Louis Kronenberger


Louis Kronenberger was an American literary critic, novelist, and biographer who wrote extensively on drama and the 18th century.

Background

Kronenberger attended the University of Cincinnati.

Career

Writer

In 1924, Kronenberger began his career at the New York Times.
In 1926, he became an editor at Boni & Liveright.
In 1933, he became an editor for Alfred A. Knopf.
In 1938, he became drama critic for Time, where he continued to 1961. In 1940, William Saroyan listed Kronenberger among the associate editors at Time in the play, Love's Old Sweet Song. Starting in 1942, he worked under Whittaker Chambers, who became editor for the "Back of the Book". During this period Time was, according to Chambers, "consistently able and sometimes brilliant, because of a small group of men" that included Kronenberger, T. S. Matthews, James Agee, Robert Fitzgerald, Robert Cantwell, Winthrop Sargeant, John K. Jessup, and Calvin Fixx. He continued to work for Time until 1961.
In 1940, he also served as a critic for PM and worked there until 1948.

Academic

Kronenberger was a visiting professor at several universities, including City College of New York, Columbia, Harvard, Berkeley. In 1951, at Brandeis, he founded a Department of Theater Arts.
He was associated with numerous organizations for promoting the arts: Yaddo, Lincoln Center Library-Museum, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Personal and death

Kronenberger married Emily L. Plaut in 1940; they had two children.
He died on April 30, 1980.

Legacy

"Kronenberger's praise was a near guarantee of box-office success."
A collection of Louis Kronenberger's papers is held by Princeton University.

Works

In his later years, Kronenberger wrote biographies, including one of John Wilkes and another of Oscar Wilde.
Books:
Editing:
by Napoleon Sarony, about whom Kronenberger wrote in 1976
Books edited with others:
Plays written:
Plays translated, adapted:
Plays edited:
Plays edited with others: