Floyd Dell

Floyd Dell
Born
Floyd James Dell

June 28, 1887
Barry, Illinois, United States
DiedJuly 23, 1969(1969-07-23) (aged 82)
Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Occupations
  • Critic
  • magazine editor
  • novelist
Known forFriday Literary Review
The Masses
Homecoming
Spouses
  • Margery Currey
  • Berta Marie Gage
Signature

Floyd James Dell (June 28, 1887 – July 23, 1969) was an American newspaper and magazine editor, literary critic, novelist, playwright, and poet. Dell has been called "one of the most flamboyant, versatile and influential American Men of Letters of the first third of the 20th Century."[1] In Chicago, he was editor of the nationally syndicated Friday Literary Review. As editor and critic, Dell's influence is seen in the work of many major American writers from the first half of the 20th century. A lifelong poet, he was also a best-selling author, as well as a playwright whose hit Broadway comedy, Little Accident (1928),[2] was made into a Hollywood movie.[3]

Dell wrote extensively on controversial social issues of the early 20th century, and played a major part in the political and social movements originating in New York City's Greenwich Village during the 1910s & 1920s. As editor of left-wing magazine The Masses, Dell was twice put on trial for publishing subversive literature.

  1. ^ Krupnick, Mark (1996). Floyd Dell, Sensible Rebel [Review of the book Essays From the Friday Literary Review, 1909-1913, by Floyd Dell (Edited by R. Craig Sautter)]. Chicago Tribune, February 25, 1996.
  2. ^ Greasley, Philip A., Dictionary of Midwestern Literature, Indiana U. Press, 2001
  3. ^ "The Little Accident (1930)". IMDb. 3 August 1930. Retrieved 10 December 2015.