Charles Neider
Charles Neider was a notable American writer and editor, born in 1915 in Odessa, Russia, to a Jewish family. His early life was marked by upheaval as his family fled anti-Jewish disturbances in Russia, ultimately settling in Virginia by 1930. Neider graduated from City College of New York in 1938 and began a prolific career as a freelance writer and editor. He contributed to prominent publications like The New Republic and The New Yorker, and edited significant anthologies, including works focused on the renowned author Mark Twain.
Neider's literary contributions include his first novel, *The White Citadel* (1954), which mirrored his family's migration experiences, and *The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones* (1956), later adapted into a film starring Marlon Brando. He became particularly known for his expertise on Mark Twain, compiling various anthologies and editing *The Autobiography of Mark Twain*, which was recognized as one of the best nonfiction books of the twentieth century.
In addition to his literary achievements, Neider was deeply fascinated by Antarctica, making several trips there and writing acclaimed works such as *Edge of the World: Ross Island, Antarctica*. He passed away on July 4, 2001, leaving behind a legacy of contributions to American literature, particularly his work in popularizing Twain's writings and his firsthand accounts of Antarctica.
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Charles Neider
Writer
- Born: January 18, 1915
- Birthplace: Odessa, Russia
- Died: July 4, 2001
- Place of death: Princeton, New Jersey
Biography
Charles Neider was born in Odessa, Russia (now in Ukraine), in 1915, the son of Colya Neider, a Jewish banker, and his wife Olga. When Neider was about six years old, the family fled Russia amid political upheavals and anti-Jewish disturbances. With assistance from relatives who had immigrated to the United States, the family made their way to Paris and from there sailed to America. Neider later told friends that his paternal grandparents who had remained in Russia were killed in an anti- Jewish pogrom.
By 1930, Neider’s family had settled in Virginia. The 1930 census for Henrico County, Richmond City, Virginia, indicates that Colya had changed his name to Charles and was the proprietor of a grocery story. Olga, also known as Goldie, worked as a grocery store clerk. Olga’s father, Edel Hornstein, lived with the family but had not yet learned to speak English. Young Neider’s name is listed in the 1930 census as Isadore, a name he never used in his professional career.
Neider attended John Marshall High School in Richmond, Virginia. In 1931, another native of Virginia, famous polar explorer Richard E. Byrd, visited Richmond, where Neider, a member of the Boy Scouts, met him. The meeting was the beginning of Neider’s lifelong fascination with the continent of Antarctica. When his family’s grocery business in Richmond failed during the Depression, the family relocated to New York City. Neider attended City College of New York and graduated in 1938 with a degree in liberal arts. While at the college he helped establish the City College Literary Club.
Neider’s first marriage to Vivian Breslau, a translator for writer Thomas Mann, ended in divorce. In 1952, Neider married Joan Merrick, a Thomas Mann scholar and graduate of Vassar College and Columbia University. The couple had one daughter, Susan.
Neider had a lifelong career as a freelance writer and editor. During the 1940’s, he contributed book reviews and commentaries to such publications as The New Republic, The Nation, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. For a short time he helped edit Decision magazine, which was founded by Klaus Mann, the son of Thomas Mann, who had won the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neider edited an anthology of commentary and criticism, The Stature of Thomas Mann, that was published in 1947.
Throughout the 1950’s, Neider edited a number of other anthologies for Harper and Brothers. In 1954, he published his first novel, The White Citadel, whose storyline paralleled his own family’s migration from Akkerman, Russia, where Neider had lived as a child. In 1956, he published a novel of the Old West, The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones. ActorMarlon Brando produced, directed, and starred in a film adaptation of the book, One-Eyed Jacks, released in 1961.
Neider encountered Mark Twain’s writings while studying background material for The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones. Dismayed by his inability to locate hard-to-find stories and essays written by Twain, he decided to compile his own anthology, The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain. Neider continued collecting Twain material and published additional anthologies of Twain’s tales, speeches, essays, and letters. He also edited The Autobiography of Mark Twain, which included material that was not used by Twain’s official biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, in the two-volume Mark Twain’s Autobiography (1924). Neider also imposed a chronological structure on the material that had not existed in Paine’s edition or in Twain’s manuscripts. In 1999, the Modern Library named Neider’s edition one of the one hundred best nonfiction English-language books of the twentieth century.
Between 1969 and 1977, Neider traveled to Antarctica three times. With funding from a wide variety of grants and fellowships, including the National Science Foundation, the navy, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, Neider completed two books on Antarctica and one novel based on his own near-death experience from a 1971 helicopter crash there. His book, Edge of the World: Ross Island, Antarctica, a Personal and Historical Narrative, is regarded as one of the best accounts ever written about the southern continent.
Neider died on July 4, 2001 in Princeton, New Jersey. His autobiographical book, Adam’s Burden: An Explorer’s Personal Odyssey Through Prostate Cancer, was published shortly after his death. Neider’s success in popularizing the works of Mark Twain and his writings on Antarctica are his best known contributions to American literature.