A Century of Arts and Letters: The History of the National Institute of Arts & Letters and the American Academy of Arts & Letters as Told, Decade by Decade, by Eleven Members

by John Updike (Editor)

Overview

Although the American Academy of Arts and Letters is best known for the awards and prizes it grants artists, writers, and musicians, the organization itself remains as little-understood as its awards are acclaimed. John Updike has brought together eleven current members-including Cynthia Ozick, Norman Mailer, and Louis Auchincloss—to raid the Academy's archives. With each writer taking on a decade of the Academy's history, they have created an eye-opening documentary of an organization central to the arts in America for the past century. R. W. B. Lewis writes of the admission of Julia Ward Howe in 1907 (at the age of 86) as the first woman in the Academy, and the intense debate about the very consideration of female members. Lewis also recounts the humorous saga of the feuding James brothers, with William declining membership and decrying the election several months prior to the nomination of his "younger and shallower and vainer brother" Henry. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., tells of the Academy's struggle against modernism in the 1930s—largely a one-man war waged by its feisty septuagenarian secretary, Robert Underwood Johnson-that resulted in a perennial failure to nominate F. Scott Fitzgerald and H. L. Mencken, among others. And composer Jack Beeson notes Gore Vidal's droll telegram declining an honorary membership on the grounds that he was already a member of the Diners Club.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231102483
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	05/20/1998
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Best known for his Rabbit novels, John Updike (1932-2009) was also a master of the short story, whose work appeared regularly in The New Yorker. "A&P," one of his classic stories took aim at suburban life, as did many of his longer books. Rabbit Is Rich (1982) and Rabbit at Rest (1990) both won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Updike dominated the literary scene for decades, writing not just fiction but also essays, poems, book reviews, and art criticism.

Date of Birth:

March 18, 1932

Date of Death:

January 27, 2009

Place of Birth:

Shillington, Pennsylvania

Place of Death:

Beverly Farms, MA

Education:

A.B. in English, Harvard University, 1954; also studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford, England

Table of Contents

Forward, by John Updike
Acknowledgments
1898-1907: The Founders' Story, by R. W. B. Lewis
1908-1917: Idealism and Patriotism, by Louis Auchincloss
1918-1927: Against Modernity—Annals of the Temple, by Cynthia Ozick
1928-1937: The Infiltration of Modernity, by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
1938-1947: Decade of the Row, by John Updike
1948-1957: The Testimony of Two Artists, by Richard Lippold and Wolf Kahn
1958-1967: Rounding Camelot, by Norman Mailer
1968-1977: Housekeeping in a Messy World, by Jack Beeson
1978-1987: Holding the High Ground, by Ada Louise Huxtable
1988-1997: Decade of Reunion, by Hortense Calisher
Appendix: Academy Members, Past and Present
Index

Editorial Reviews

Besides Updike, big names contributing include Norman Mailer, Cynthia Ozick, and Arthur Schlesinger. Their approach is not so much institutional history as a cascade of anecdotes illustrating how the US intelligentsia conduct themselves when they think the hoi poloi are not watching. Among the tales are a feud between brothers over which one was worthier, the struggle against modernism in the 1930s that resulted in F. Scott Fitzgerald and H.L. Mencken failing to be nominated, and Gore Vidal declining membership on the grounds that he already belonged to the Diners Club. Lists of past and present members are appended. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

A surprisingly dull collection of essays commemorating Americaþs preeminent institution of arts and letters on its centennial. Editor Updike, in his confusing foreword and his chapter covering the years 1938þ47, sets the tone, managing to make this venerable, stodgy old institution seem stodgy but venerable. Arranged chronologically, the essays are by historians and literary figures such as Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Cynthia Ozick, Norman Mailer, Louis Auchincloss, and Hortense Calisher, artists (Wolf Kahn and Richard Lippold), and the composer Jack Beeson. Founded in 1898, the National Institute was modeled on the Institut de France and its literary chamber, the Acad‚mie fran‡aise. There would be confusion and in-fighting over the rules, domain, and membership status between the Institute and the Academy (an exalted, and much smaller, body within the Institute) until they were þunifiedþ in 1993. The bookþs liveliest passages have to do with the barring of such figures as H.L. Mencken and Theodore Dreiser, and with some pronounced rivalries: William James refused membership in the academy because his þyounger and shallower and vainer brotherþ (Henry) was already in. Interesting and indicative of the character of the Academy-Institute is its decades-long battle against modernism, waged primarily by Robert Underwood Johnson, the secretary, who along with Grace Vanamee, the þpermanent deputy,þ would maintain a staunchly conservative tone. Leave it to Mailer to add a little zest to the proceedings. His chapter, þRounding Camelot,þ covers the period from 1958 to 1967. He laments that even at that late date theAcademy-Institute was þall but wholly incapable of any kind of effective social or political action.þ The organization would loosen up a little, eventually electing writers and artists Johnson would have abhorred. And its gold medals and grants remain highly sought after. Useful, but insufficiently edited. Nearly every entry re-explains who Johnson and Vanamee were or rehashes the early scandals. (85 photos, not seen)

Kirkus Reviews