Carlos Baker

Carlos Baker was an American writer, biographer and professor of Literature at Princeton University. Baker was born in 1909 in Biddeford, Maine. He received his A.B. from Dartmouth College and his M.A. from Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. in English from Princeton University in 1940 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "The influence of Spenser on Shelley's major poetry." Baker taught at Princeton for forty years, retiring in 1977; for much of this time he held the position of Woodrow Wilson Professor of English Literature. He is best remembered for his literary biographies, but his published works also include several novels and books of poetry as well as works of literary criticism and essays. He also wrote for the popular press; his syndicated reviews of works such as Jack Kerouac's On the Road appeared in dozens of newspapers.