holiday (1923)
- Chalk Face (1924)
- Virgin Spain: Scenes from the Spiritual Drama of a Great People (1926)
- The Rediscovery of America (1929)
- Primer mensaje a la América Hispana, (1929) published in Revista de Occidente, (Madrid, 1930)
- South of Us (published in Spanish as América Hispana) (1931)
- The Death and Birth of David Markand (1934)
- Birth of a World: Bolivar in Terms of his Peoples (1951)
- Bridgehead: The Drama of Israel (1957)
- Rediscovery of Man (1958)
- The Prophetic Island: A Portrait of Cuba (1961)
- Memoirs (posthumous, 1973)
External links
- Waldo Frank Papers at the Newberry Library