Theory Schwarz is a humanist and a pluralist; his
literary criticism takes account of the theoretical revolution while avoiding the abstractions of much modern
critical theory in favor of a consideration of both context and text. What he calls his "mantra" summarizes his efforts to balance
formalism and
historical criticism: "Always the text; always historicize." Historical criticism, for Schwarz, may include a psychoanalytic emphasis which takes into account the author's quest for meaning within a text. He explains his perspective in
The Case for a Humanistic Poetics: "Since humanistic criticism assumes that texts are by human authors for human readers about human subjects, a humanistic criticism is interested in how and why people think, write, act, and ultimately live." Schwarz has called his approach "humanistic formalism." He focuses on the process of reading, specifically how the reader responds to the structure of effects created by the author and how readers learn from literary texts. (See, for example, his 2008 Wiley-Blackwell Manifesto,
In Defense of Reading) In the 1980s and 1990s Schwarz was a figure in the theoretical debates, arguing in
The Humanistic Heritage: Critical Theories of the English Novel from James to Hillis Miller (1986) that there was an important methodological and theoretical approach underpinning Anglo-American modern criticism and providing close readings of major critics to prove this point. In his
The Case for a Humanistic Poetics (1989), he defined his own approach.
High Modernism For decades, beginning with his two volume study of
Conrad's complete works--
Conrad: Almayer's Folly through Under Western Eyes (1980) and
Conrad: Later Fiction (1982)--Schwarz has been a figure in defining
High Modernism and in reading major texts of that period. His ''Reading Joyce's
Ulysses (1987; revised 2004) and his Narrative and Representation in Wallace Stevens
(1993) are major contributions. His work on modernism includes articles on T.S. Eliot and Dylan Thomas. The Transformation of the English Novel, 1890-1930
(1989; revised 1995) and Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel, 1890-1930'' (2005) discuss not only Conrad and Joyce, but also Hardy, Lawrence, Woolf, and Forster. Schwarz's editions of Joyce's "The Dead" and Conrad's "The Secret Sharer" are widely used in classes. Schwarz's
Reconfiguring Modernism: Explorations in the Relationship Between Modern Art and Modern Literature (1997) made him a pivotal figure in developing the relationship between the literary and visual arts.
Holocaust and Jewish Studies In
Imagining the Holocaust (1999), a study of books and films about
the Holocaust including books by
Elie Wiesel,
Anne Frank, and
Art Spiegelman and films by
Claude Lanzmann and
Steven Spielberg, Schwarz focuses on the relationship among memory, imagination, and narrative. Schwarz's interest in Jewish studies began with his ''Disraeli's Fiction
(1979) and continued with his discussion of Bloom in Reading Joyce's 'Ulysses
and his The Story in Fiction and Film of French Collaboration in the Occupation and Complicity in the Holocaust (1940-1944)''.
Cultural Studies Schwarz has turned his attention to media culture and urban studies in
Broadway Boogie Woogie: Damon Runyon and the Making of New York City Culture (2003) and in
Endtimes? Crises and Turmoil at the New York Times
: 1999-2009. He also edited
Damon Runyon: Guys and Dolls and other Writings for Penguin Classics (2008).
Biography Schwarz holds a B.A. from
Union College (New York) and an M.A. and Ph.D. from
Brown University. He has two sons, Cornell graduates, by his first marriage: David, the women's varsity tennis coach at Claremont College, and Jeffrey, working in the mutual fund industry. His wife, Marcia Jacobson, is retired from Auburn University; she is the Hargis Professor of American Literature Emerita.
Books •
The Garden of My Saying (American Fork, Utah: Kelsay Books, 2025) •
The Story in Fiction and Film of French Collaboration in the Occupation and Complicity in the Holocaust (1940-2025) (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2025) •
Reading the Modern European Novel from 1900 (Malden. MA; Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2018) •
How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning (Malden, MA; Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016; trans. into Mandarin with new ch. for Asian students, Beijing: Renmin, 2018) •
Reading the European Novel to 1900 (Malden, MA; Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014; paperback 2018) •
Endtimes? Crises and Turmoil at the New York Times
: 1999-2009 (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2012; paperback edition with new Preface and new title,
Endtimes? Crisis and Turmoil at the New York Times
, 2014) •
In Defense of Reading: Teaching Literature in the Twenty-First Century (Malden, MA; Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2008) •
Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel, 1890-1930 (Malden, MA; Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005) •
Broadway Boogie Woogie: Damon Runyon and the Making of New York City Culture (New York: Palgrave Macmillan: New York and London, 2003) •
Rereading Conrad (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2001) •
Imagining the Holocaust (New York: St. Martin's Press; London: Macmillan, 1999) •
Reconfiguring Modernism: Explorations in the Relationship Between Modern Art and Modern Literature (New York: St. Martin's Press; London: Macmillan, 1997) •
Narrative and Representation in Wallace Stevens (New York: St. Martin's Press; London: Macmillan, 1993) Chosen by
Choice as an outstanding book of 1993. •
The Case for a Humanistic Poetics (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press; London: Macmillan, 1991) •
The Transformation of the English Novel, 1890-1930 (New York: St. Martin's Press; London: Macmillan, 1989; revised 1995) • ''Reading
Joyce's
"Ulysses"'' (New York: St. Martin's Press; London: Macmillan, 1987; revised 1991, 2004) •
The Humanistic Heritage: Critical Theories of the English Novel from James to Hillis Miller (Philadelphia, PA: University of Philadelphia Press; London: Macmillan, 1986; revised 1989) •
Conrad: The Later Fiction (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press; London: Macmillan, 1982) • ''
Conrad: "Almayer's Folly" through "under Western Eyes"'' (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; London: Macmillan, 1980) • ''
Disraeli's Fiction'' (New York: Barnes and Noble; London: Macmillan, 1979)
Editions • Ed.,
Damon Runyon: Guys and Dolls and other Writings (New York: Penguin, 2008) • General Ed.,
Reading the American and British Novel, 9 vols. (Malden, MA; Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 3 vols. published; 6 vols. forthcoming) • Consulting Ed.,
The Early Novels of Benjamin Disraeli, 6 vols. (London: Pickering and Chatto, LTD, 2004) • Ed.,
Joseph Conrad, "The Secret Sharer" (Boston; New York: Bedford/St. Martins [Beford Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism], 1997) • Ed.,
James Joyce,
"The Dead" (Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martins [Bedford Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism], 1994) • Ed., with Janice Carlise,
Narrative and Culture (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1994; reissued 2010)
Poetry and Travel Articles Schwarz has published over 90 poems, a selection of his poems in
The Garden of My Saying (2025), a short story that has been anthologized, and numerous travel articles. See his homepage: https://courses.cit.cornell.edu/drs6 ==References==