Bodenheim, Maxwell [key], 1893–1954, American novelist and poet, b. Hermanville, Miss. His poetry, which incorporates many techniques of the imagists, is cynical and often dwells on the grotesque. Important volumes of his verse are Minna and Myself (1918), Against This Age (1925), and Selected Poems 1914–1944 (1946). Bodenheim's novels, although savagely realistic and often brutal, contain great energy, humor, and an occasional streak of evangelism. They include Blackguard (1923), Replenishing Jessica (1925), and Georgia Man (1927). For many years a fixture of the bohemian scene in New York City's Greenwich Village, Bodenheim slipped into alcoholism and poverty in the 1940s. In Feb., 1954, he and his third wife were found murdered in a furnished room belonging to Harold Weinburg, who confessed to killing them and was found insane.
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