Born in Vienna in 1929 of a Hungarian mother and Austrian father, Tom Bishop spent a year and a half in France at the beginning of the Second World War, and then moved to the United States with his parents in 1940. He has been a Professor of French and Comparative Literature at New York University since 1956. From 1970 to 2003, he chaired NYU's Department of French and he still chairs its Center for French Civilization and Culture. He has written widely on contemporary French literature and theater, focusing on such major figures as Samuel Beckett, whom he had befriended.
The passionate and enthralling testimonial of an "ocean spanner" (Le Passeur d'océan: carnets d'un ami américain, published by Payot in 1989), bridging two cultures on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
