John Erskine
John Erskine was an influential American educator, author, and musician, born on October 5, 1879, in New York City. He pursued his education at Columbia University, where he earned both his B.A. and Ph.D. in English literature, focusing on the Renaissance period. Erskine began his teaching career at Amherst College and later returned to Columbia, where he became a professor and played a significant role in shaping humanities education through initiatives like the Great Books program. His scholarly works included notable texts such as *The Elizabethan Lyric* and the four-volume *Cambridge History of American Literature*.
In addition to his academic contributions, Erskine ventured into fiction, achieving commercial success with novels like *The Private Life of Helen of Troy* and *Galahad*, which reimagined historical and mythical figures in contemporary contexts. He also excelled in music, becoming a prominent figure in New York’s musical scene and leading prestigious institutions such as the Juilliard School of Music.
Erskine published over forty-five books throughout his career, encompassing poetry, essays, and memoirs, capturing diverse aspects of literature and music until his death on July 2, 1951. His legacy reflects a rich intersection of academia, literature, and the arts.
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John Erskine
Educator
- Born: October 5, 1879
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: June 2, 1951
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
John Erskine was born October 5, 1879, in New York City. Educated in New York’s public school system, he matriculated at Columbia University in 1897, studying music and literature. He received his B.A. in 1900. Remaining at Columbia for graduate study in English, Erskine earned his Ph.D. in English literature in 1903, specializing in the Renaissance period. Upon graduation, Erskine was hired as an instructor at Amherst College. Six years later, in 1909, he returned to Columbia as instructor, and after 1916 professor, a position he held until his retirement in 1937.
Erskine’s first publications were, not surprisingly, scholarly in nature. His first book, The Elizabethan Lyric, established his reputation in the field; he followed this with an edition of Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene (1905). Erskine’s four-volume Cambridge History of American Literature (1917-1921) soon became a standard reference work. Encouraged by the success of his scholarly books, Erskine published two volumes of his own poetry, Actaeon, and Other Poems (1907), and The Moral Obligation of the Intelligent, and Other Poems (1915). At this time he instituted Columbia’s Great Books program, several decades before the more famous similar program at the University of Chicago. Erskine described his concept of the “Great Books” approach to humanities education in The Delight of Great Books (1928).
In 1925 Erskine tried his hand at fiction, and his first novel, The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1925) was a best seller. Capitalizing on the libertine spirit of the Roaring Twenties, Erskine presented the bronze-age Greek Helen as if she were a flapper, or fun-loving American woman. He followed with a similar updating of Arthurian legend in Galahad (1926). His 1927 fantasy novel Adam and Eve followed suit with the story of the first human beings from Judeo-Christian tradition, bringing in the rabbinical story of a second wife, Lilith, and depicting Adam as a reluctant husband harried by two jealous wives.
Between the two novels, the professor-turned-novelist launched his third career, bringing his long-dormant musical training to the concert hall, appearing as piano soloist for the New York philharmonic. An instant success, Erskine soon rose to the top of New York’s musical world, being named president of the Julliard School of Music in 1928, and later the director of the Metropolitan Opera.
Retiring from both Columbia and Julliard in 1937, at the comparatively young age of fifty-eight, Erskine devoted himself full time to writing. As he approached seventy, Erskine published his memoirs in three volumes, The Memory of Certain Persons (1947), My Life as a Teacher (1948), and My Life in Music (1950). A year after his last book appeared, on July 2, 1951, Erskine died in his New York home. In all he published more than forty-five books, including (in addition to those already cited), Leading American Novelists (1910), Written English (1910), Selections from Idylls of the King (1912), The Kinds of Poetry (1913), Poems of Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats (1914),Democracy and Ideals (1920), The Literary Disciple (1923), and What Is Music? (1944).