novelist, biographer, scholar, and teacher; b. May 17, 1908 in Sauk City, Wisconsin; As the second of four children, Schorer was educated in Sauk City public schools until 1925 when he came to the University of Wisconsin. While studying under Helen C. White, Schorer began writing stories. After earning his Ph.D. in English in 1936, he held positions at Dartmouth and Harvard. Schorer published his first novel, A House Too Old, in 1935. He joined the University of California-Berkeley as Associate Professor English in 1945, already a widely known author of two novels and short stories, essays, and reviews in journals and magazines. Later, Schorer returned to Wisconsin and was a part-time English instructor; it was then that he began to publish stories in smaller thriving magazines and work alongside his childhood friend, August Derleth, publishing articles in pulp magazines. He and Derleth collaborated on Colonel Markesan and Less Pleasant People (1966).  His other works include William Blake: The Politics of Vision (1946), Technique as Discovery (1948), Wars of Love (1954), Sinclair Lewis: An Americna Life (1961), The World We Imagine (1968), and Pieces of Life (1977). In 1952 he was a Fulbright fellow in Italy and again in 1964 and 1967. He was the recipient of Guggenheim Memorial Fellowships for times in 1941, 1942, 1948 and 1973. In 1961 he won the Commonwealth Club Gold Medal Award; a D.Litt. from the University of Wisconsin in 1962, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; admission to the Institute of Arts and Letters. He received the Distinguished Service Citation from the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in 1969. From 1962 to 1966 he served on the executive council of the Modern Language Association and on the board of directors of the American Council of Learned Societies from 1970 to 1972. He died on August 11, 1977.

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[Source: "Notable Wisconsin Authors," Wisconsin Library Association (http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/lac/notable/index.htm); University of Wisconsin Alumni Association]