DAVID RYTMAN SLAVITT

SLAVITT, David Rytman Poet, novelist, critic and translator, died peacefully, on May 17, 2025, at the age of 90, in his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Slavitt was praised and admired by fellow wordsmiths and was astonishingly prolific, with over 130 published works. Slavitt's written work ranged broadly, from collections of his own poetry and literary novels to translations from a great variety of languages, including ancient Greek and Latin, Hebrew scripture, Sanskrit (the Mahabarata and Ramayana) and medieval English. He also wrote plays, criticism and essays, an opera with his friend, the filmmaker, Fred Wiseman and several bestsellers under the pseudonym Henry Sutton. His final book of poetry, "Last Words" will be published by Louisiana State University Press in 2028. Slavitt was beloved in his circle of seven fellow poets: "A New Pléiade" as they christened themselves in their 1998 collection of selected poems, published by Louisiana State University Press. The Pléiade, all of whom predeceased Slavitt, included George Garrett, Henry Taylor, Fred Chappell, Richard Dillard, Brendan Galvin and Kelly Cherry. Henry Taylor, a Pulitzer prize-winning poet and longtime friend, wrote, "The power of narrative to transform the events it recounts is among the most rewarding mysteries by which we can be absorbed. David Slavitt is among the most accomplished practitioners of that art, in both prose and verse; his poems give us a pleasurable, beautiful way of meditating on a bad time. We can't ask much more of literature, and usually we get far less." Slavitt's work was also highly praised by many other authors, including Joyce Carol Oates. Oates said of his work, "Slavitt is certainly a classicist, but . . . he is deeply involved in the immediate, physical, blow-by-blow world and the tension of his personae in somehow uniting these apparently polarized aspects of the self makes for exciting poetry. He is his own man, his own poet." David R. Slavitt was born on March 23,1935 to Samuel Slavitt, an appellate lawyer and Adele Slavitt, Sam's lifelong secretary and raised in White Plains, New York. His younger sister, Susan, predeceased him. He attended Phillips Andover Academy, where he studied poetry with Dudley Fitts. Slavitt graduated magna cum laude in the Yale, Class of 1956, a student of Robert Penn Warren and Paul Weiss and a member of Manuscript and the Elizabethan Clubs. He received a master's degree from Columbia University. In 1964, Slavitt left Newsweek magazine, where he was the movie critic, to become a full-time writer, which he remained for the rest of his life. His first marriage, to Lynn Meyer, ended in divorce. In 1978, he married Dr. Janet Abrahm, an oncologist and a founder of the field of Palliative Care. He was a great champion of Dr. Abrahm and the work she did to nurture and grow that new field. Slavitt is survived by his three children by his first marriage: Evan Slavitt (Robin Oliver), Sarah Bryce (Scott Bryce) and Joshua Slavitt (Nadine Hollander Slavitt); nine grandchildren: Isaac (Amanda), Elena (Yoni), Hannah, Nina (Soltan), Tamar (Kevin), Sam (Tamar), Shoshana, Sydney and Tatiana; and seven great-grandchildren: Noah, Ora, Gabby, Ethan, Jonah, Dov, and Micah. A Memorial Service is planned for June 30, at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations in the memory of David R. Slavitt to the Janet Abrahm, MD and Saj-Nicole Joni, PhD Fund, for innovations in Palliative Care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The link is here http://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/DavidSlavitt

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