author
John Erskine
1879–1951
A lively man of letters who moved easily between classrooms, concert halls, and bestselling fiction, he helped popularize big ideas for a broad audience. He is especially remembered for witty, modern retellings of classical stories and for shaping the early Great Books tradition in American higher education.
3 Audiobooks
The Literary Discipline
by John Erskine
Troijan Helena yksityiselämässään
by John Erskine
About the author
Born in New York City in 1879, John Erskine built an unusually wide-ranging career as an author, educator, pianist, and composer. He studied at Columbia University, earned his doctorate there, taught first at Amherst College and then at Columbia, and became known as an engaging public intellectual with a gift for making literature feel alive and relevant.
As a writer, he produced novels, essays, criticism, and works on music. His best-known books include The Private Life of Helen of Troy and other sharp, modern reimaginings of myth and legend, works that brought him a large popular readership while still drawing on his deep literary learning.
Erskine also left a lasting mark on education. He helped develop Columbia's General Honors course, an important early influence on what became the Great Books movement, and he later served as the first president of the Juilliard School. He died in 1951, remembered as a remarkably versatile figure in American cultural life.