{{short description|American novelist and translator}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox academic | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1941}} | birth_place = Hoboken, New Jersey, USA | education = {{plainlist| * St. Peter's Preparatory School (1959) * Saint Peter's College (BA, 1963) * Johns Hopkins University (MA, 1964; PhD, 1970) }} | workplaces = Syracuse University (1968-2007) }}
'''Dennis McCort''' (born 1941) is an American literary scholar, translator, and novelist,<ref name="syracuse">{{Cite web |last=Frank |first=Casey Rose |date=September 23, 2016 |title=A memoir of emigration: CNY books and authors |url=https://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/2016/09/a_memoir_of_emigrationcny_books_and_authors.html |access-date=July 26, 2025 |website=syracuse |language=en}}</ref> known for his work on German Romanticism, Franz Kafka, and the intersections of literature, religion, and Zen Buddhism.<ref name="syracuse2">{{Cite web |last=Frank |first=Casey Rose |date=February 15, 2019 |title=Oh, the places you'll go in Hamilton, NY: CNY book and authors |url=https://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/2019/02/oh-the-places-youll-go-in-hamilton-ny-cny-book-and-authors.html |access-date=July 26, 2025 |website=syracuse |language=en}}</ref> He is professor emeritus of German at Syracuse University, where he taught for nearly four decades.
== Early life and education == McCort was born and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey,<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 27, 2019 |title=Dennis McCort - Psychological Thriller Writer |url=https://booktrib.com/2019/02/27/dennis-mccort/ |access-date=July 26, 2025 |website=BookTrib |language=en-US}}</ref> and graduated from St. Peter's Preparatory School in 1959.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-jersey-journal-scholarship-winners-a/177678632/ "Prep Boys Winners of Scholarships"], ''The Jersey Journal'', February 3, 1960. Accessed July 28, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "Thirty one members of the 1959 graduating class of St. Peter's Prep in Jersey City have been extended congratulations by the Rev. Cornelius J. Carr, S. J., principal of the Jesuit high school on notification that they had won New 'Jersey State scholarships. The administrator was informed yesterday the 31 were among 900 high school seniors, and college freshmen who earned stipends. The Hudson County recipients are Matthew Calabro, of Kearny; Dennis McCort, Michael Menditto, and John Reilly, of Hoboken..."</ref> He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages from St. Peter's College in 1963, followed by a Master of Arts (1964) and Ph.D. (1970) in German Language and Literature from Johns Hopkins University.<ref>{{Cite web |title=McCort specializes in German Romanticism, 19th-century fiction |url=https://artsandsciences.syracuse.edu/people/faculty/mccort-dennis/ |access-date=July 27, 2025 |website=College of Arts & Sciences at Syracuse University |language=en-us}}</ref>
== Academic career == McCort joined the faculty of Syracuse University in 1968 as an assistant professor of German.<ref name="syracuse2"/> He became associate professor in 1979 and was later promoted to full professor in 2001.<ref name="syracuse"/> He held administrative roles, including program coordinator and associate chair within the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics. He retired from teaching in 2007.<ref name="syracuse2"/>
His academic work focused on 19th-century German literature, especially Romanticism, as well as the literary and philosophical traditions of Franz Kafka.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCort |first=Dennis |date=1991 |title=Kafka Koans |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40059462 |journal=Religion & Literature |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=51–74 |jstor=40059462 |issn=0888-3769}}</ref> He also explored intersections between German literature and Eastern thought, particularly Zen Buddhism, a theme developed in his book ''Going Beyond the Pairs: The Coincidence of Opposites in German Romanticism, Zen, and Deconstruction'' (2001).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Belgardt |first=Raimund |date=2003 |title=Review of Going beyond the Pairs: The Coincidence of Opposites in German Romanticism, Zen, and Deconstruction |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30161701 |journal=Monatshefte |volume=95 |issue=3 |pages=512–514 |doi=10.3368/m.XCV.3.512 |jstor=30161701 |issn=0026-9271}}</ref>
== Research and writing == McCort's scholarship bridges literary analysis, religious studies, and east–west comparative philosophy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hanlin |first=Todd C. |date=2012 |title=Review of In the Lions' Den and The Panther |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24048639 |journal=Journal of Austrian Studies |volume=45 |issue=3/4 |pages=199–201 |jstor=24048639 |issn=2165-669X}}</ref> His research topics have included the Zen-like qualities of Kafka's fiction, the influence of Rainer Maria Rilke and Zen on J.D. Salinger,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Buntz |first=Sam |date=July 16, 2021 |title=Salinger: An Introduction |url=https://www.athwart.org/salinger-an-introduction/ |access-date=July 26, 2025 |website=Athwart |language=en}}</ref> and the representation of madness in the works of E. T. A. Hoffmann.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 12, 2022 |title=Dennis McCort {{!}} BookTrib. |url=https://booktrib.com/book_author/dennis-mccort/ |access-date=July 27, 2025 |language=en-US}}</ref>
He is the author of several novels, including ''The Man Who Loved Doughnuts'' (2015), a comic narrative about academic life; ''Duncan'' (2019), described by the author as a "thinking man’s thriller"; and ''The Golden Pot'' (2022), a modern-day fairy tale.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dennis McCort - PalmArtPress |url=https://www.palmartpress.com/i/dennis-mccort |access-date=July 26, 2025 |website=www.palmartpress.com}}</ref>
In 2017, he published ''A Kafkaesque Memoir: Confessions from the Analytic Couch'', a personal reflection on the influence of Kafka on his life and his experiences during a nine-year Jungian psychoanalysis.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gardner |first=Fionna |date=February 22, 2019 |title=Reflections on 'A Kafkaesque Memoir' (4) |url=https://fionagardner.co.uk/2019/02/ |access-date=July 26, 2025 |language=en-US}}</ref>
His translation of Georg Trakl’s poem ''Verfall'' (Decay), retitled ''Rot'', reflects his broader interest in German lyric poetry and its philosophical resonances.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dennis McCort Translates VERFALL by Georg Trakl {{!}} The Adirondack Review |url=https://www.theadirondackreview.com/mccort |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250321211531/https://www.theadirondackreview.com/mccort |archive-date=March 21, 2025 |access-date=July 26, 2025 |website=theadirondackreview.com}}</ref>
== Selected publications ==
=== Books ===
*{{Cite book |last=McCort |first=Dennis |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62168034-the-golden-pot-a-fairytale-for-our-time |title=The Golden Pot: A Fairy Tale for Our Time. |date=September 1, 2022 |publisher=Palm Art Press |isbn=978-3962581091 |pages=300}} * {{Cite book |last=McCort |first=Dennis |title=Duncan |date=February 26, 2019 |publisher=Gatekeeper Press |isbn=978-1642373714 |pages=430}} *{{Citation |last=McCort |first=Dennis |title=The Man Who Loved Doughnuts |date=December 26, 2015 |pages=3–22 |url=https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Loved-Doughnuts-ebook/dp/B019VM2I0C |access-date=July 25, 2025 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |asin=B019VM2I0C}} * {{Cite book |last=McCort |first=Dennis |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40615196-a-kafkaesque-memoir |title=A Kafkaesque Memoir: Confessions from the Analytical Coach |date=November 29, 2017 |publisher=Palm Art Press |isbn=9783941524996 |pages=447}} * {{Cite book |last=McCort |first=Dennis |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.18254966 |title=Going beyond the Pairs |date=June 21, 2001 |publisher=State University of New York Press |doi=10.2307/jj.18254966 |isbn=978-0-7914-9041-9}} * {{Cite book |last=McCort |first=Dennis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bQVK3-ACL6wC |title=States of Unconsciousness in Three Tales by C.F. Meyer |date=January 1, 1988 |publisher=Bucknell University Press |isbn=9780838751305 |pages=135}} *{{Cite book |last=McCort |first=Dennis |title=Perspectives on music in German fiction: The music-fiction of Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl |date=1974 |publisher=Herbert Lang |isbn=978-3-261-00853-4 |series=German studies in America |location=Bern, Frankfurt/M}}
=== Translated books ===
*{{Cite book |last1=Kretschmer |first1=Sibylle |title=The king's love: Frederick the Great, his gentle dogs and other passions |last2=Friedrich Wilhelm |date=2020 |publisher=Palm art Press |isbn=978-3-96258-047-6 |location=Berlin |translator-last=McCort |translator-first=Dennis}} *{{Cite book |last=Schröder |first=Wolf Christian |url=https://www.palmartpress.com/en/p/fuenf-minuten-vor-erschaffung-der-welt |title=Fünf Minuten vor Erschaffung der Welt |date=2022 |publisher=PalmArtPress |isbn=978-3-96258-113-8 |location=Berlin |translator-last=McCort |translator-first=Dennis |trans-title=Five Minutes before the World Was Made}} * {{Cite book |last=Knodt |first=Reinhard |url=https://www.palmartpress.com/en/p/pain-schmerz |title=Schmerz – Philosophisch-Poetische Miniaturen |date=March 2020 |publisher=Palm Art Press |isbn=978-3-96258-052-0 |pages=200 |translator-last=McCort |translator-first=Dennis |trans-title=Pain / Schmerz – Poetical Philosophical Miniatures}} *{{Cite book |last1=Merkel |first1=Inge |title=Off the tracks |last2=McCort |first2=Dennis |last3=Schneider |first3=Gerd K. |date=2016 |publisher=Ariadne Press |isbn=978-1-57241-201-9 |series=Studies in Austrian literature, culture, and thought translation series |location=Riverside, California}} *{{Cite book |last1=Traska |first1=Georg |title=Hermann Leopoldi: the life of a Viennese piano humorist |last2=Lind |first2=Christoph |last3=McCort |first3=Dennis |date=2013 |publisher=Ariadne Press |isbn=978-1-57241-185-2 |series=Studies in Austrian literature, culture and thought. Biography series |location=Riverside, Calif}} *{{Cite book |last=Schneider |first=Gerd K. |title=Things Could've Been a Lot Worse: The Experiences of a German-American Bellybutton Jew of Berlin Origins |date=June 15, 2016 |publisher=Hadassa Word Press |isbn=978-3639794816 |pages=256 |translator-last=McCort |translator-first=Dennis}} * {{Cite book |last1=Mitterer |first1=Felix |title=In the lions' den, and The panther |last2=Martin |first2=Victoria |last3=Lyons |first3=Mike |last4=Drysdale |first4=Patrick |last5=McCord |first5=Dennis |date=2011 |publisher=Ariadne Press |isbn=978-1-57241-180-7 |series=Studies in Austrian literature, culture and thought. Translation series |location=Riverside, Calif}}
=== Edited journal issue ===
* {{Cite journal |last=Mccort |first=Dennis |date=2002 |title=Kafka and the East Introduction |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00397700209598541 |journal=Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures |language=en |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=187–189 |doi=10.1080/00397700209598541 |issn=0039-7709|url-access=subscription }}
=== Selected journal articles and chapters ===
*{{Cite book |last1=Mitterer |first1=Felix |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQr_tgAACAAJ |title=In the lions' den, and The panther |last2=Martin |first2=Victoria |last3=Lyons |first3=Mike |last4=Drysdale |first4=Patrick |last5=McCord |first5=Dennis |date=2011 |publisher=Ariadne Press |isbn=978-1-57241-180-7 |series=Studies in Austrian literature, culture and thought. Translation series |location=Riverside, Calif}} * {{Cite journal |last=McCort |first=Dennis |date=2005 |title=Jena Romanticism and Zen |url=https://doi.org/10.1353/dis.2006.0008 |journal=Discourse |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=98–118 |doi=10.1353/dis.2006.0008 |issn=1536-1810|url-access=subscription }} *{{Cite journal |last=Mccort |first=Dennis |date=2002 |title=Kafka and the East: the Case for Spiritual Affinity |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00397700209598543 |journal=Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=199–212 |doi=10.1080/00397700209598543 |issn=0039-7709|url-access=subscription }} *{{Cite journal |last=Cort |first=Dennis Mc |date=1978 |title=Historical consciousness versus action in C. F. Meyer's Das Amulett |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00397709.1978.10733372 |journal=Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=114–132 |doi=10.1080/00397709.1978.10733372 |issn=0039-7709|url-access=subscription }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCort, Dennis}} Category:21st-century American novelists Category:21st-century American translators Category:German–English translators Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:People from Hoboken, New Jersey Category:Writers from Hoboken, New Jersey Category:Saint Peter's University alumni Category:St. Peter's Preparatory School alumni Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni Category:Syracuse University alumni Category:20th-century American translators Category:20th-century American novelists