Lionel Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, author, and teacher. Trilling was seen as one of the great literary critics and one of the New York intellectuals dominating the day. He is probably most famous to the general public for his introduction to a 1952 reissue of George Orwell's book, Homage to Catalonia. He was also a regular contributor to the Partisan Review.
Lionel Trilling was born in New York City into a Jewish family. Trilling was educated at Columbia University where he received his B.A. (1925), M.A. (1926), and Ph.D. (1938). Lionel Trilling began teaching literature at Columbia in 1932 and became a full professor in 1948. His one novel, The Middle of a Journey, about an affluent Communist couple was published in 1947. His most famous volume of essays was probably the 1950 The Liberal Imagination . He also wrote the Moral Obligation to be Intelligent.
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