author
Ernest Erwin Leisy
1887–1968
A longtime teacher and literary scholar, he wrote clear, thoughtful studies of American writing and helped map the early history of the American historical novel. His work reflects a deep interest in how literature grows out of a country's culture and identity.
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About the author
Born in rural Garden Township near Halstead, Kansas, on December 22, 1887, Ernest Erwin Leisy grew up in a large Mennonite family and became an American literary scholar and professor. Sources describe him as a teacher as well as a critic, and one archival photo places him at Bethel College in about 1917, already at work at his desk.
Leisy is best known for books on American literature and literary history. Confirmed works include American Literature; An Interpretative Survey (1929) and The American Historical Novel (published in 1950, with later editions also appearing), both of which show his interest in tracing how American fiction developed over time.
He later became associated with Southern Methodist University, where contemporary references identify him as Ernest E. Leisy of SMU, and later sources describe him as professor emeritus. He died in Dallas on March 8, 1968.