J. Glenn Gray (1913-1977) was a translator of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger and among his earliest champions in the United States. As a general editor for Harper & Row, he supervised work for the publisher on translations of Heidegger, with whom he formed a personal association.
Gray was born May 27, 1913, near Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Juniata College and obtained an M.A. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1938 and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1941. Immediately after this, Gray spent four years in the United States Army, becoming a second lieutenant. When Gray returned to the United States he began his career as a professor. In 1947 Graymarried Ursula Werner, with whom he had two daughters.
As a long-time professor at Colorado College, Gray obtained fellowships from the Ford Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the National Council on the Arts and Humanities. He also was a scholar-in-residence for the Aspen Center for Humanistic Studies from 1967 to 1968. Colleagues at Colorado College and elsewhere compiled a collection of essays, entitled Something of Great Constancy, in honor of Gray. Prior to its publication, Gray died on Oct. 30, 1977, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Gray published numerous books and essays. His first major publication, The Warriors: Reflections of Men in Battle, is a philosophical memoir of his years as an intelligence officer near the battle lines in Italy during World War II, and was inspired by Gray’s opposition to war. Its reprint in 1967 and subsequent editions included an introduction by Hanna Arendt.
Bibliography
As author
- Hegel’s Hellenic Ideal. New York: King’s Crown Press, 1941.
- The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle. New York: Harcourt, 1959.
- The Promise of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy of Education. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1968.
- Understanding Violence Philosophically and Other Essays. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.
As editor
- Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. On Art, Religion, Philosophy: Introductory Lectures to the Realm of Absolute Spirit. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.
As translator
- Heidegger, Martin. What is Called Thinking? New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
As contributor
- McGrath, Earl. The Humanities in Higher Education. Dubuque: W.C. Brown, 1949.
- Kline, George L. European Philosophy Today. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1965.
- Anton, John. Naturalism and Historical Understanding. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1967.
- Somer, John, James Wilcox, and James Coulos. Literature and Rhetoric: an Anthology for Composition. Atlanta: Scott, Foresman, 1969.
References
External Links
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