[5][4] Even after moving primarily to literature, he continued to write and publish anthropological work on the Highland Maya and on the sociology of Buddhist institutions, as E. Michael Mendelson.
In 1970, with a principal interest in the American literary scene, he immigrated to the United States as Visiting Professor of Romance Languages, Princeton University, and eventually became a citizen.
As poet, literary and cultural critic (Views from the Weaving Mountain, University of New Mexico Press, 1991, and The Embattled Lyric, Stanford University Press, 2007), translator (he was the first to render Victor Segalen's "Stèles" into English, continued work on Neruda, Latin American and French poets) and editor (with many magazines), Tarn published some thirty books and booklets in his various disciplines.
In 1985, he took early retirement as Professor Emeritus of Poetry, Comparative Literature & Anthropology from Rutgers University and lived near Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His interests ranged from bird watching, gardening, classical music, opera and ballet, and much varied collecting, to aviation and world history.