author
Edwin Mims
1872–1959
A longtime Vanderbilt professor, literary critic, and biographer, he helped shape Southern literary culture in the early 20th century. He is especially remembered for teaching generations of students and for his interest in writers such as Sidney Lanier and Ellen Glasgow.
1 Audiobook
Sidney Lanier
by Edwin Mims
About the author
Born in Arkansas in 1872, he studied at Vanderbilt University and later earned a PhD from Cornell. He went on to become a professor of English literature and chaired Vanderbilt's English Department from 1912 to 1942, a remarkably long tenure that placed him at the center of the university's literary life.
He taught students who would become part of the Fugitives and Southern Agrarians, giving him an important place in the history of Southern letters even though he is often remembered more as a teacher and critic than as a creative writer. Sources also describe him as an editor, biographer, and a public opponent of lynching, adding moral conviction to his academic reputation.
His books include literary studies and biographies, notably work on Sidney Lanier, and later correspondence shows his continuing interest in writing about major Southern authors such as Ellen Glasgow. He died in 1959, leaving behind a legacy tied to scholarship, teaching, and the growth of literary culture in Nashville and the South.