David Rytman Slavitt (March 23, 1935 – May 17, 2025) was an American writer, poet and translator, who was author of more than 100 books.

Slavitt wrote a number of novels and numerous translations of classical literature from Greek, Latin, and other languages. He also wrote a number of popular erotic novels under the pseudonym Henry Sutton, starting in the late 1960s. The Exhibitionist (1967) was a bestseller and sold over four million copies. He has also published popular novels under the names of David Benjamin, Lynn Meyer, and Henry Lazarus.Elliott, Okla (9 November 2011). "What David R. Slavitt Knows", Inside Higher EdRosen, Judith (29 August 2011). "David Slavitt Joins the 100 Club at 76", Publishers WeeklyO'Brien, Ellen (13 October 1994). "Author's Friends Get The Last Word", The Philadelphia InquirerDoughty, Roger (21 February 1969). "Poet Hits Pay Dirt", Tuscaloosa News His first work, a book of poems titled Suits for the Dead, was published in 1961. He worked as a writer and film critic for Newsweek from 1958 to 1965.Brady, Thomas J. (22 December 1996). "At Home With Hymns, Psalms, Potboilers", The Philadelphia Inquirer In 2011, he joined the "100 Club": writers who have published, or contracted for, 100 books.

According to Henry S. Taylor, winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, "David Slavitt is among the most accomplished living practitioners" of writing, "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." Novelist and poet James Dickey wrote, "Slavitt has such an easy, tolerant, believable relationship with the ancient world and its authors that making the change-over from that world to ours is less a leap than an enjoyable stroll. The reader feels a continual sense of gratitude." The New York Times called him "a protean performer who functions at several levels."

Career Writing career Before becoming a full-time freelance writer in 1965, Slavitt worked at various jobs in the literary field. These included a stint in the personnel office of Reader's Digest in Pleasantville, New York; teaching English at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta (1957–1958); and a variety of jobs at Newsweek in New York. Slavitt began there as a mailroom clerk, was promoted to the positions of book reviewer and film critic, and earned the position of associate editor from 1958 to 1963. He edited the movie news and reviews pages from 1963 to 1965.

Okla Elliott, a professor and Illinois Distinguished Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, wrote of Slavitt that he "served as an associate editor at Newsweek until 1965, teaching himself Greek on his 35-minute commute. In his last two years at Newsweek, he had a reputation as an astute, sometime cranky, but always readable 'flicker picker' and gained some notoriety for his film reviews there."

Slavitt taught as an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1977, and at Temple University in Philadelphia, as associate professor from 1978 to 1980. Slavitt was a lecturer at Columbia University from 1985 to 1986, at Rutgers University in 1987, and at the University of Pennsylvania in 1991. He served as a visiting professor at the University of Texas at El Paso and other institutions. He has given poetry readings at colleges and universities, at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and at the Library of Congress.

In the 1960s, Slavitt was approached by Bernie Geis & Associates to write an erotic novel, which he agreed to if he could use a pseudonym. As Henry Sutton, in 1967 he published The Exhibitionist, which sold more than 4 million copies. He followed this with The Voyeur in 1968 and three more novels as Henry Sutton. In the 1970s, he also used the pen names of Lynn Meyer and Henry Lazarus for novels written for the popular market.

Slavitt has published numerous classical works in translation, from Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Spanish and French literature.

Politics In 2004, Slavitt unsuccessfully ran as a Republican for a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, losing to longtime incumbent Timothy J. Toomey Jr.Peguero, Robin M. (3 November 2004). Harvard Affiliates Lose in Local Races, Harvard Crimson His campaign manager was former Cambridge School Committee candidate and Republican City Committee Chairman Fred Baker. He explored the race in his 2006 non-fiction book Blue State Blues: How a Cranky Conservative Launched a Campaign and Found Himself the Liberal Candidate (And Still Lost).Beam, Alex (19 December 2006). "'Blue State' author has a blue past"d, The Boston GlobeYardley, Jonathan (14 May 2006). Blue State Blues (review), The Washington Post Jonathan Yardley, reviewing the book, said that Slavitt "was challenged by his son Evan -- a Republican activist" to run, and that Slavitt described himself as "economically conservative and socially moderate."

Personal life Slavitt was born in White Plains, New York, on March 23, 1935, the son of lawyer Samuel Saul Slavitt and Adele Beatrice Slavitt, a paralegal.

Slavitt attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where his first writing teacher was Dudley Fitts. He received an undergraduate degree from Yale University (where he studied under Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren and was elected class poet, "Scholar of the House," in 1956), graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude), and then a Master's degree in English from Columbia University in 1957.

He was married to Lynn Nita Meyer on August 27, 1956. They had three children: Evan Meyer, Sarah Rebecca, and Joshua Rytman; while raising their young children, the Slavitts lived for some years in Miami, Florida. His son Josh attended grade school with Fiona Kelleghan. Slavitt and his first wife were divorced on December 20, 1977.

Slavitt's Florida house was burgled during the summer of 1973. His family were no longer happy to live in Miami; they moved to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For a short time he lived in Belmont. He then met Janet Lee Abrahm, later to be Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and they were married on April 16, 1978. Abrahm was appointed Chief Resident at Moffitt Hospital of University of California, San Francisco, where they lived for a year. Together, they moved to Philadelphia, where Abrahm had earned a fellowship; they moved to Boston in 2000, when she was hired at Harvard University.

Slavitt's mother was murdered in 1982 by a teenaged burglar, who was convicted and imprisoned. Slavitt's poetry became darker, by his own admission.

The Slavitts are a close-knit family; he said proudly in a 2011 interview: "What amazes me is not the 100 books, but the fact that I am 76 and have nine grandchildren." He and Janet lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts.David R. Slavitt, poetryfoundation.org, Retrieved 21 January 2014

He and his first wife are Jewish and raised their children in that faith.

Slavitt died on May 17, 2025, at the age of 90.

Bibliography