author
William P. (William Peterfield) Trent
1862–1939
A scholar, critic, and editor, he helped shape how American literature was studied in universities and literary journals. He is especially remembered for founding The Sewanee Review and for his long career teaching English at Columbia University.
1 Audiobook
A History of the United States
by Charles Kendall Adams, William P. (William Peterfield) Trent
About the author
Born in Richmond, Virginia, on November 10, 1862, William Peterfield Trent became an important American man of letters at a time when literary study was becoming more formal and influential. He studied at the University of Virginia and later at Johns Hopkins, then taught at Sewanee: The University of the South before joining Columbia University in 1900.
At Sewanee, he founded The Sewanee Review in 1892, a journal that went on to become one of the best-known literary quarterlies in the United States. As a professor, editor, and critic, he wrote and edited many books, including works on American and English literature, and he helped bring a broad, serious approach to literary history.
Trent spent nearly three decades at Columbia, where he taught English literature until 1929. He died on December 7, 1939, leaving behind a reputation as a careful scholar and a major figure in the academic study of literature.