Emile Capouya, 80; Published Works by Joyce, Pound and Sartre

Emile Capouya, 80, who published literary giants such as Ezra Pound and James Joyce and later published his own collection of stories recounting his experiences as a young officer in the merchant marine, died Oct. 13 at his home in East Meredith, N.Y., his family said.

Besides Pound and Joyce, Capouya published works by Tennessee Williams and Jean-Paul Sartre while at New Directions in New York, where he began his career. He then worked as literary editor for the Nation from 1969 to 1981 and also published articles and reviews for the New American Review, the New York Times and the Saturday Review.

In 1986, he and his wife, Keitha, founded New Amsterdam Books, a publisher of literary fiction.

“In the Sparrow Hills,” Capouya’s collection of semi-autobiographical stories recounting his time in the merchant marine in the Pacific during World War II, was published in 1993 by Algonquin Books.

He also published a novella, “The Rising of the Moon,” in 2003.

Born in Manhattan in 1925, Capouya grew up in the Bronx. He joined the merchant marine after graduation and then returned home after World War II to attend Columbia University.