Canby, Henry Seidel, 1878-1961

Writer, editor, critic.

Epithet: editor of 'Saturday Review of Literature'

Canby was a critic, editor and Yale University professor (1899-1922). He was one of the founders and editors of The Saturday Review of Literature, where he worked until 1936.

Henry Seidel Canby (1878-1961), educator, literary critic, and writer, received his PhB (1899) and PhD (1905) from Yale University and was a professor of English at Yale. Canby was author of a number of literary biographies and works of literary criticism. Founder of The Literary Review, a supplement to the New York Post, and subsequently editor, Canby was also a cofounder of The Saturday Review of Literature and served as editor until 1936. He was editor-in-chief for the Book-of-the-Month Club from 1926 to 1954.

Henry Seidel Canby, educator, literary critic and writer, was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on September 6, 1878, the son of Edward Tatnall and Ella Augusta Seidel Canby. He received his preparatory education at the Friends School in Wilmington, Delaware and entered Yale College in 1896. Canby graduated in 1899 with a Ph.B degree and a year later became an assistant in English at Yale's Sheffield Scientific School, where in 1903 he advanced to the rank of instructor. In 1905 Canby received his Ph.D from Yale University and was promoted to the position of assistant professor. Canby married Marion Ponsonby Gause ("Lady") in 1907; they had two sons, Edward Tatnall Canby and Courtlandt Canby.

During his early years at Yale, in addition to his teaching activities, Canby edited the Yale Review from 1911-1922 and served as an advisor in literary composition from 1916-1922. In that year, he was appointed lecturer in English with the rank of professor. His other teaching activities included appointments as a summer lecturer in English at Dartmouth College (1910-1911) and at the University of California (1923). In 1918, while engaged in liaison work for the British Ministry of Information, Canby also lectured at Cambridge University. In 1945, Canby conducted a series of lectures at the University of Melbourne and other Australian universities under the auspices of the United States Office of War Information.

Canby's first book, The Short Story, was published in 1902. His second book, The Short Story in English (1909), soon became the standard text in the field. Canby also published several literary biographies and works of literary criticism, including Education by Violence (1919), The Age of Confidence (1934); Walt Whitman: An American (1943), American Memoir (1947), and Turn West, Turn East: Mark Twain and Henry James (1951). He collaborated with Robert Spiller and others on The Literary History of the United States (1948).

In 1920, Canby founded The Literary Review, a critical literary supplement to The New York Post, which he also edited for a number of years. After The New York Post changed ownership in 1924, Canby and others established The Saturday Review of Literature . Canby was editor until 1936, when he was named chairman of the Board of Editors. He remained in this post until his retirement in 1958. In 1926, Canby became editor-in-chief for the newly formed Book-of-the-Month Club, holding that position until 1954. He also was active in many professional literary associations, including the Modern Language Association of America, the Century Association and P. E. N.

Henry Seidel Canby, who maintained a lifelong residence in Killingworth, Connecticut, died in Ossining, New York, on April 5, 1961.