Auchincloss, Louis

Auchincloss, Louis (ô'kinklos) [key], 1917–, American novelist and man of letters, b. New York City; grad. Yale (1939), Univ. of Virginia Law School (1941). For many years, he was a practicing lawyer in his native city. His business experience and social background are reflected in his polished novels of manners, which mainly relate the concerns of well-to-do and well-connected white Protestants. His novels include Venus in Sparta (1958), The Rector of Justin (1964), The Embezzler (1966), The Partners (1974), The Dark Lady (1977), Watchfires (1982), and East End Story (2004). He has also written Reflections of a Jacobite (1961), on Henry James; Edith Wharton: A Biography (1971); Richelieu (1972); and Woodrow Wilson (2000). A prolific writer with more than 60 titles to his credit, Auchincloss published False Gods, Fellow Passengers, and Love without Wings in 1991 alone. He is also known for his short stories; The Collected Stories of Louis Auchincloss was published in 1994.

See his memoir, A Writer's Capital (1974); biography by C. W. Gelderman (1993, rev. ed. 2007); studies by C. C. Dahl (1986), D. B. Parsell (1988), and V. Piket (1991).