Kenneth Burke, 1897-1993. American author
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Finding-Aid for the Burke Papers [00158]Collection Description
Papers, 1970-1971
4 items
Access: Open
Although Kenneth Burke briefly attended Ohio State University and Columbia University, he never graduated and can be considered a self-taught thinker who attempted to integrate scientific and philosophical concepts with his analysis of semantics and literature. In 1915, Burke moved to Greenwich Village in New York, where he was at the forefront of American modernism, conversing with writers and artists such as Marianne Moore, Jean Toomer, Alfred Stieglitz, and William Carlos Williams. After brief stints with The Dial and The Nation, he turned to literary criticism and taught at Bennington College from 1943 to 1961. By the time of his death at age ninety-eight, Burke left behind such classics in the field as The Philosophy of Literary Form (1941), Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose (1935), A Grammar of Motives (1945), and Language as Symbolic Action (1966).
This small collection includes a clipping from Washington University Magazine (Winter, 1971). It is an essay Burke wrote while he was the 1970-1971, Fannie Hurst Professor of English at Washington University. The clipping also contains one page of introductory notes and two press releases related to Burke's appointment.
Selected Names
Burke, Kenneth, 1897-1993. American author