Richard Ellmann (15 March, 1918 – 13 May, 1987) was a noted biographer and literary critic. Mr. Ellmann specialized in biographies of Irish writers.
- Son of Jewish Romanian immigrant, Ellmann served in the US Navy during World War II.
- Ellman received his B.A., M.A. and PhD from Yale University.
- He won the John Addison Porter Prize for his PhD work.
- Mr. Ellman was Goldsmiths’ professor of English lit. at Oxford.
- Mrs. Mary Ellman was an essayist.
- Ellman’s most noted biographies are those of George Yeats, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde.
- Oscar Wilde’s biography won a Pulitzer Prize and is still referred to as a standard in biographies and is considered the definitive work on the life of the author.
- In his biography of James Joyce, Ellmann quoted extensively from Finnegans Wake.
- Ellman won the U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction for James Joyce.
- In 1982 a revised editon of James Joyce was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
Zohar – Man of la Book
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One Comment
I really enjoyed reading these fun facts on Richard Ellman. Now I know who to seek out if I want to read a biography on Wilde, Yeats or Joyce and as I love all things Irish, I probably will at some point!