Lillian Gilkes (also Lillian B. Gilkes, full name Lillian Barnard Gilkes) (1900–1976,[1] 1902–1977[2] 1903–1977[3]) was an American author and educator, best known for her biography of Cora Crane and expertise in Stephen Crane.[4]

Career

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Gilkes was a professor at New York University.[1][4]

Gilkes served as director of the New York Writers School, sponsored by the pro-Soviet Popular Front organization, the League of American Writers.[3] Gilkes also served on the board of directors of the League of American Writers along with Myra Page, Aline Bernstein, Dorothy Brewster, and Genevieve Taggard.[5]

She was a member of the Progressive Party (United States, 1948).[2]

Personal life and death

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Gilkes was born in Jacksonville, Florida. Gilkes' life was "marked by political activity and connections with radical artists and writers of the early to mid-20th century."[2]

A close, long-term friend of Gilke's was Dorothy Brewster; they often lived and traveled together.[1]

In 1976, she was living in Tryon, North Carolina.[4]

Gilkes died in 1977.[2]

Legacy

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The Lillian B. Gilkes Papers at Syracuse University include:

Works

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Between 1926 and 1972, Gilkes more than twenty articles, numerous book reviews, and three books.[2][4]

Alan M. Wald called Cora Crane: A Biography "the definitive life history."[1]

Books written:

  • Short story craft. An introduction to short story writing (1949)
  • Cora Crane; a biography of Mrs. Stephen Crane (1960)[4]

Books edited:

  • Book of contemporary short stories (1936)
  • Stephen Crane, letters with by R.W. Stallman (1960)
  • Wedding by Grace Lumpkin with afterword by Lillian Barnard Gilkes (1976 reprint of 1936 original)[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Wald, Alan M. (2012). American Night: The Literary Left in the Era of the Cold War. UNC Press Books. pp. 121–122. ISBN 9780807837344. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Lillian B. Gilkes Papers". Syracuase University. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Wald, Alan M. (2012). Exiles from a Future Time: The Forging of the Mid-Twentieth-Century Literary Left. UNC Press Books. p. 259. ISBN 9780807837344. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lumpkin, Grace (1976). The Wedding. Southern Illinois University Press. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  5. ^ Page, Myra (1986). Daughter of the Hills: A Woman's Part in the Coal Miners' Struggle. Feminist Press at CUNY. pp. 256. Retrieved January 27, 2019.