James Stern (writer)
James Stern (26 December 1904 – 22 November 1993) was an Anglo-Irish writer of short stories and non-fiction. He was also known for his extensive letter writing and being a friend of the famous, Malcolm Cowley once remarked to Stern, "My God, you've known everybody, his wife, his boyfriend, and his natural issue!"[1]
Life and career
The son of a British cavalry officer of Jewish descent and an
His fiction includes The Heartless Land (1932); Something Wrong (1938); The Man who was Loved (1952); The Stories of James Stern (1969) and some unpublished family memoirs A Silver Spoon.
The Hidden Damage (1947), his most frequently re-printed book, was his account of his work in Germany with the
In the 1950s he wrote many book reviews for the
He had many friends with whom he kept up a lifelong correspondence, preserved in the James Stern archive at the British Library. Among them were Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Brian Howard, Djuna Barnes, Samuel Beckett and Arthur Miller, whose A View from the Bridge was dedicated to Stern.
He collaborated with his wife Tania on many translations from German.
References
- ^ "The Stories of James Stern (1968)". The Neglected Books Page. 3 April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ James Stern,Online article, The New York Times, 15 July 1951.
- Unsigned obituary, The Times, 27 November 1993
- Anne Chishom, Obituary, The Guardian, 24 November 1993, p. 41
- Nicholas Jenkins, Obituary, W. H. Auden Society Newsletter, 12 (1994)
- Mile Huddleston, James Stern: A Life in Letters, Michael Russell, 2002