Background
Aldridge, John Watson was born on September 26, 1922 in Sioux City, Iowa, United States. Son of Walter Copher and Nell (Watson) Aldridge.
(Norman Mailer once stated that that "John W. Aldridge was...)
Norman Mailer once stated that that "John W. Aldridge was the nearest guideline to absolute truth that the working novelist had in my young days. I wonder if there was ever a critic who understood any better the roots of the problems that beset the novelists of his own generation." In a memorial statement, a friend wrote that "as critic and cultural arbiter, he remained in the forefront of the literary life of America. The present work, a collection of criticism that passed muster with Aldridge himself, is divided into three main sections: (1) "The Technique of Fiction"; (2) "Critiques: Studies in the Method of Meaning"; and (3) "The Mode of the Novelist"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000W6CWJO/?tag=2022091-20
(Norman Mailer once stated that that "John W. Aldridge was...)
Norman Mailer once stated that that "John W. Aldridge was the nearest guideline to absolute truth that the working novelist had in my young days. I wonder if there was ever a critic who understood any better the roots of the problems that beset the novelists of his own generation." In a memorial statement, a friend wrote that "as critic and cultural arbiter, he remained in the forefront of the literary life of America. The present work, a collection of criticism that passed muster with Aldridge himself, is divided into three main sections: (1) "The Technique of Fiction"; (2) "Critiques: Studies in the Method of Meaning"; and (3) "The Mode of the Novelist"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MXLW8E/?tag=2022091-20
(From Preface, "This book is at once a study, a commentary...)
From Preface, "This book is at once a study, a commentary, and a meditation. It is a study-highly selective to be sure-of certain prominent features of the contemporary American novel. It is a commentary-highly subjective to be sure-on certain prominent features of contemporary American life. And it is a meditation on the possible connection between the two, the state of the novel and the character of the life. Perhaps no responsible critic any longer takes seriously the old idea that the novel at any given moment in history can be considered a dependable fictive representation of the way of life prevailing at that moment-the suggestion made by Stendhal and others before and after him that the novel is a mirror carried along a high road or dawdling idly down a lane. The expectation that the novel will realistically reflect the experience of its time is not only fatigued, but has gone conspicuously unfulfilled, at least in this country, for a good many years. Most of our novelists now disdain the realistic reflection of life with as much vehemence as they disdain the happy ending. Indeed, their happiness seems most often to consist in the avoidance of endings, happy or otherwise, altogether and in perpetrating the most heretical violations of what once could confidently be thought of as the sacred law of verisimilitude..."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195031989/?tag=2022091-20
author English language educator
Aldridge, John Watson was born on September 26, 1922 in Sioux City, Iowa, United States. Son of Walter Copher and Nell (Watson) Aldridge.
Student, University Chattanooga, 1940-1943; fellow, Breadloaf School English, summer 1942; Bachelor of Arts, University of California-Berkeley, 1947.
Lecturer English, U. Vermont, 1948-1950;
assistant professor, U. Vermont, 1950-1953, 54-55;
lecturer, Christian Gauss Seminars Criticism, Princeton, New Jersey, 1953-1954;
member literature faculty, Sarah Lawrence College, also New School Social Research, 1957;
Professor of English, Queens College, 1957;
Berg Professor of English, New York University, 1958;
Fulbright lecturer, U. Munich, Federal Republic of Germany, 1958-1959;
writer-in-residence, Hollins College, 1960-1962;
Fulbright lecturer, U. Copenhagen, Denmark., 1962-1963;
Professor of English, University of Michigan, 1964-1991;
professor emeritus, University of Michigan, 1991;
book critic, New York Herald Tribune Book Week, 1965-1966;
book critic, Saturday Review, 1970-1979. Staff Bread Loaf Writers Conference, 1966-1969. Chief regional judge Book-of-the Month Writing Fellowship Program, 1966-1967.
Special adviser for American studies United States Embassy, Germany, 1972-1973. Special adviser for Authors American Station WETA, since 1990. Book commentator McNeil/Lehrer News Hour, 1983-1984.
(This is the first novel by one of America's most controve...)
(From Preface, "This book is at once a study, a commentary...)
(Norman Mailer once stated that that "John W. Aldridge was...)
(Norman Mailer once stated that that "John W. Aldridge was...)
(A new collection of literary commentary)
(Book by Aldridge, John W)
(1945 HARDCOVER)
Served with Army of the United States, 1943-1945, European Theatre of Operations. Member Authors Guild and League of America, Modern Language Association, National Book Critics Circle, P.E.N.
Married Leslie Felker, December 10, 1954 (divorced June 1968). 1 son, Geoffrey; children by previous marriages: Henry, Stephen, Leslie, Jeremy. Married Alexandra Bertash, July 13, 1968 (divorced December 1982).
Married Patricia McGuire Eby, July 16, 1983.