Daniel R. Schwarz

Daniel R. Schwarz (born May 12, 1941) is Frederick J. Whiton Professor of English Literature and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell University, where he has taught since 1968. He has directed nine NEH seminars and has lectured in the United States and abroad, including lecture tours under the auspices of the academic programs of the USIS and the State Department. He was a guest Fellow for short periods at Oxford (Brasenose) and Cambridge (Girton) in the UK.

Contributions Theory Schwarz is a humanist and a pluralist; his literary criticism takes account of the theoretical revolution while avoiding the abstractions of much modern critical theory in favor of a consideration of both context and text. Schwarz has called his approach "humanistic formalism." In his The Case for a Humanistic Poetics (1989), he defined his own approach. His work on modernism includes articles on T.S. Eliot and Dylan Thomas. The Transformation of the English Novel, 1890-1930 (1989; revised 1995) and Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel, 1890-1930 (2005) discuss not only Conrad and Joyce, but also Hardy, Lawrence, Woolf, and Forster. Schwarz's editions of Joyce's "The Dead" and Conrad's "The Secret Sharer" are widely used in classes. Schwarz's Reconfiguring Modernism: Explorations in the Relationship Between Modern Art and Modern Literature (1997) made him a pivotal figure in developing the relationship between the literary and visual arts.

Holocaust and Jewish Studies In Imagining the Holocaust (1999), a study of books and films about the Holocaust including books by Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, and Art Spiegelman and films by Claude Lanzmann and Steven Spielberg, Schwarz focuses on the relationship among memory, imagination, and narrative. Schwarz's interest in Jewish studies began with his Disraeli's Fiction (1979) and continued with his discussion of Bloom in Reading Joyce's 'Ulysses and his The Story in Fiction and Film of French Collaboration in the Occupation and Complicity in the Holocaust (1940-1944).

Cultural Studies Schwarz has turned his attention to media culture and urban studies in Broadway Boogie Woogie: Damon Runyon and the Making of New York City Culture (2003) and in Endtimes? Crises and Turmoil at the New York Times: 1999-2009. He also edited Damon Runyon: Guys and Dolls and other Writings for Penguin Classics (2008).

Biography Schwarz holds a B.A. from Union College (New York) and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Brown University.

Books The Garden of My Saying (American Fork, Utah: Kelsay Books, 2025) The Story in Fiction and Film of French Collaboration in the Occupation and Complicity in the Holocaust (1940-2025) (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2025) How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning (Malden, MA; Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016; trans. into Mandarin with new ch. for Asian students, Beijing: Renmin, 2018) Endtimes? Crises and Turmoil at the New York Times: 1999-2009 (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2012; paperback edition with new Preface and new title, Endtimes? Crisis and Turmoil at the New York Times, 2014) Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel, 1890-1930 (Malden, MA; Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005) Imagining the Holocaust (New York: St. Martin's Press; London: Macmillan, 1999) Conrad: "Almayer's Folly" through "under Western Eyes" (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; London: Macmillan, 1980) Ed., Joseph Conrad, "The Secret Sharer" (Boston; New York: Bedford/St. Martins [Beford Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism], 1997)

Poetry and Travel Articles Schwarz has published over 100 poems.