Edward Alexander (1936 – August 22, 2020)^[1] was an American essayist and professor emeritus of English at the University of Washington.^[2] He focused his research on literary figures such as John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold, John Morley, John Ruskin, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Lionel Trilling, Irving Howe, and Robert B. Heilman; and authored books about Jewish history, Zionism, and antisemitism.^[3]

Life

Edward Alexander was born in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the Brownsville section where he attended a Hebrew school located on 500 Herzl Street. As a youth, he idolized Jackie Robinson and David Ben-Gurion.^[4]

Alexander earned an A.B. from Columbia College in 1957. He then attended the University of Minnesota, where he received an A.M. in 1959, and a Ph.D. in 1963.^[3]

Alexander was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974 in the field of "Literary Criticism".^[5]

Alexander taught English at the University of Washington from 1960 to 2004 and was the first chairman of UW's Jewish Studies Program. He was a visiting professor at Tufts, Hebrew University, Tel-Aviv University, and Memphis State University.^[4]

Alexander was a member the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers, the National Association of Scholars, and the Washington Association of Scholars.^[3]

Alexander had several cancer surgeries in 2009–2010.^[2]

Writing

In The Jewish Idea and Its Enemies (1988), Alexander examined the tension between The Enlightenment ideas of liberalism, rationalism, relativism, and traditional Jewish ideas.^[6]

In Jews against Themselves (2015), Alexander explored the contributions apostate Jews made to "the politics and ideology of anti-Semitism."^[6][7]

Books

• Alexander, Edward (2014). Matthew Arnold and John Stuart Mill. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-1135026981. originally published in London by Routledge & K. Paul (1965)
• Mill, John Stuart (1967). Alexander, Edward (ed.). Literary Essays. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
• Alexander, Edward (1972). John Morley. New York: Twayne Publishers.
• Alexander, Edward (1973). Matthew Arnold, John Ruskin, and the Modern Temper. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. ISBN 0814201881.
• Alexander, Edward (1979). The Resonance of Dust: Essays on Holocaust Literature and Jewish Fate. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. ISBN 0814203035.
• Alexander, Edward (1980). Isaac Bashevis Singer. Boston: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0805764240.
• Loewenberg, Robert J.; Alexander, Edward, eds. (1988). The Israeli Fate of Jewish Liberalism: Proceedings of a Conference in Jerusalem, 1985, at the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America. ISBN 0819170631.
• Alexander, Edward (1988). The Jewish Idea and its Enemies: Personalities, Issues, Events. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books. ISBN 0887381758.
• Alexander, Edward (1990). Isaac Bashevis Singer: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0805783296.
• Alexander, Edward, ed. (1991). The Middle East: Uncovering the Myths. New York: Anti-Defamation League. ISBN 0884641368. Papers prepared for a conference sponsored by Writers & Artists for Peace in the Middle East
• Alexander, Edward, ed. (1993). With Friends Like These: The Jewish Critics of Israel. New York, NY: S.P.I. Books. ISBN 1561710563.
• Alexander, Edward (1994). The Holocaust: History and the War of Ideas. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 1412837227.
• Alexander, Edward (1995). Irving Howe and Secular Jewishness: An Elegy. Cincinnati: Judaic Studies Program, University of Cincinnati.
• Alexander, Edward (1998). Irving Howe — Socialist, Critic, Jew. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253113210.
• Mill, John Stuart (2001). Alexander, Edward (ed.). The Subjection of Women. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 0765807661. critical edition
• Alexander, Edward (2002). Classical Liberalism and the Jewish Tradition. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 141281975X.
• Alexander, Edward; Bogdanor, Paul, eds. (2006). The Jewish Divide over Israel: Accusers and Defenders. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. ISBN 0765803275.
• Heilman, Robert Bechtold (2009). Alexander, Edward; Dunn, Richard J.; Jaussen, Paul (eds.). Robert B. Heilman: His Life in Letters. Seattle: University of Washington. ISBN 978-0295988665.
• Alexander, Edward (2009). Lionel Trilling & Irving Howe: And Other Stories of Literary Friendship. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1412815468.
• Alexander, Edward (2011). The Jewish Wars. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 9781412811323.
• Alexander, Edward (2012). The State of the Jews: A Critical Appraisal. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1412846608.
• Alexander, Edward (2015). Jews against Themselves. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction. ISBN 978-1412856225.