David Kalstone (1933 – June 14, 1986), was an American writer and literary critic.[1]
Kalstone, born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, was the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship and studied at the University of Cambridge. He taught at Harvard University starting in 1959 and was a professor of English at Rutgers University from 1967 until his death. He was a closeted homosexual.[2]
He lectured on and wrote about 20th century poets including Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell. His friends included the poet James Merrill [3] and the writer Edmund White,[4] who is said to have portrayed Kalstone as the character Joshua in the novel The Farewell Symphony.[5]