Seaver was born in
Watertown, Connecticut, on December 31, 1926. He graduated from the
University of North Carolina. After graduation he taught
high school briefly before he traveled abroad to Paris and the
Sorbonne while writing his dissertation on
James Joyce. While a
Fulbright scholar in Paris, writing his thesis on James Joyce at the Sorbonne in the early 1950s, he co-founded the English-language literary quarterly
Merlin, which published early works by
Eugène Ionesco and
Jean Genet. In 1952, Seaver wrote an essay lauding the work of the then little-known novelist
Samuel Beckett. This essay became instrumental in Beckett's finding an American publisher and champion. While abroad, Seaver met
Jeannette Medina, whom he married in 1953. Before returning to the United States and settling in New York City with his wife, he spent two years in the
United States Navy. In 1959, Seaver went to work for
Grove Press, where he eventually rose to the position of editor in chief. In 1967, he was among more than 500 writers and editors who signed the "
Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse to pay the 10%
Vietnam War Tax surcharge proposed by president Johnson. In 1971, he left Grove Press and went to work for
Viking Press. After Viking, he became the president and publisher of
Holt, Rinehart and Winston's trade division and then started his own company Arcade Publishing. In his memoir, Seaver recalls the moment in 1952, when he wrote a first, and seminal essay extolling the work of then-unknown Samuel Beckett. He was 25 and had just finished reading the novels
Molloy and
Malone Dies, which he believed were masterpieces: == Death ==