Meyer Howard Abrams

M. H. Abrams, a distinguished American critic, historian, and literary theorist, was born on July 23, 1912, and studied at Harvard and Cambridge. His most significant book, "The Mirror and the Lamp" (Greek edition: "Ο καθρέφτης και το φως," translated by Aris Berlis, Kritiki, 2001), was published in 1953 and awarded the Christian Gauss Prize in 1954. Since then, it has become a fundamental university textbook for the study of Romanticism. Abrams taught at Cornell University, where many prominent critics of the younger generation, such as Harold Bloom, were influenced by him. His second major book on Romanticism, titled "Natural Supernaturalism," was published in 1971. He was the editor of the renowned "Norton Anthology of English Literature" and the author of a practical glossary of literary terms (Greek edition: "Λεξικό λογοτεχνικών όρων," translated by G. Delivoria and S. Chatziioannidou, Patakis, 2005), as well as numerous studies and articles. Although a theorist of the old school, he was able to keep up with the latest developments in critical theory during the 1970s and engaged in fruitful dialogue with prominent deconstructionists, providing us with a series of excellent essays. He passed away in New York on April 21, 2015, at the age of 102.