Claude Fredericks was born in Springfield, MO in 1923 and grew up with dreams of heading to New York City and beyond. He was always interested in reading, plays, journaling, and symphony concerts. In his youth he frequently traveled to Europe, the Caribbean, and Mexico.
At 17, Fredericks started college at Harvard in 1941. Although he matured through his studies during his time at Harvard, he dropped out after a year and a half, admitting his time there was spent primarily writing poems and in his journal, and attending concerts. After Harvard he moved to New York, developing his own press called the Banyan Press, in a butcher’s basement in 1947. He printed several mainly unpublished works by famous authors including but not limited to Richard Eberhart, James Merrill, Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens and Charles Simic.
Fredericks describes his meeting of Merrill at a party as though he had heard a voice “that was the first instrument of bewitching.” Merrill too, had felt that he had just met the love of his life, but also found it hard to love another writer. He started to slowly develop a somewhat competitive outlook. Still, Merrill showed his commitment to Fredericks by giving him his mother’s gold signet ring (the ring was engraved "J.I.M. from H.I.M. 3-3-1947"), in the winter of 1950.
After they became lovers, they traveled around Europe, writing and coping with their anxiety about a potential WWIII, as the escalating Cold War spread tension across the continent. They escaped to an island retreat, which at first glance seemed like the goal of their creative lives, but before long Merrill began to feel isolated. He moved to Rome seeking health treatment, and Fredericks, wary about the treatment, followed Merrill to Rome. Ultimately they grew apart in Rome, and Fredericks fell in love with another man. However, Fredericks and Merrill remained close friends for the rest of their lives.
Claude Fredericks wrote several successfully produced off-Broadway plays, including The Idiot King (1954), On Circe’s Island (1961), and A Summer Ghost (1965). In 1961 Fredericks started teaching Greek, Italian, and Japanese literature at Bennington College. One of Fredericks' greatest works is The Journal of Claude Fredericks written from the time he was eight years old to his death on January 11, 2013 in Pawlet, Vermont. The Claude Fredericks archive is located at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.
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