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Peter de vries dutch journalist

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Peter de Vries [1910-1993]

Peter De Vries definitely belongs in the company of his nineteenth century fellow Dutch American literary giants Herman Melville and Walter Whitman. He passed away only about a dozen years ago, and it might be a little early to make that statement, but his body of literary output will receive more attention as time passes on. His satiric wit, his linguistic ability and his comic outlook on life will keep him endeared to the English language reader, but will also attract more attention to his work and his style of writing by academics and scholars.

De Vries was born in Chicago into the Dutch immigrant community that was largely made up of people of the Dutch Reformed persuasion. In those days the somewhat dour but also comedic Calvinistic influence on all parts of life was still very prominent in that community. And many of the De Vries stories reflect the influence that community had on him later in his life. The Dutch immigrant community was also rich in classic behavior styles that were able to elicit or generate much comedy and hilarit

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Who was Peter De Vries?

Peter De Vries is responsible for contributing to the cultural vernacular such witticisms as "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be" and "Deep down, he's shallow." He was, according to Kingsley Amis, "the funniest serious writer to be found on either side of the Atlantic." “Quick with quips so droll and witty, so penetrating and precise that you almost don’t feel them piercing your pretensions, Peter De Vries was perhaps America’s best comic novelist not named Mark Twain. . .” (Sam McManis, Sacramento Bee).

His achievement seemed best appreciated by his fellow writers. Harper Lee, naming the great American writers, said, “Peter De Vries . . . is the Evelyn Waugh of our time". Anthony Burgess called De Vries “surely one of the great prose virtuosos of modern America.” Peter De Vries was a radio actor in the 1930s, and editor for Poetry magazine from 1938 to 1944. During World War II he served in the U.S. Marines attaining the rank of Captain, and was seconded to the

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Peter De Vries

American editor and novelist

For other people named Peter de Vries, see Peter de Vries (disambiguation).

Peter De Vries (February 27, 1910 – September 28, 1993) was an American editor and novelist known for his satiric wit.

Biography

De Vries was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1910.^[1] He was educated in Dutch Christian Reformed Church schools, graduating from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1931. He also studied at Northwestern University. He supported himself with a number of different jobs, including those of vending machine operator, toffee-apple salesman, radio actor in the 1930s, and editor for Poetry magazine from 1938 to 1944.

He joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine at the insistence of James Thurber and worked there from 1944 to 1987, writing stories and touching up cartoon captions. A prolific writer, De Vries wrote short stories, reviews, poetry, essays, a play, novellas, and twenty-five novels. Films made from De Vries's novels include The Tunnel of Love (1958), which also was a successful Broadway p