18 Facts About Irving Howe

Irving Howe was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Irving Howe was the son of Jewish immigrants from Bessarabia, Nettie and David Horenstein, who ran a small grocery store that went out of business during the Great Depression.

Irving Howe's father became a peddler and eventually a presser in a dress factory.

Irving Howe's mother was an operator in the dress trade.

Irving Howe served in the US Army during World War II.

In 1954, Howe helped found the intellectual quarterly Dissent, which he edited until his death in 1993.

Irving Howe used the Howe and Greenberg Treasury of Yiddish Stories as the text for a course on the Yiddish story, when few were spreading knowledge or appreciation of the works in American colleges and universities.

Irving Howe was a committed democratic socialist throughout his life.

Irving Howe was among the first to re-examine the work of Edwin Arlington Robinson and lead the way to establishing Robinson's reputation as one of the 20th century's great poets.

Irving Howe wrote many influential books throughout his career, such as Decline of the New, World of our Fathers, Politics and the Novel and his autobiography A Margin of Hope.

Irving Howe wrote a biography of Leon Trotsky, who was one of his childhood heroes.

Irving Howe explores the socialist Jewish New York from which he came.

Irving Howe edited and translated many Yiddish stories and commissioned the first English translation of Isaac Bashevis Singer for the Partisan Review.

In 1987, Irving Howe was a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.

Irving Howe had strong political views that he would ferociously defend.

Irving Howe appeared as himself in Woody Allen's mockumentary Zelig.

Irving Howe had two children, Nina and Nicholas, with his second wife, Thalia Phillies, a classicist.

Irving Howe is survived by his third wife, Ilona Howe.