Paul Zweig (July 14, 1935 – August 29, 1984) was an American poet, memoirist, and critic known for his study on Walt Whitman.[1][2]

Paul Zweig
Born(1935-07-14)July 14, 1935
Brooklyn, New York
DiedAugust 29, 1984(1984-08-29) (aged 49)
Paris, France
EducationColumbia University (BA, MA)
University of Paris (PhD)
Occupation(s)Critic, poet, professor
EmployerQueens College, City University of New York

Biography

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Zweig was born in Brooklyn on July 14, 1935, and was raised in a middle-class Jewish family in Brighton Beach. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School,[3] entered Columbia University to study engineering but switched to literature after taking classes taught by Mark Van Doren.[4] He received his B.A. from Columbia in 1956 and M.A. in 1958.[5] He lived in France and studied at the University of Paris, earning his PhD in comparative literature before returning to the United States in 1966.[3]

Zweig taught at Columbia and Queens College and served as chair of its department of comparative literature in alternate years.[1] He also reviewed works of poetry, criticism, and fiction for The New York Review of Books.[1]

Zweig received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1976 and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography in 1984 for his study on Walt Whitman.[6][7] He was posthumously named a Finalist of Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990.[8]

In 1984, Zweig died of lymphatic cancer at age 49 in the American Hospital of Paris.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Paul Zweig, Poet and Critic Praised for Whitman Study". The New York Times. August 31, 1984. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Siegel, Lee (June 18, 2006). "Paul Zweig's Journeys Into the Self". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Columbia College today. New York, N.Y.: Columbia College Office of Alumni Affairs and Development. 1985 – via Columbia University Libraries.
  4. ^ Berg, Stephen (1983). In praise of what persists (1st ed.). New York: Harper & Row. pp. 283, 286. ISBN 0-06-014921-3.
  5. ^ Columbia College today. New York, New York: Columbia College Office of Alumni Affairs and Development. 1957 – via Columbia University Libraries.
  6. ^ "Paul Zweig". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  7. ^ "1984 National Book Critics Circle Award – Biography/Autobiography Winner and Nominees". Awards Archive. March 28, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  8. ^ "Finalist: Selected and Last Poems, by Paul Zweig (Wesleyan University Press)". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved July 22, 2022.