Keith Botsford

File:SaulBellowAndKeithBotsford.jpg

Saul Bellow (left) with Keith Botsford ca 1992

Keith Botsford (born March 29, 1928, in Brussels, Belgium) is an American/European writer, Professor Emeritus at Boston University and current editor of News from the Republic of Letters.

Career

Botsford’s work as a novelist is divided into two periods: the first four novels – The Master Race [1955], The Eighth-best-dressed-Man in the World [1957], Benvenuto [1961] and The March-Man [1964] – were either semi-autobiographical or political in nature; his later books (after he returned to fiction in 1989) include three major autobiographical works: O Brother! [2000], The Mothers [2002], and Death and the Maiden [2007] form a coherent trilogy about his brother, his early wives (and mothers) and, in the last, a reprise of The March-Man, his father. During this second period he also published a series of stories and novellas, described as ‘imaginary biographies’, collected in Out of Nowhere [2000]. At the same time he also wrote five non-fiction books on sporting figures and four crime and espionage novels under the pseudonym I.I. Magdalen.

Published works

Books

• Jozef Czapski: A Life in Translation [1] (The Cahier Series, vol.10. Sylph Editions, June, 2009)
• Collaboration (2007)
• Death and the Maiden (2007)
• Emma H. (Toby Press, 2003)
• The Mothers (Toby Press, 2002)
• Lennie & Vance & Benji (Toby Press, 2002)
• Editors: The Best of Five Decades (Toby Press, 2001) edited by Keith Botsford and Saul Bellow
• Out of Nowhere (Toby Press, 2000)
• The Champions of Formula 1 (Arrow Books Ltd., 1989)
• Keke, (Hutchinson, May 1985)
• Ana P. (Toby Press, 1983)
• The Search for Anderson or Anderson Minor (St. Martins Press, 1982)
• Driving Ambition (Atheneum, 1981) by Keith Botsford and Alan Jones
• Dominguin: Spain's Greatest Bullfighter (Quadrangle Books, 1972)
• The March-Man (Viking, 1964)
• Benvenuto (Hutchinson, 1961)
• The Eighth-Best Dressed Man in the World (Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1957)
• The Master Race (Wingate,1955)

Short stories

• “Francoise” (Toby Press, 2000)
• “Mister Zeiss” (Toby Press, 2000)
• “Grievances” (Toby Press, 2000)
• “The Town of Luck” (Grand Street Magazine, no. 52, p178)
• “Along the River Plate” (Toby Press, 2000)
• “Olga & Snow” (Toby Press, 2000)
• “O Brother” (Toby Press, 2000)

Articles

"Reflexions on Kennedy," Kolokol: Grafica Panamericana(Mexico), January 25, 1964.

"Mexico Follows a 'Solo Camino'," New York Times, April 26, 1964.

"'There is No Censorship,' Said Poland's Censor: Report From a Surrealist Capital," New York Times, September 11, 1966.

"Why Students in France Go Communist; Elite Proletarians All," New York Times, November 13, 1966.

"If Les Mao Won Their Revolution, They Would Immediately Start Another Maoist Cause Celebre," New York Times, September 17, 1972.

"Look Who's in Bed with Whom: Decision in France," New York Times, March 4, 1973.

"The White Rolls-Royce: Stars Beyond the Firmament," New York Times, March 25, 1973.

"The Music and the Man: Hindemith," New York Times, November 27, 1977.

"A God Who Made Words," New York Times, December 27, 1981.

"The Pollini Sound," New York Times, March 1, 1987.

"Maverick Violinist," New York Times, October 2, 1988.

"Symposium: Who Are the Five Most Underrated and/or Overrated Musicians, and Why?" Boulevard, Fall 2010, Vol. 25, nos. 2 and 3.

Translations

• Sixth Form 1939, by Marcella Olschki. Publisher: Toby Press, August 2002, 72 pages translated by Keith Botsford.
• Women and Faith: Catholic Religious Life in Italy from Late Antiquity to the Present, by Lucetta Scaraffia. Publisher Harvard University Press, November 1, 1999, 432 pages, translated by Keith Botsford.
• The Sacralization of Politics in Fascist Italy, by Emilio Gentile. Publisher Harvard University Press, September 1, 1996, 222 pages, translated by Keith Botsford.
• The House of Others, by Silvio D’Arzo. Publisher Marlboro Press, October 15, 1995, 125 pages, translated by Keith Botsford.
• Inevitable Illusions: How Mistakes of Reason Rule Our Minds, by Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini. Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc., October 20, 1994, 256 pages, translated by Keith Botsford.
• History of the French Revolution: Volume VI, Books 11, 12 13, by Jules Michelet. Publisher: Livingston Publishing, 1973, translated by Keith Botsford
• Human Relations Area Files (anthropology) 1958-1960, eight books manly on Viet Nam, translated by Keith Botsford

Book introduction

Ceremony in Lone Tree, by Wright Morris. Publisher: Bison Books, September 1, 2001, 304 pages. Introduction by Keith Botsford

Web

• Keith Botsford's Blog
• Keith Botsford's Official Site

Magazines

Founding editor

• Delos
• Kolokol

Co-founding editors Keith Botsford & Saul Bellow

• ANON
• The Noble Savage
• News from The Republic of Letters

Editor

Bostonia, Poetry New York, Grand Prix International, Yale Poetry Review

Contributing editor

Leviathan, Stand, The Warwick Review

Newspaper articles

The Sunday Times of London, The Independent, La Stampa

References

• Debrett's People of Today, UK;[2]
• Books [3];
• "Encuentro con Keith Botsford", Insula, num. 262, p. 4;
• "Jedno udane zycie", Tygodnk Powszechni, 22, p. 36ff;
• "Czlowiek Rwnwsansu", Henryk Skwarczynski, Odra, no.7-8, vol XLVIII, 2008
• The American University of Paris - Center for Writers and Translators;[4]

External links

• The Keith Botsford Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University