Leslie Fiedler was born on November 25, 1932, in Streator, Illinois. He was educated at Northwestern University (B.A., 1956), the University of Minnesota (M.A., 1959), and Columbia University (Ph.D., 1961). After his first book, Love and Death in the American Novel, was published in 1962, he taught at Wesleyan University (1962–73) and then at the University of California, Los Angeles (1973–89). While there he wrote three more books: The Return of the Vanishing American (1968), The Violent American Novel: Four Twentieth-Century Authors, 1776–1976 (1978), and Why Literature Matters: The Defense of Fiction in a Time of Crisis (1980)
In 1985 Dr. Fiedler moved to California State University at Northridge where he taught until his retirement. He died on June 19, 2002.
I long for the raised voice, the howl of rage or love.Leslie Fiedler
I have, I admit, a low tolerance for detached chronicling and cool analysis.Leslie Fiedler
Faulkner turned out to be a great teacher. When a student asked a question ineptly, he answered the question with what the student had really wanted to know.Leslie Fiedler
My assignment is what every writer's assignment is: tell the truth of his own time.Leslie Fiedler
