Robert Bechtold Heilman (July 18, 1906 – August 5, 2004) was an American educator and writer.

Life in academia

Heilman attended Lafayette College and later received his Ph.D. in English from Harvard University in 1935. Soon after, he began teaching at Louisiana State University (LSU). His entry into LSU occurred shortly after the rise of the Fugitive poets. While he was at LSU, many of his colleagues were influenced by the school of New Criticism. In 1948 Heilman joined the University of Washington faculty, as chair of the English department, which he led until his retirement in 1971.

"The Southern Temper"

One example of Heilman's writing is his essay "The Southern Temper", in the collection Southern Renascence: The Literature of the Modern South (1953). In this piece, Heilman argues that there are five components to Southern writing, and that Southern writing should be valued for its ability to mix these components into a balanced canon:

Books

Robert B. Heilman Prize

Heilman contributed for 60 years to the Sewanee Review, and was an advisory editor for nearly 30 years. The editor from 1973 to 2016, George Core, wrote of him: "The greatness of Bob Heilman was demonstrated many times as he discharged his many offices – teacher, administrator, scholar, critic, editor, essayist, citizen in the body politic – with vast accomplishment and unfailing panache." Beginning in 1994, the Sewanee Review has awarded an annual prize in Heilman's name for the most accomplished book reviewing in the magazine in the calendar year. Recipients of the Robert B. Heilman Prize have been: