N. Bryllion (Nathan Bryllion) Fagin

Born in 1892, Nathan Bryllion Fagin became an English professor at Johns Hopkins University, where he also directed its theater work. Archival records at Johns Hopkins describe his teaching career there from 1925 to 1951 and note his ties to literary friends and colleagues, as well as materials connected to the Moscow Theatre Festival of 1932.

Fagin wrote across several related fields: literary criticism, theater, and the craft of writing. Listings from the Online Books Page and Project Gutenberg show works including Short Story-Writing: An Art or a Trade?, The Phenomenon of Sherwood Anderson, Interpreter of the American Landscape, and The Histrionic Mr. Poe, reflecting his interest in both the practice of storytelling and the lives of major American writers.

He is remembered as a thoughtful guide to literature who combined classroom teaching with a strong interest in performance. The surviving record suggests a career spent helping readers and students see literature as something vivid, dramatic, and closely tied to American cultural life.