NEW YORK -- Frederick Karl, a writer and biographer who analyzed the lives of such literary icons as Joseph Conrad, William Faulkner, and Franz Kafka, died May 2 in Manhattan of kidney disease. He was 77.
When he was a doctoral candidate in English at Columbia University in the 1950s, Mr. Karl became deeply interested in the life and work of Conrad. While still a student, he negotiated publication rights with the Conrad estate and later co-edited Conrad's correspondence with Laurence Davies.
Mr. Karl's first book, "A Reader's Guide to Great 20th-Century Novels" (1959), covered Conrad's work as well as the writings of D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster, and Virginia Woolf.
He then wrote guides on Conrad's work, that of C.P. Snow, and the British novel in the 18th and 19th centuries before publishing the biography "Joseph Conrad: The Three Lives" (1979).
Among his numerous other writings were "American Fictions: 1940-1980: A Comprehensive History and Critical Evaluation" (1984) and biographies of Faulkner and Kafka.
Mr. Karl taught at City College of New York from 1957 to 1982 and was a professor emeritus both there and at New York University.
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