author
Clyde Furst
1873–1931
Best known today for The Observations of Professor Maturin, he moved easily between literature and education, writing with a scholarly eye and a light touch. His career also placed him at the center of major conversations about teaching, colleges, and academic standards in early 20th-century America.
1 Audiobook
The Observations of Professor Maturin
by Clyde Furst
About the author
Born in 1873, Clyde Bowman Furst was an American educator, critic, and author. He studied at Dickinson College, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees, and he went on to build a career that joined literary writing with academic life.
Furst served as secretary of Teachers College, Columbia University, from 1902 to 1911, and later became secretary of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Alongside that work, he published books and lectures on literature and education, including A Group of Old Authors, Syllabus of a Collegiate Course of Thirty Lectures on American Literature, and reports on pensions and educational surveys.
Readers of classic literature are most likely to know him for The Observations of Professor Maturin (1916), a reflective and witty work that has remained available through public-domain editions and audiobook recordings. He died in 1931, leaving behind a body of writing shaped by both humane literary interests and a lifelong commitment to education.