David Rytman Slavitt (born March 23, 1935) is an American writer, poet, and translator, the author of more than 100 books.

Slavitt has written a number of novels and numerous translations from Greek, Latin, and other languages. Slavitt wrote a number of popular novels under the pseudonym Henry Sutton, starting in the late 1960s. The Exhibitionist (1967) was a bestseller and sold over four million copies. He has also published popular novels under the names of David Benjamin, Lynn Meyer, and Henry Lazarus.[1][2][3][4] His first work, a book of poems titled Suits for the Dead, was published in 1961. He worked as a writer and film critic for Newsweek from 1958 to 1965.[2][5]

According to Henry S. Taylor, winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, "David Slavitt is among the most accomplished living practitioners" of writing, "in both prose and verse; his poems give us a pleasurable, beautiful way of meditating on a bad time. We can't ask much more of literature, and usually we get far less."[6] Novelist and poet James Dickey wrote, "Slavitt has such an easy, tolerant, believable relationship with the ancient world and its authors that making the change-over from that world to ours is less a leap than an enjoyable stroll. The reader feels a continual sense of gratitude."[7]

Biography

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Personal life

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Slavitt was born in White Plains, New York on March 23, 1935, the son of lawyer Samuel Saul Slavitt and Adele Beatrice Slavitt, a paralegal.

Slavitt attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where his first writing teacher was Dudley Fitts.[8] He received an undergraduate degree from Yale University (where he studied under Cleanth Brooks[8] and Robert Penn Warren and was elected class poet, "Scholar of the House," in 1956[9]), graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude), and then a Master's degree in English from Columbia University in 1957.[10]

He was married to Lynn Nita Meyer on August 27, 1956. They had three children: Evan Meyer, Sarah Rebecca, and Joshua Rytman; while raising their young children, the Slavitts lived for some years in Miami, Florida. Slavitt and his first wife were divorced on December 20, 1977.[10]

Slavitt's Florida house was burgled during the summer of 1973. His family were no longer happy to live in Miami; they moved to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For a short time he lived in Belmont. He then met Janet Lee Abrahm, later to be Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and they were married on April 16, 1978.[10] Abrahm was appointed Chief Resident at Moffitt Hospital of University of California, San Francisco, where they lived for a year. Together, they moved to Philadelphia, where Abrahm had earned a fellowship; they moved to Boston in 2000, when she was hired at Harvard University.

Slavitt's mother was murdered in 1982 by a teen-aged burglar, who was convicted and imprisoned. Slavitt's poetry, which rings many emotional changes, became darker, by his own admission.

Slavitt remains close to his children, and he said proudly in a 2011 interview: "What amazes me is not the 100 books, but the fact that I am 76 and have nine grandchildren."[1]

Politically, he has identified himself as a Republican. He and his first wife are Jewish and raised their children in that faith.[10]

He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[11]

Writing career

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Before becoming a full-time freelance writer in 1965, Slavitt worked at various jobs in the literary field. These included a stint in the personnel office of Reader's Digest in Pleasantville, New York; teaching English at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta (1957–1958); and a variety of jobs at Newsweek in New York. Slavitt began there as a mailroom clerk, was promoted to the positions of book reviewer and film critic, and earned the position of associate editor from 1958 to 1963. He edited the movies pages from 1963 to 1965.

Okla Elliott, a professor and Illinois Distinguished Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, has written of Slavitt that he "served as an associate editor at Newsweek until 1965, teaching himself Greek on his 35-minute commute. In his last two years at Newsweek, he had a reputation as an astute, sometime cranky, but always readable 'flicker picker' and gained some notoriety for his film reviews there."[1]

Slavitt taught as an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1977, and at Temple University, in Philadelphia, as associate professor from 1978 to 1980. Slavitt was a lecturer at Columbia University from 1985 to 1986, at Rutgers University in 1987, and at the University of Pennsylvania in 1991. He has served as a visiting professor at the University of Texas at El Paso and other institutions. He has given poetry readings at colleges and universities, at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and at the Library of Congress.[10]

In the 1960s, Slavitt was approached by Bernie Geis & Associates to write a big book, a popular book, which he agreed to if he could use a pseudonym. As Henry Sutton, in 1967 he published The Exhibitionist, which sold more than 4 million copies. He followed this with The Voyeur in 1968 and three more novels as Henry Sutton. In the 1970s, he also used the pen names of Lynn Meyer and Henry Lazarus for novels written for the popular market.[1]

Slavitt has published numerous works in translation, especially classics, from Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Spanish and French.[9]

Politics

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In 2004, Slavitt unsuccessfully ran as a Republican for a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, losing to longtime incumbent Timothy J. Toomey Jr.[12] His campaign manager was former Cambridge School Committee candidate and Republican City Committee Chairman Fred Baker. He explored the race in his 2006 non-fiction book Blue State Blues: How a Cranky Conservative Launched a Campaign and Found Himself the Liberal Candidate (And Still Lost).[13][14] Jonathan Yardley, reviewing the book, said that Slavitt "was challenged by his son Evan -- a Republican activist" to run, and that Slavitt described himself as "economically conservative and socially moderate."[14]

Bibliography

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Title Year Publisher Notes
A Cheater's Dozen: Eleven Poems 1952 Self-published Slavitt wrote and distributed these poems by mimeograph at age 17, at Andover. Held in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Dept. of Houghton Library at Harvard University.[15]
Suits For the Dead 1961 Scribner Poetry.[16] (Scribner series: Poets of today, vol. 8)
The Carnivore 1965 University of North Carolina Press Poetry. Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winner Henry S. Taylor praises one poem, Elegy for Walter Stone, as one of Slavitt's "most ambitious."[6]
Rochelle, or, Virtue Rewarded 1966 Chapman & Hall A novel. Printed in the United States by Delacorte Press in 1967.
The Exhibitionist 1967 Bernard Geis Associates A novel about "a prominent actress and her prominent father,"[2] written under the name Henry Sutton.[17]
King Saul 1967 The American Place Theatre A play.
The Voyeur 1968 Bernard Geis Associates An erotic novel, written under the name Henry Sutton. Advertised with a New York Times Square billboard, a first in New York book promotions.[9]
Feel Free 1968 Delacorte Press Novel.
Day Sailing and Other Poems 1969 University of North Carolina Press Poetry.
The Cardinal Sins 1969 The Playwright's Unit A play.
Anagrams 1970 Hodder & Stoughton Novel.
Vector 1970 Bernard Geis Associates Science fiction novel. Written as by Henry Sutton. Kirkus Reviews called it "an efficient, energetic novel tracking a common concern."[18] Reprinted by Hodder & Stoughton in 1971 (ISBN 0-340-15068-8) and by Coronet Books in 1972 (ISBN 0-340-16071-3).
Eclogues of Virgil 1971 Doubleday Translated from the Latin, the Eclogues of Virgil.
A B C D: A Novel 1972 Doubleday Novel. ISBN 0-385-03634-5.
The Eclogues and the Georgics of Virgil 1972 Doubleday Translated from the Latin, the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil.
Child's Play 1972 Louisiana State University Press Poetry. ISBN 0-8071-0238-5.
The Outer Mongolian 1973 Doubleday Alternate history novel[19] ISBN 0-385-00425-7.
The Liberated 1973 Doubleday Novel. Written as by Henry Sutton.
The Killing of the King 1974 Doubleday / W.H. Allen Biographical novel about Farouk of Egypt. ISBN 0-385-07899-4.
Vital Signs: New and Selected Poems 1975 Doubleday [6]
Paperback Thriller 1975 Avon A mystery novel, written under the pseudonym Lynn Meyer. Honors: Edgar Award Nominee for Best First Novel (1976). ISBN 0-380-31336-7.
King of Hearts 1976 Arbor House Novel.[20] ISBN 0-87795-153-5.
That Golden Woman 1976 Fawcett Publications Novel, written as Henry Lazarus. ISBN 0-449-13518-7.
Understanding Social Life: An Introduction to Social Psychology 1976 McGraw-Hill Co-authored with Paul F. Secord and Carl W. Backman, a treatise on social psychology.
Jo Stern 1978 Harper & Row Novel.[1] ISBN 978-0-06-013994-0.
The Sacrifice: A Novel of the Occult 1978 Grosset & Dunlap Novel, written as Henry Sutton. ISBN 0-448-14719-X. Reprinted by Charter in 1979 (ISBN 0-441-74610-1) and by Sphere Books in 1980 (ISBN 0-7221-8290-2).
Rounding the Horn 1978 Louisiana State University Press Poetry.
The Idol 1979 Putnam A novel about Hollywood, written under the pseudonym David Benjamin.[21][22]
Cold Comfort 1980 Methuen Publishing Novel.
The Proposal 1980 Charter Books An erotic novel about swinging, written as by Henry Sutton.
Dozens 1981 Louisiana State University Press [23] ISBN 0-8071-0787-5.
Ringer 1982 E. P. Dutton Novel[24]
Big Nose 1983 Louisiana State University Press
Alice at 80 1984 Doubleday Novel[25] ISBN 978-1-937402-23-5. ISBN 0-385-18883-8.
The Elegies to Delia of Albius Tibillus 1985 Bits Press Translation of the Latin poetry of Tibullus.
The Agent 1986 Doubleday Novel co-authored with Bill Adler.[26] ISBN 0-385-23007-9.
The Walls of Thebes 1986 Louisiana State University Press Poetry. ISBN 978-0-8071-1306-6.
The Tristia of Ovid 1986 Bellflower Press Translation[6] ISBN 0-934958-04-1.
The Cock Book, or, The Child's First Book of Pornography 1987 Bits Press [2]
The Hussar 1987 Louisiana State University Press Novel.[27] ISBN 0-8071-1364-6.
Physicians Observed 1987 Doubleday Religious Publishing Group Non-fiction.[28] ISBN 9780819568069
Salazar Blinks 1988 Atheneum Novel. ISBN 0-689-12030-3.
Equinox and Other Poems 1989 Louisiana State University Press Poetry. ISBN 0-8071-1485-5.
Ovid's Poetry of Exile 1989 Johns Hopkins University Press A collection of epistolary poems translated from the Latin of Ovid.[29]
Lives of the Saints 1990 Atheneum Novel.[30] ISBN 0-689-12079-6.
Eight Longer Poems 1990 Louisiana State University Press Poetry.
Short Stories Are Not Real Life 1991 Louisiana State University Press Short story collection. ISBN 978-0-8071-1665-4.
Virgil 1992 Yale University Press Analyses of Virgil's poems[31]
Seneca: The Tragedies, Volume I 1992 Johns Hopkins University Press Translated from the Latin plays about classical mythology by Seneca the Younger.
Turkish Delights 1993 Louisiana State University Press Novel. ISBN 978-0-8071-1813-9.
The Fables of Avianus 1993 Johns Hopkins University Press Translations of 42 fables by Avianus.[32][33][34] ISBN 0-8018-4684-6.
Crossroads 1994 Louisiana State University Press Poetry.[35] ISBN 0-8071-1753-6.
The Metamorphoses of Ovid 1994 Johns Hopkins University Press English verse translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses.[36]
The Cliff 1994 Louisiana State University Press Novel. ISBN 978-0-8071-1781-1.
Seneca: The Tragedies, Volume II 1995 Johns Hopkins University Press Translation of five tragedies by Seneca the Younger.[37]
A Gift: The Life of Da Ponte 1996 Louisiana State University Press A poetical biography of Lorenzo Da Ponte.[38] ISBN 978-0-8071-2047-7.
Hymns of Prudentius: The Cathemerinon, or, The Daily Round 1996 Johns Hopkins University Press Translation of Prudentius' Cathemerinon Liber.
Sixty-One Psalms of David 1996 Oxford University Press Translation of the Psalms of David from Hebrew.[8] ISBN 0-19-510711-X.[39]
Epic and Epigram: Two Elizabethan Entertainments 1997 Louisiana State University Press Free-form translations from the Latin epigrams of Welsh poet John Owen. Includes Duessa's version: a dirge in seven canticles. ISBN 0-8071-2151-7.
Broken Columns: Two Roman Epic Fragments 1997 University of Pennsylvania Press Translations of The Achilleid (Achilleis) by Publius Papinius Statius and The Rape of Proserpine (De raptu Proserpinae) by Claudius Claudianus. ISBN 0-8122-3424-3.
Epinician Odes and Dithyrambs of Bacchylides 1998 University of Pennsylvania Press Translation of the Bacchylides.[40] ISBN 0-8122-3447-2.
PS3569.L3 1998 Louisiana State University Press Poetry.
Solomon Ibn Gabirol's A Crown For the King 1998 Oxford University Press Translation of Solomon ibn Gabirol's poem.[41] ISBN 0-19-511962-2.
Three Amusements of Ausonius 1998 University of Pennsylvania Press Translation of three epigrams by Ausonius. ISBN 0-8122-3472-3. Paperback ISBN 978-0-8122-1953-1.
The Oresteia of Aeschylus 1999 University of Pennsylvania Press Translation.
The Poem of Queen Esther by Joao Pinto Delgado 1999 Oxford University Press Translation of a Spanish 16th century poem[42] ISBN 0-19-512374-3.
Get Thee to a Nunnery: Two Shakespearean Divertimentos 1999 Catbird Press Novella.[1]
The Voyage of the Argo: The Argonautica of Gaius Valerius Flaccus 1999 Johns Hopkins University Press Translation
The Book of the Twelve Prophets 2000 Oxford University Press Translation of a book from the Hebrew Bible ISBN 0-19-513214-9.
The Latin Odes of Jean Dorat 2000 Orchises Translated from the French of Jean Daurat. ISBN 0-914061-80-1.
Falling From Silence: Poems 2001 Louisiana State University Press Poetry.
The Book of Lamentations: a Meditation and Translation 2001 Johns Hopkins University Press Poetry.[43] ISBN 0-8018-6617-0.
Sonnets of Love and Death of Jean de Sponde 2001 Northwestern University Press Translation
Propertius In Love: The Elegies 2002 University of California Press Translation.
Poems of Manuel Bandeira 2002 Sheep Meadow Press Translation.
Aspects of the Novel: A Novel 2003 Catbird ISBN 0-945774-56-7.
The Phoenix and Other Translations 2004 New American Press Translations from Latin, French, and Sanskrit.
The Regrets of Joachim du Bellay 2004 Northwestern University Press Translation of sonnets by Joachim du Bellay.[44]
Re Verse: Essays on Poets and Poetry 2005 Northwestern University Press [45]
Change of Address: Poems, New and Selected 2006 Louisiana State University Press Poetry.
Blue State Blues: How a Conservative Launched a Campaign and Found Himself The Liberal Candidate (And Still Lost) 2006 Wesleyan University Press Memoir.
William Henry Harrison and Other Poems 2006 Louisiana State University Press Poetry.
The Theban plays of Sophocles 2007 Yale University Press Translation.
De Rerum Natura = The Nature of Things : a Poetic Translation 2008 University of California Press Translation.
The Consolation of Philosophy 2008 Harvard University Press Translation from the Latin of Boethius.[46]
The Seven Deadly Sins and Other Poems 2009 Louisiana State University Press Poetry.
Orlando Furioso: a new verse translation 2009 Belknap Press, Harvard Univ. Press Translation of the poem by Ludovico Ariosto.
George Sanders, Zsa Zsa, and Me: Essays on the Movies 2009 Northwestern University Press Memoir.
The Latin Eclogues 2010 Johns Hopkins University Press Translation of the eclogues by Giovanni Boccaccio. ISBN 978-0-8018-9562-3.
La Vita Nuova 2010 Harvard University Press Translation of poetry by Dante Alighieri.[47]
Poems From The Greek Anthology 2010 Sheep Meadow Press Translations of Greek poems.
Milton's Latin Poems 2011 Johns Hopkins University Press Translations of the Latin poems by John Milton.
The Gnat and Other Poems of the Appendix Virgiliana 2011 University of California Press Translations of some poems attributed to Virgil. ISBN 0-520-26765-6.
The Duke's Man 2011 Northwestern University Press Historical novel.[1] ISBN 978-0-8101-2700-5.
Love Poems, Letters, and Remedies of Ovid 2011 Harvard University Press Translations.
Sonnets and Shorter Poems 2012 Harvard University Press Translations from Petrarch.
The Metabolism of Desire: The Poems of Guido Cavalcanti 2012 Athabasca University Translated poetry. ISBN 978-1-926836-84-3.
Overture 2012 Outpost19 Novel. ISBN 978-1-937402-22-8
The Crooning Wind: Three Greenlandic Poets 2012 New American Press Translations from the Greenland poets Torkilk Mørch, Gerda Hvisterdahl, and Innunquaq Larsen, by Nive Grønkjær and David Slavitt.
The Dhammapada of the Buddha 2012
Procne 2012 Outpost19 Translation of the drama by Gregorio Correr (1409–1464)
Bottom of the Barrel: The Herring Poems 2012 Outpost19 Poetry.
L'Heure bleu 2013 Broadkill River Press ISBN 978-0-9837789-1-2.
The Lays of Marie de France 2013 Athabasca University Poetry.
Civil Wars: Poems 2013 Louisiana State University Press Poetry. ISBN 978-0-8071-5180-8.
The Other Four Plays of Sophocles: Ajax, Women of Trachis, Electra, and Philoctetes 2013 The Johns Hopkins University Press Translations of the tragedies Ajax, Women of Trachis, Electra, and Philoctetes.
Odes 2014 University of Wisconsin Press Translations from Horace.
Shiksa 2014 C&R Press
From the Fragrant East by Pietro Bembo 2014 Miracolo Translation of Pietro Bembo.
The Jungle Poems of Leconte de Lisle 2014 New American Press Poetry.[48]
Walloomsac: A Week on the River, a.k.a. Walloomsac: A Roman Fleuve 2014 Anaphora Literary Press Novel. ISBN 978-1-937536-90-9.

Adaptations

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  • Metamorphoses - Director, Mary Zimmerman; Repertory Theatre; St. Louis, Missouri; 2003.[49]
  • Trojan Women - Directors, Heidi Winters Vogel and Tom Martin; Saint Louis University Theatre; St. Louis, Missouri; 2005.[50]
  • Oedipus King - Director, Philip Boehm; Kranzberg Arts Center / Gaslight Theater, St. Louis, Missouri; 2010.[51]
  • Antigone - Director, Philip Boehm; Upstream Theater, St. Louis, Missouri; 2014.[52]

Critical reception

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Henry S. Taylor, a winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, wrote in 1992:

It has been twenty-five years since David R. Slavitt invented Henry Sutton and embarked on a series of schlock novels under that pseudonym, but it is still fun to recall people's outrage when they learned that The Exhibitionist was the work of someone who had also written more serious fiction, and even poetry. On one hand, people of Jacqueline Susann's ilk were irritated because someone had done easily and laughingly what they worked hard to do; on the other hand, purveyors of solemn literature were offended at the success of this prostitution of talent. Even Tom Wolfe, who had no reason to feel either envious or superior, took a cheap shot at Slavitt's next serious novel, saying in a review that it was not as good as The Exhibitionist.[6]

Taylor adds:

From the beginning, Slavitt's poetry has been characterized by profound wit, neoclassical attention to form, and generous erudition. Slavitt is also a master of tonal variety; within the same poem he can make shifts of tone that most poets would find too risky. ... Part of his success lies in his ability to deal with formal restrictions that are too much for most poets; though his stanza forms are often intricate, they never prevent, or even impede, the explorations of a mind that takes suggestions as they come, weaving them into the pattern.[6]

R. H. W. Dillard, a noted critic at Hollins University, writes, "David Slavitt is one of the most prodigious writers working today. In book after book after book after book after book, he engages, amuses, delights, shocks, astounds, annoys, rouses, arouses, and generally awakens readers from the torpor that the works of too many (unnamed here) writers have cast them into."

In a lengthy review of Orlando Furioso: A New Verse Translation, critic Steve Baker writes admiringly that

David R. Slavitt has been playing fast and loose with the literary classics since the early 70s when he brought us free adaptations of the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil, both of which present the original masterworks as filtered through – to put it in his words – the "radically improvisational" lens of the translator. In fact, Slavitt openly refers to these early works not as translations per se, but rather as "verse essays", in which he riffs playfully on the original texts. As renderings into English of Virgil's Latin, his translations of both the Eclogues and the Georgics represent an act of reading, a lively engagement with the original poems, as he transposes them from the distant and antique to the conversational and everyday. They do more to escort us through a reading of the poems than they do to present us with the original texts to read on our own. Shot through with the translator's commentary, dominated by paraphrase and dressed with satirical discussions of the propositional content of the originals, Slavitt's creations are not translations in any traditional sense. In bringing the uninitiated into uniquely colloquial contact with these timeless classics, they do, however, actually amount to pleasantly entertaining romps with the bucolic Virgil."[53]

The Cliff (1994), Slavitt's novel about an impostor (one John Smith pretending to be another, more revered professor of the same name) at a literary retreat in Italy, received praise from many quarters. Publishers Weekly's reviewer wrote, "Smith's witty and playful narration entertains despite some conveniences in the plot. It is his attempt to retain a sense of basic human dignity, however - his desire to prove that he is not 'an altogether worthless person' - that lies at the heart of the novel and invests it with meaning and resonance."[54] Georgia Jones-Davis, writing for the Los Angeles Times, speculated that "Slavitt is not so much telling a story as using his narrative to spoof everything he's probably come across in his distinguished and, let's face it, long academic career." Although Jones-Davis confusedly thought The Cliff "too self-consciously satirical to pass as a real novel," she found much to praise: "There are some wondrously funny moments. Our brilliant, moody, schlemiel of a narrator, a guy who can't even make his rent, is highly critical of the food served at this historic villa. ... The narrator's sincere attempts to reconcile with his alienated daughter are touching and not at all sentimental. The highlight of the book must be the narrator's scathing letter to the manager about the villa's terrible service and dismissive treatment of its guests."[55] Magill Book Reviews wrote, "Slavitt's fiftieth book offers a satiric look at the cosseted world of creative and scholarly retreats, their beneficiaries, staffs, and administrators, as well as creative and academic life more generally."[56]

Awards and honors

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Elliott, Okla (9 November 2011). "What David R. Slavitt Knows", Inside Higher Ed
  2. ^ a b c d Rosen, Judith (29 August 2011). "David Slavitt Joins the 100 Club at 76", Publishers Weekly
  3. ^ O'Brien, Ellen (13 October 1994). "Author's Friends Get The Last Word", The Philadelphia Inquirer
  4. ^ Doughty, Roger (21 February 1969). "Poet Hits Pay Dirt", Tuscaloosa News
  5. ^ Brady, Thomas J. (22 December 1996). "At Home With Hymns, Psalms, Potboilers", The Philadelphia Inquirer
  6. ^ a b c d e f Taylor, Henry S. (1992). "David R. Slavitt: The Fun of the End of the World". Compulsory Figures: Essays on Recent American Poets. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. pp. 224–244. ISBN 978-0-8071-1755-2.
  7. ^ Dickey, James (2005). [The One Voice of James Dickey: His Letters and Life, 1970–1997], p 506. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 9780826264626. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  8. ^ a b c Kotzin, Miriam N. (Fall 2010). "David R. Slavitt, The Per Contra Interview". Per Contra: An International Journal of the Arts, Literature, and Ideas. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  9. ^ a b c Outpost 19 (2012). "Operating A Circus Without A License: An Introduction to David R. Slavitt". Outpost 19. Retrieved November 23, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ a b c d e Sams, Amanda D., ed. (2008). "Slavitt, David R. 1935– (David Benjamin, Henry Lazarus, Lynn Meyer, David Rytman Slavitt, Henry Sutton)". Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale Research Co.
  11. ^ David R. Slavitt, poetryfoundation.org, Retrieved 21 January 2014
  12. ^ Peguero, Robin M. (3 November 2004). Harvard Affiliates Lose in Local Races, Harvard Crimson
  13. ^ Beam, Alex (19 December 2006). "'Blue State' author has a blue past"d, The Boston Globe
  14. ^ a b Yardley, Jonathan (14 May 2006). Blue State Blues (review), The Washington Post
  15. ^ OCLC (1952). A Cheater's Dozen: Eleven Poems. OCLC. ISBN 9780819568069. OCLC 80256457.
  16. ^ OCLC. "Poets of today. VIII: Albert Herzing. The mother of the Amazons, and other poems.--John M. Ridland. Fires of home: poems.--David R. Slavitt. Suits for the dead: poems". OCLC. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  17. ^ LC Online Catalog (1967). The exhibitionist; a novel by Henry Sutton. Library of Congress. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  18. ^ "Vector". Kirkus Reviews. May 26, 1970.
  19. ^ "The Outer Mongolian". Kirkus Reviews. April 27, 1973.
  20. ^ Hanscom, Marion (December 15, 1976). "King of Hearts (Book Review)". Library Journal. 101 (22): 2598.
  21. ^ Bartholomew, David (January 15, 1979). "The Idol, by David Benjamin". Library Journal. 104 (2): 207.
  22. ^ "The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana". Kokomo Tribune. Kokomo, Indiana. June 27, 1979. p. 20. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  23. ^ Hudzik, Robert (February 15, 1981). "Dozens (Book)". Library Journal. 106 (4): 456.
  24. ^ WorldCat. Ringer. OCLC. OCLC 8389359.
  25. ^ Burstein, Sandor G. (February 1985). Full text of "Knight Letter No. 22". Lewis Carroll Society of North America. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  26. ^ OCLC. The Agent. WorldCat. OCLC 12315580.
  27. ^ Butler, Robert Olen, quoted by Carlin Romano (December 13, 1987). "An Array For The Holidays Fascinated By Fiction? Partial To Philosophy? Stuck On Sports? Here's A Guide, For Every Taste, To The Year's Most Noteworthy Books". Philly.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ Blanchard, Christina G. (October 1, 1988). "Physicians Observed (Book)". Annals of Internal Medicine. 109 (7). Philadelphia: American College of Physicians: 601. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-109-7-601_1.
  29. ^ Anderson, William Scovil (1991). "Book Review: Ovid's Poetry of Exile". The Classical World. 84 (5). Pittsburgh, PA: Classical Association of the Atlantic States / Johns Hopkins University: 413–414. doi:10.2307/4350886. JSTOR 4350886.
  30. ^ "Lives of the Saints, by David Slavitt". Kirkus Reviews. January 1, 1989. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  31. ^ WorldCat. "Virgil". OCLC. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  32. ^ WorldCat (18 April 2006). Fables of Avianus. OCLC. ISBN 9780819568069. OCLC 27810660.
  33. ^ Boasberg, Leonard W. (December 30, 1993). "Translator Is Given Fabulous Attention: David Slavitt's Version Of Some Roman Fables Is A Book-of-the-Month Selection". Philly.com / Philadelphia Media Network. Archived from the original on December 21, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  34. ^ Publishers Weekly (December 1993). "The Fables of Avianus". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  35. ^ Mortensen, Arthur. "Crossroads". Expansive Poetry & Music Online Poetry Review. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  36. ^ WorldCat (1994). The Metamorphoses of Ovid. OCLC. OCLC 28722831.
  37. ^ WorldCat. Seneca: the tragedies. Vol. 2. OCLC. OCLC 221410412.
  38. ^ "A Gift: The Life of Da Ponte". Publishers Weekly. March 1996. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  39. ^ Oxford University Press (1996). "Publisher description for Sixty-one Psalms of David". Library of Congress Catalog. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  40. ^ Mortensen, Arthur (1998). "Epinician Odes and Dithyrambs of Bacchylides, translated by David Slavitt". Expansive Poetry & Music Online Poetry Review. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  41. ^ Oxford University Press (1998). "Publisher description for A crown for the King". Oxford University Press / Library of Congress. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  42. ^ Oxford University Press (1999). "Publisher description for The poem of Queen Esther". Library of Congress Catalog. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  43. ^ Johns Hopkins University Press (2001). "Publisher description for The book of Lamentations". Library of Congress Catalog. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  44. ^ Northwestern University Press (2004). "Publisher description for The Regrets". Library of Congress. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  45. ^ Rosenblatt, Laurie (February 4, 2008). "Book Review: Re Verse: Essays on Poetry and Poets". The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine. Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  46. ^ Shapiro, Leon N.; Laurie Rosenblatt (February 6, 2009). "The Consolation of Philosophy". Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine. Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  47. ^ Kay, Tristan (2010). "La Vita Nuova". The Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  48. ^ "David R. Slavitt '56". Yalie.com. 2014. Archived from the original on December 4, 2014. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  49. ^ Brown, Dennis (September 17, 2003). "Ch-ch-ch-changes: Metamorphoses is a wet dreamscape ..." Riverfront Times. Retrieved December 14, 2014. As translated by contemporary poet David Slavitt and distilled by Zimmerman, the text here is almost always crystal-clear. But Zimmerman is not content with clarity; she insists on dumbing down the legends. When, for instance, King Midas wants to turn all he touches into gold, Bacchus replies, "That's a really, really bad idea." Some viewers will find this populist spin amusing; others might find it a really bad idea.
  50. ^ Brown, Dennis; Deanna Jent (April 20, 2005). "Capsule Reviews". Riverfront Times. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  51. ^ Brown, Dennis (October 13, 2010). "Throwdown! Sophocles vs. Mamet: May the best playwright win!". Riverfront Times. Retrieved December 14, 2014. Many a mystery has borrowed from Sophocles and employed variations on the theme of a policeman or journalist forced to solve a crime that leads back to himself. But most mysteries leave that extra wrinkle about sleeping with your own mother to the Greeks. And indeed, Sophocles knew what he was doing. He unravels his clues with the meticulousness of a Hitchcock thriller. But there's a second dramatist at work here. The translation by David R. Slavitt is a deft balancing act that retains Sophocles' sense of formality and ritual while telling this fateful story in a conversational, accessible manner. "Let it go, drop it," Jocasta (Amy Loui) implores her husband as his relentless pursuit of the truth hones home. [sic] Slavitt's informal approach repositions the relationship between man and God. Apollo is discussed as casually as if he were a nearby neighbor. ... Even without the aid of an onstage swimming pool, this current meticulous offering from Upstream Theater is a gift to the gods.
  52. ^ Gay, Malcolm (October 15, 2014). "Antigone: Upstream Theater Delivers an Academic Telling of Sophocles' Classic". Riverfront Times. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  53. ^ Baker, Steve (2010). "Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso: A New Verse Translation by David R. Slavitt, Harvard University Press". Italian Poetry Review: 355. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  54. ^ Rochman, Hazel (July 25, 1994). "Forecasts: Fiction: The Cliff". Publishers Weekly. 241 (30): 34. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  55. ^ Jones-Davis, Georgia (November 8, 1994). "BOOK REVIEW: NOVEL : Life as a Failed Writer and Bogus Academic in a Ritzy Italian Villa : THE CLIFF, by David R. Slavitt". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  56. ^ Humphrey, Theodore C. (July 1995). "The Cliff". Magill Book Reviews. Salem Press. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  57. ^ The Bellagio Center (1989). "David R. Slavitt". Rockefeller Foundation. Archived from the original on December 14, 2014. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  58. ^ Newmark, Judith (March 29, 2011). "Actress Ely wins twice at Kevin Kline Awards". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
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