EDEL, LEON

born September 9, 1907, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S. died September 5, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii in full Joseph Leon Edel American literary critic and biographer, notably of Henry James. Edel grew up in Saskatchewan, Can., and graduated from McGill University (B.A., 1927; M.A., 1928). He received a doctorate of letters from the University of Paris (1932). During the Great Depression he held various jobs and then served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1947. He taught English at New York University (195072; thereafter professor emeritus) and at the University of Hawaii (197278). Edel edited James's Complete Tales, 12 vol. (196365), and wrote the definitive biography of James in five volumes (195372). He also edited James's Complete Plays (1949) and James's letters, 4 vol. (197484). His other books include Willa Cather: A Critical Biography (1953), written with E.K. Brown; The Psychological Novel, 19001950 (1955; rev. ed. The Modern Psychological Novel, 1964); and Literary Biography (1957; reprinted 1973). He also wrote a psychological portrait of the Bloomsbury group, Bloomsbury: A House of Lions (1979), and a book about writing biographies, Writing Lives (1984).