Paul Antony Tanner (18 March 1935 – 5 December 1998) was a British literary critic of the mid-20th century, and a pioneering figure in the study of American literature.
He attended Raynes Park County Grammar School and, after National Service, matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he read English.
From then on, Tanner took an active role in promoting the inclusion of American literature in the English syllabus, lecturing, examining and advising widely on his chosen field.
However, Tanner was able to make a recovery after a period of psychoanalysis and the support of his second wife, Nadia Fusini, and went on to return to the canonical writers Henry James and Jane Austen, on whom he published in 1985 and 1986 respectively.
[6] A collection of twelve essays on writers including Herman Melville, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Don Delillo, and Thomas Pynchon entitled The American Mystery was published posthumously in 2000.