Terrence Des Pres

Terrence Des Pres (1939 – November 16, 1987) was an American writer and Holocaust scholar.^[1][2]

Life

Terrence Des Pres was born in Effingham, Illinois in 1939. He graduated from Southeast Missouri State College in 1962. He went on to graduate study in philosophy^[3] at Washington University in St. Louis, completing his doctorate there in 1968.^[1]

He was appointed a junior fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University, where he formed a friendship with John Nathan. Des Pres served as the society's sommelier.^[4]

He was married twice, and had a son with his first wife.^[5]

Work

Beginning in 1973 Des Pres was a professor at Colgate University, where he held the William Henry Crawshaw Chair in Literature;^[1] he taught classes on poetry, British and Irish literature, and the literature of the Holocaust.^[3] At Colgate, he spent time with writer Frederick Busch.^[6][7]

Des Pres is best known for his work on the Holocaust documented in his book The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps.

He also wrote Praises & Dispraises, published posthumously in 1988, which dealt with poetry and its usefulness for survival.^[8]

Death

Des Pres died on November 16, 1987 at his home in Hamilton, New York.^[1] John Nathan refers to the death in his memoir as a suicide.^[4] Des Pres's death was ruled "accidental" by the Madison County medical examiners' office, Madison, NY.^[9] According to a 1990 Boston Globe article, he died by hanging.^[9][10]

After his death, poet Paul Mariani spoke at a service for Des Pres at Colgate,^[11] where they may have spent time together as Mariani worked on his master's degree.

See also

• List of Harvard Junior Fellows
• Carolyn Forché, who was influenced by Des Pres, and organized the "Genocide and Memory" conference in 1997, where Des Pres was remembered.^[11] Her poem "Ourselves or Nothing" is about Des Pres.
• Peter Balakian, poet and Colgate professor, also organized the 1997 "Genocide and Memory conference.^[11] In addition to their Colgate connection, Balakian is of Armenian descent, and Des Pres' work with survival literature included the Armenian genocide.
• Paul Mariani, poet, wrote the introduction to Des Pres' collection of essays "Writing Into the World"
• Geoffrey Hartman, professor at Yale University, had interviewed Des Pres and presented a video of it at the "Genocide and Memory" conference along with a paper.^[11]

Bibliography

• The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps. New York: Oxford University Press. 1976. ISBN 0-19-501952-0.; reprint, Oxford University Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0-19-502703-7
• Praises & dispraises: poetry and politics, the 20th century. Viking. 1988. ISBN 978-0-670-80406-1.
• Writing into the World. New York: Viking. 1991. foreword by Elie Wiesel ISBN 0-670-80464-9
• "Remembering Armenia" to introduce The Armenian Genocide in Perspective. edited by Richard G. Hovannisian Transaction Publishers: 1986. ISBN 0-88738-636-9 ISBN 978-0-88738-636-7
• "Introduction" for Treblinka: The inspiring story of the 600 Jews who revolted against their murderers and burned a Nazi death camp to the ground, by Jean-Francois Steiner. Plume, 1994. ISBN 0-452-01124-8

Edited

• Reginald Gibbons; Terrence Des Pres, eds. (1992). Thomas McGrath: life and the poem. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-01852-7.

Awards

• 1978: National Jewish Book Award in the Holocaust category for The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps^[12]