Richard Poirier

Richard Poirier (September 9, 1925 – August 15, 2009) was an American literary critic. He was known for his editorship of Raritan and Partisan Review and for co-founding the Library of America. He was a named chair professor of English Literature at Rutgers University.

Early life and education Poirier was born on September 9, 1925 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. After high school, he served in the US Army and served in the European theater of World War II.

Career He co-founded the Library of America in 1979 and served as chairman of its board. He was also the founder and editor of Raritan, a literary quarterly, and an editor of Partisan Review.

Death Poirer died on August 15, 2009 in Manhattan.

Works Stories British and American (1953) with Jack Barry Ludwig The Comic Sense of Henry James: A Study of the Early Novels (1960) In Defense of Reading : A Reader's Approach to Literary Criticism (1963) editor with Reuben A. Brower A World Elsewhere: The Place of Style in American Literature (1966) American Literature: Volume Two (Little, Brown 1970) editor with William L. Vance The Oxford Reader: Varieties of Contemporary Discourse (1971) editor with Frank Kermode The Performing Self: Compositions and Decompositions in the Languages of Contemporary Life (1971) Mailer (Fontana Modern Masters, 1972) Robert Frost: The Work of Knowing (1977) The Renewal Of Literature: Emersonian Reflections (Random House, 1987) Raritan Reading (1990) editor Ralph Waldo Emerson (1990) Poetry and Pragmatism (1992) Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays of Robert Frost (Library of America, 1995) editor with Mark Richardson Trying It Out in America: Literary and Other Performances (2003)