BURKE, KENNETH

born May 5, 1897, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S. died Nov. 19, 1993, Andover, N.J. in full Kenneth Duva Burke American literary critic who is best known for his psychologically based analyses of the nature of knowledge and his views of literature as symbolic action, that is, a symbolic means by which the writer can act out his own psychic conflicts and tensions. Burke attended universities brieflyOhio State University (Columbus, 191617) and Columbia University (New York City, 191718)but never took a degree. He wrote poems, a novel, and short stories and translated the works of many German writers into English. He was the music critic of the Dial (192729) and of The Nation (193436). He then turned to literary criticism, lecturing on this subject at the University of Chicago (1938; 194950), and he taught at Bennington College (Vermont) from 1943 through 1961. Burke's critical thought is complex and subtle and is rendered more difficult by his attempt to integrate scientific and philosophical concepts with his views on literature and semantics. Among his books are: Counter-Statement (1931; rev. ed., 1968); The Philosophy of Literary Form (1941; 3rd ed., 1974); Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose (1935; rev. ed., 1959); Attitudes Toward History, 2 vol. (1937; rev. ed., 1959); A Grammar of Motives (1945); A Rhetoric of Motives (1950); and Language as Symbolic Action (1966).