author
Benjamin De Casseres
1873–1945
A sharp-tongued American essayist, critic, and poet, he built a reputation for bold opinions and a fiercely individual voice. His work ranges across journalism, literary criticism, verse, and social commentary from the early twentieth century.
1 Audiobook
The Shadow-Eater
by Benjamin De Casseres
About the author
Born in Philadelphia in 1873, Benjamin De Casseres began working in newspapers while still very young and went on to spend most of his career in New York. He wrote as a journalist, critic, essayist, and poet, contributing to papers including The New York Times, The Sun, and The New York Herald.
He was known for an intense, combative style and for treating criticism as something lively and personal rather than polite or academic. Alongside journalism, he published books of prose and poetry, including The Shadow-Eater and Chameleon: Being a Book of My Selves, building a body of work that mixed literary judgment, philosophy, satire, and autobiography.
De Casseres died in 1945, but his writing still stands out for its energy and independence. Readers drawn to strong opinions, unusual literary personalities, and the bustling world of early twentieth-century letters may find him especially memorable.