Hugh Kenner

William Hugh Kenner was a Canadian literary scholar, critic and professor. He published widely on Modernist literature with particular emphasis on James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Samuel Beckett. Kenner earned a PhD at Yale University, where he wrote a dissertation titled James Joyce: Critique in Progress, with legendary critic Cleanth Brooks serving as advisor and mentor. This work was later published in book form as Dublin's Joyce (1956). His major study of the period, The Pound Era (1971), argued for Pound as the central figure of Modernism, and is considered one of the most important works on the topic. He taught at University of California, Santa Barbara; the Johns Hopkins University; and the University of Georgia.