It is important to consider Schwartz's work in the context of two traditions: that of American-Jewish writing and that of literary modernism, the powerful phenomenon of the period between the two world wars. These two traditions or movements converge in Schwartz's mind and art, as his work reveals a search for identity in the face of alienation, both as an American-Jewish writer, one of the "sons," and as a modern poet. Schwartz's poetry, stories, and criticism all seem to focus on the theme of alienation or separation, and a concomitant striving for oneness or identity.
Delmore David Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of immigrant parents, Harry and Rose Nathanson Schwartz, who had left Eastern Europe while still very young to settle in the golden land. When he was fourteen, Schwartz moved with his family to the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, graduating from George Washington High School in 1931. He spent his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin but transferred the following year to New York University, where he majored in philosophy and studied under Sidney Hook, James Burnham, and Philip Wheelwright. Schwartz was a brilliant student of philosophy and went on, after receiving his B.A.
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