Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his 1975 biography of Edith Wharton, R. W. B. Lewis established himself first in the field of literary criticism. In fact, his influence can be largely traced to a single seminal work. Since its original publication in 1955 The American Adam: Innocence, Tragedy and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century has become acknowledged as one of the major contributions to American literary studies. Coming at a time when many in the academic community were tiring of the aesthetic formalism of the New Criticism, The American Adam helped to launch a new era of interdisciplinary cultural analysis. The book's important ramifications have been discovered anew by each succeeding generation of scholars.

Richard Warrington Baldwin Lewis was born on 1 November 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, to Leicester Crosby Lewis and Beatrice Elizabeth (Baldwin) Lewis. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy, he entered Harvard University, where he earned his A.B...