CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS: Louise Gluck, the Nobel and Pulitzer-winning poet and essayist, died at her residence in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Friday, October 13, after a battle with cancer.
Jonathan Galassi, her editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, confirmed her death to the Associated Press.
She was 80 years old at the time of her death.
Hailing from Long Island, New York, Louise published a dozen books of poetry, essays, and a brief prose fable in her lifetime.
She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2020, with judges praising "her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal."
Her list of accolades includes the Pulitzer Prize, National Humanities Medal, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Bollingen Prize.
She also had the honor of being the Poet Laureate of the US from 2003 to 2004 and taught at institutions such as Standford and Yale.
About Louise Gluck
Born in New York City on April 22, 1943, Louise Glück was raised by her parents, Daniel Gluck and Beatrice Gluck, who were of Eastern European Jewish descent. Her father was a businessman, and her mother a homemaker.
Her younger sister, Tereze Gluck (1945–2018), was also a writer.
Louise attended Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University but couldn’t obtain a degree. She succumbed to anorexia nervosa while in high school, however, later overcame the illness.
Her poetry was significantly influenced by classical mythology as well as by the works of William Shakespeare and TS Eliot. Louise's poems are often described as autobiographical and are known for their emotional intensity, as well as their thematic exploration of desire, longing, and nature.
Her first book of poems, 'Firstborn', was published in 1968, and her second, 'The House on Marshland', came out in 1975.
Louise's other works include 'Descending Figure', 'The Triumph of Achilles', 'Ararat', 'The Wild Iris', 'Meadowlands', 'Averno', and 'The Seven Ages'.
The poet was married twice, first to Charles Hertz Jr in 1967 and then to John Dranow in 1977. She had a son, Noah Dranow, with her second partner.
Gluck is also the aunt of the actress Abigail Savage.
Louise Gluck's achievements
'Wild Iris', a book of poems where Louise Gluck explored the themes of suffering, death, and rebirth, earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. In 2001, she received the Bollingen Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
Her book 'Faithful and Virtuous Night' won the 2014 National Book Award for Poetry and went on to win the Noble Prize for Literature in 2020.
Gluck was once quoted saying, "The advantage of poetry over life is that poetry, if it is sharp enough, may last," and so shall her legacy for decades to come.
