About Leon Edel
Joseph Leon Edel (9 September 1907 – 5 September 1997) was an American/Canadian literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel. The Encyclopædia Britannica calls Edel "the foremost 20th-century authority on the life and works of Henry James." His work on James won him both a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. == Life and career == Edel was born on 9 September 1907 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Fannie (Malamud) and Simon Edel. Edel grew up in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. He attended McGill University and the University of Paris. While at the former he was associated with the Montreal Group of modernist writers, which included F. R. Scott and A. J. M. Smith, and with them founded the influential McGill Fortnightly Review. Edel taught English and American literature at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University, 1932–1934), New York University (1953–1972), and at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (1972–1978). For the academic year 1965–1966, he was a fellow on the faculty at the Center for Advanced Studies of Wesleyan University. During WWII, Edel trained at Camp Ritchie and was one of the Ritchie Boys.
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