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ОглавлениеWhat I had from the outset been somewhat doubtfully hankering for was some way of getting contrapuntal effects in poetry—the effects of contrasting and conflicting tones and themes, a kind of underlying simultaneity in dissimilarity. It seemed to me that by using a large medium, dividing it into several main parts, and subdividing these parts into short movements in various veins and forms, this was rendered possible. I do not wish to press the musical analogies too closely. I am aware that the word symphony, as a musical term, has a very definite meaning, and I am aware that it is only with considerable license that I use the term for such poems as Senlin or Forslin, which have three and five parts respectively, and do not in any orthodox way develop their themes. But the effect obtained is, very roughly speaking, that of the symphony, or symphonic poem. Granted that one has chosen a theme—or been chosen by a theme!—which will permit rapid changes of tone, which will not insist on a tone too static, it will be seen that there is no limit to the variety of effects obtainable: for not only can one use all the simpler poetic tones … ; but, since one is using them as parts of a larger design, one can also obtain novel effects by placing them in juxtaposition as consecutive movements. …
All this, I must emphasize, is no less a matter of emotional tone than of form; the two things cannot well be separated. For such symphonic effects one employs what one might term emotion-mass with just as deliberate a regard for its position in the total design as one would employ a variation of form. One should regard this or that emotional theme as a musical unit having such-and-such a tone quality, and use it only when that particular tone-quality is wanted. Here I flatly give myself away as being in reality in quest of a sort of absolute poetry, a poetry in which the intention is not so much to arouse an emotion merely, or to persuade of a reality, as to employ such emotion or sense of reality (tangentially struck) with the same cool detachment with which a composer employs notes or chords. Not content to present emotions or things or sensations for their own sakes—as is the case with most poetry—this method takes only the most delicately evocative aspects of them, makes of them a keyboard, and plays upon them a music of which the chief characteristic is its elusiveness, its fleetingness, and its richness in the shimmering overtones of hint and suggestion. Such a poetry, in other words, will not so much present an idea as use its resonance.
2. An interesting comparison may be made between the work of Mr. Aiken, and that of Mr. T. S. Eliot (q. v.), of whom he is an admirer. See also Sidney Lanier’s latest poems.
3. Another interesting study is the influence of Freud upon the poetry of Mr. Aiken.
Bibliography
Earth Triumphant and Other Tales. 1914.
Turns and Movies. 1916.
The Jig of Forslin. 1916.
Nocturne of Remembered Spring. 1917.
The Charnel Rose; Senlin: a Biography, and other Poems. 1918.
Scepticisms: Notes on Contemporary Poetry. 1919.
The House of Dust. 1920.
Punch, the Immortal Liar. 1921.
Studies and Reviews
Untermeyer.
Ath. 1919, 2: 798, 840; 1920, 1: 10.
Bookm. 47 (’18): 269; 51 (’20): 194.
Chapbook, 1–2, May, 1920: 26.
Dial, 64 (’18): 291 (J. G. Fletcher); 66 (’19): 558 (J. G. Fletcher); 68 (’20): 491; 70 (’21): 343, 700.
Egoist, 5 (’18): 60.
Nation, 111 (’20): 509.
Poetry, 9 (’16): 99; 10 (’17): 162; 13 (’18): 102; 14 (’19): 152; 15 (’20): 283; 17 (’21): 220.
See also Book Review Digest, 1919, 1920.
“Henry G. Aikman” (Harold H. Armstrong)—novelist. Born in 1879. His books dealing with the psychology of the young man have attracted attention.
Bibliography
The Groper. 1919.
Zell. 1921.
For reviews, see Book Review Digest, 1919, 1921.
Zoë Akins (Missouri, 1886)—dramatist.
Attracted attention by her Papa, 1913, produced, 1919. Followed up this success by Déclassée, also produced 1919 (quoted with illustrations in Current Opinion, 68 [’20]: 187); and Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting, produced 1921.
For complete bibliography, see Who’s Who in America.
Mrs. Richard Aldington (Hilda Doolittle, “H. D.”)—poet.
Born at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1886. Studied at Bryn Mawr, 1904–5, but ill health compelled her to give up college work. In 1911, she went abroad and remained there. In 1913, she married Richard Aldington, the English poet (cf. Manly and Rickert, Contemporary British Poetry).
“H. D.’s” work is commonly regarded as the most perfect embodiment of the Imagist theory.
Bibliography
Sea Garden. 1916.
Hymen. 1921.
Also in: Des Imagistes. 1914.
Some Imagist Poets. 1915, 1916.
The Egoist. (Passim.)
Studies and Reviews
Lowell.
Untermeyer.
Bookm. (Lond.) 51 (’17): 132.
Chapbook, 2 (’20): No. 9, p. 22. (Flint.)
Dial, 72 (’22): 203. (May Sinclair.)
Egoist, 2 (’15): 72 (Flint); 88 (May Sinclair).
Little Review, 5 (’18): Dec., p. 14. (Pound.)
Lond. Times, Oct. 5, 1916: 479.
Poetry, 20 (’20): 333.
Poetry Journal, 7 (’17): 171.
James Lane Allen—novelist.
Born near Lexington, Kentucky, 1849, of Scotch-Irish Revolutionary ancestry. A. B., A. M., Transylvania University; and honorary higher degrees. Taught in various schools and colleges. Since 1886 has given his time entirely to writing. Nature lover. Describes the Kentucky life that he knows.
Bibliography
Flute and Violin and Other Kentucky Tales and Romances. 1891.
The Blue Grass Region of Kentucky and Other Kentucky Articles. 1892.
John Gray—a Novel. 1893.
*A Kentucky Cardinal. 1895.
Aftermath. 1896.
A Summer in Arcady. 1896.
The Choir Invisible. 1897. (Novel; play, 1899.)
Two Gentlemen of Kentucky. 1899.
The Reign of Law. A Tale of the Kentucky Hemp Fields. 1900.
*The Mettle of the Pasture. 1903.
The Bride of the Mistletoe. 1909.
The Doctor’s Christmas Eve. 1910.
The Heroine in Bronze, or A Portrait of a Girl. 1912.
The Last Christmas Tree. 1914.
The Sword of Youth. 1915.
A Cathedral Singer. 1916.
The Kentucky Warbler. 1918.
The Emblems of Fidelity. 1919.
Studies and Reviews
Harkins.
Pattee.
Toulmin.
Acad. 59 (’00): 35; 76 (’09): 800; 88 (’15): 234.
Bk. Buyer, 20 (’00): 350, 374.
Bookm. 32 (’10–11): 360, 640.
Cur. Lit. 29 (’00): 147; 35 (’03): 129 (portrait).
Lamp, 27 (’03): 117, 119 (portrait).
Mentor, 6 (’18): 2 (portrait).
Outlook, 96 (’10): 811.
Sherwood Anderson—short-story writer, novelist.
Born at Camden, Ohio, 1876. Of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Father a journeyman harness-maker. Public school education. At the age of sixteen or seventeen came to Chicago and worked four or five years as a laborer. Soldier in the Spanish-American War. Later, in the advertising business.
In 1921, received the prize of $2,000 offered by The Dial to further the work of the American author considered to be most promising.
Suggestions for Reading
1. The autobiographical element in Mr. Anderson’s work is marked and should never be forgotten in judging his work. The conventional element is easily discoverable as patched on, particularly in the long books.
2. To realize the qualities that make some critics regard Mr. Anderson as perhaps our most promising novelist, examples should be noted of the following qualities which he possesses to a striking degree: (1) independence of literary traditions and methods; (2) a keen eye for details; (3) a passionate desire to interpret life; (4) a strong sense of the value of individual lives of little seeming importance.
3. Are Mr. Anderson’s defects due to the limitations of his experience, or do you notice certain temperamental defects which he is not likely to outgrow?
4. Mr. Anderson’s experiments in form are interesting to study. Compare the prosiness of his verse with his efforts to use poetic cadence in The Triumph of the Egg. Does it suggest to you the possibility of developing a form intermediate between prose and free verse?
5. Does Mr. Anderson succeed best as novelist or as short-story writer? Why?
Bibliography
Windy McPherson’s Son. 1916. (Novel.)
Marching Men. 1917. (Novel.)
Mid-American Chants. 1918. (Poems.)
Winesburg, Ohio. 1919.
Poor White. 1920. (Novel.)
The Triumph of the Egg. 1921.
Studies and Reviews
Bookm. 45 (’17): 302 (portrait), 307.
Dial, 72 (’22): 29, 79.
Freeman, 2 (’21) 1403; 4 (’21): 281.
New Repub. 9 (’17): 333; 24 (’20): 330; 28 (’21): 383.
New Statesman, 8 (’17): 330.
Poetry, 12 (’18): 155.
See also Book Review Digest, 1919, 1920, 1921.
Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews—(Mrs. William Shankland Andrews)—short-story writer, novelist.
Bibliography
*The Perfect Tribute. 1906.
The Militants. 1907.
*The Lifted Bandage. 1910.
The Counsel Assigned. 1912.
The Marshal. 1912.
The Three Things. 1915.
Joy in the Morning. 1919.
His Soul Goes Marching On. 1922.
Studies and Reviews
Bookm. 27 (’08): 155.
Nation, 85 (’07): 58.
See also Book Review Digest, 1912, 1915, 1919.
Mary Antin (Mrs. Amadeus W. Grabau)—writer.
Born at Polotzk, Russia, 1881. Came to America in 1894. Educated in American schools. Studied at Teachers’ College, Columbia, 1901–2, and at Barnard College, 1902–4.
Her second book attracted attention for its fresh and sympathetic treatment of the experiences of immigrants coming to this country.
Bibliography
From Polotzk to Boston. 1899.
*The Promised Land. 1912.
They Who Knock at Our Gates. 1914.
Studies and Reviews
Acad. 83 (’12): 637.
Am. M. 77 (’14): Mar., p. 64 (portrait).
Bookm. 35 (’12): 584.
J. Educ. 81 (’15): 91.
Lond. Times, Oct. 10, 1912: 420.
Outlook, 104 (’13): 473 (portrait).
Walter Conrad Arensberg—poet.
Illustrates in his Poems, 1914, and Idols, 1916, conversion from the old forms of verse to the new. Cf. also Others, 1916.
For studies, cf. Untermeyer; also Dial, 69 (’20): 61 Poetry, 8 (’16): 208.
Gertrude Franklin Atherton (Mrs. George H. Bowen Atherton)—novelist.
Born at San Francisco, 1859. Great-grandniece of Benjamin Franklin. Educated in private schools. Has lived much abroad.
Mrs. Atherton’s work is very uneven, but is interesting as reflecting different aspects of social and political life in this country.
Bibliography
The Doomswoman. 1892.
Patience Sparhawk and Her Times. 1897.
*American Wives and English Husbands. 1898. (Revised edition, 1919; under the title Transplanted.)
The Californians. 1898.
*Senator North. 1900.
The Aristocrats. 1901.
*The Conqueror. 1902.
The Splendid Idle Forties. 1902.
Rezanov. 1906.
*Ancestors. 1907.
Perch of the Devil. 1914.
California—an Intimate History. 1914.
The White Morning. 1918.
Sisters-in-law. 1921.
Sleeping Fires. 1922.
Studies and Reviews
Cooper.
Courtney, W. L. The Feminine Note in Fiction. 1904.
Halsey. (Women.)
Harkins. (Women.)
Underwood.
Bookm. 12 (’01): 541, 542 (portrait); 30 (’09): 356.
Forum, 58 (’17): 585.
Mary Hunter Austin (Mrs. Stafford W. Austin)—novelist, dramatist.
Born at Carlinville, Illinois, 1868. At the age of nineteen went to live in California. B. S., Blackburn University, 1888. Lived on the edge of the Mohave Desert where she is said to have worked like an Indian woman, housekeeping and gardening. Studied the desert, its form, its weather, its lights, its plants. Also studied Indian lore extensively, contributing the chapter on Aboriginal Literature to the Cambridge History of American Literature (IV [Later National Literature, III], 610ff.).
Bibliography
The Land of Little Rain. 1903.
*The Basket Woman: Fanciful Tales for Children. 1904.
Isidro. 1905.
The Flock. 1906.
Santa Lucia. 1908.
Lost Borders. 1909.
*The Arrow Maker. 1911. (Play.) (Also in Drama, 1915.)
*A Woman of Genius. 1912.
The Green Bough. 1913.
The Lovely Lady. 1913.
Love and the Soul-Maker. 1914.
The Man Jesus. 1915.
The Ford. 1917.
Outland. 1919. (Originally published under the pseudonym, “Gordon Stairs,” London, 1910.)
No. 26 Jayne Street. 1920.
Studies and Reviews
Overton.
Am. M. 72 (’11): 178 (portrait).
Bookm. 35 (’12): 586 (portrait).
Cur. Lit. 53 (’12): 698 (portrait.)
Freeman, 1 (’20): 311.
New Repub. 24 (’20): 151.
R. of Rs. 47 (’13): 241 (portrait).
Review, 3 (’20): 73.
Sunset, 43 (’19): 49 (portrait).
Irving (Addison) Bacheller (New York, 1859)—novelist.
His outstanding books are:
Eben Holden. 1900.
A Man for the Ages. 1919. (Lincoln, the hero.)
For bibliography, see Who’s Who in America.
Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon (Mrs. Selden Bacon)—novelist.
Born at Stamford, Connecticut, 1876. A. B., Smith College, 1898.
Mrs. Bacon has made a special study of child life.
Bibliography
Smith College Stories. 1900.
The Imp and the Angel. 1901.
Fables for the Fair. 1901.
The Madness of Philip. 1902.
Middle Aged Love Stories. 1903.
*Memoirs of a Baby. 1904.
The Domestic Adventurers. 1907.
*Biography of a Boy. 1910.
While Caroline Was Growing. 1911.
Margarita’s Soul. 1909. (Under the pseudonym “Ingraham Lovell.”)
Open Market. 1915.
When Binks Came. 1920.
Studies and Reviews
Am. M. 69 (’10): 765, 766 (portrait).
Bk. Buyer, 20 (’00): 191 (portrait).
Bookm. 27 (’08): 159.
Critic, 40 (’02): 332 (portrait), 335.
Outlook, 78 (’04): 288 (portrait).
Ray Stannard Baker (“David Grayson”)—man of letters.
Born at Lansing, Michigan, 1870. B. S., Michigan Agricultural College, 1889. Studied law and literature at University of Michigan; LL. D., 1917. On the Chicago Record, 1892–7. Managing editor of McClure’s Syndicate, 1897–8, and associate editor of McClure’s Magazine, 1899–1905. On the American Magazine, 1906–15. Director of Press Bureau of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace at Paris, 1919.
His studies of country life under the pseudonym “David Grayson” are widely popular.
Bibliography
Adventures in Contentment. 1907.
Adventures in Friendship. 1910.
The Friendly Road. 1913.
Hempfield. 1915.
Great Possessions. 1917.
Studies and Reviews
Acad. 86 (’14): 137.
Am. M. 78 (’14)138.
Bookm. 43 (’16): 1 (portrait), 394.
Bookm. (Lond.) 39 (’11): 290; 47 (’14): 107.
McClure’s, 24 (’04): 108, 110 (portrait).
John Kendrick Bangs (New York, 1862–1922)—humorist.
Published some sixty volumes of prose sketches, verses, stories, and plays, most of which belong to the nineteenth century. Characteristic volumes are:
Coffee and Repartee. 1893.
A House Boat on the Styx. 1895.
The Bycyclers and Other Farces. 1896.
A Rebellious Heroine. 1896.
Alice in Blunderland. 1907.
Autobiography of Methuselah. 1909.
The Foothills of Parnassus. 1914.
For complete bibliography, cf. Who’s Who in America.
Studies and Reviews
Halsey.
Harkins.
Bk. Buyer, 20 (’00): 183 (portrait), 208.
Bookm. 15 (’02): 412 (portrait).
Critic, 42 (’03): 105 (portrait).
Harp. W. 46 (’02): 891; 51 (’07): 23, 28. (Portraits.)
Rex Ellingwood Beach (Michigan, 1877)—novelist.
Writer of novels of adventure, mainly about Alaska. For bibliography, see Who’s Who in America.
(Charles) William Beebe—Nature writer.
Born at Brooklyn, 1877. B. S., Columbia, 1898; post-graduate work, 1898–9. Honorary Curator of Ornithology, New York Zoölogical Society since 1899; director of the British Guiana Zoölogical Station. Has traveled extensively in Asia, South America, and Mexico, especially, for purposes of observation.
Suggestions for Reading
1. Although Mr. Beebe is preëminently an ornithologist, he belongs to literature by reason of the volumes of nature studies listed below. A comparison of his books with those of the English ornithologist, W. H. Hudson (cf. Manly and Rickert, Contemporary British Literature) is illuminative of the merits of both.
2. Another interesting comparison may be made between Mr. Beebe’s descriptions of the jungle in Jungle Peace and H. M. Tomlinson’s in Sea and Jungle (cf. Manly and Rickert, op. cit.).
3. An analysis of the use of suggestion in appeal to the different senses brings out one of the main sources of Mr. Beebe’s charm as a writer.
4. Read aloud several fine passages to observe the prose rhythms.
Bibliography
Two Bird Lovers in Mexico. 1905.
The Log of the Sun. 1906.
Our Search for a Wilderness. 1910. (With Mrs. Beebe.)
Tropical Wild Life in British Guiana. 1917.
*Jungle Peace. 1918.
Edge of the Jungle. 1921.
Studies and Reviews
Nation, 106 (’18): 213.
Science, n. s. 50 (’19): 473.
Spec. 95 (’05): 1128.
Travel, 38 (’21): 17 (portrait).
See also Book Review Digest, 1918, 1921.
David Belasco—dramatist.
Born at San Francisco, 1859. Stage manager of various theatres and producer of many plays. Owner and manager of Belasco Theatre, New York City.
His most successful recent play, The Return of Peter Grimm (1911), is printed by Baker, Modern American Plays, 1920, and by Moses, Representative Plays by American Dramatists, 1918–21, III. For bibliography of unpublished plays, cf. Cambridge, III (IV), 763.
Studies and Reviews
Eaton, W. P. Plays and Players. 1916.
Moses.
Winter, William. Life of David Belasco. 1918.
Acad. 83 (’12): 673.
Nation, 100 (’10): 525.
New Repub. 8 (’16): 155.
Theatre Arts M. 5 (’21): 259=Outlook, 127 (’21): 418 (portrait).
Stephen Vincent Benét—poet, novelist.
Born at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1898; brother of William Rose Benét (q. v.) Graduate of Yale, 1919.
Mr. Benét’s work at once attracted attention by its qualities of exuberance and fancy. In 1921, he shared with Carl Sandburg (q. v.) the prize of the Poetry Society of America.
Bibliography
Five Men and Pompey. 1915.
The Drug Shop. 1917.
Young Adventure. 1918.
Heavens and Earth. 1920.
The Beginning of Wisdom. 1921. (Novel.)
Studies and Reviews
Bookm. 47 (’18): 558 (Phelps); 54 (’21): 394.
Dial, 71 (’21): 597.
Poetry, 16 (’20): 53; 20 (’22): 340.
See also Book Review Digest, 1919, 1920, 1921.
William Rose Benét—poet.
Born at Fort Hamilton, New York Harbor, 1886. Ph. B., Sheffield Scientific School, Yale, 1907. Free lance writer in California 1907–11. Reader for the Century Magazine, 1911–18. In 1920, associate editor of the Literary Review of the New York Evening Post.
Mr. Benét’s verse has attracted attention for its pictorial imagination, vigorous rhythms, and grotesque and lively fancy.
Bibliography
Merchants from Cathay. 1913.
The Falconer of God. 1914.
The Great White Wall. 1916.
The Burglar of the Zodiac. 1918.
Perpetual Light. 1919.
Moons of Grandeur. 1920.
Studies and Reviews
Untermeyer.
Bookm. 47 (’18): 558; 53 (’21): 168.
Dial, 56 (’14): 67.
Poetry, 5 (’14): 91; 9 (’17): 322; 12 (’18): 216; 15 (’19): 48.
R. of Rs. 51 (’15): 759.
See also Book Review Digest, 1914, 1917, 1918, 1920.
Konrad Bercovici—story writer.
Bibliography
The Crimes of Charity. 1917. (With introduction by John Reed.)
Dust of New York. 1919. (Short stories.)
Ghiza and Other Romances of Gipsy Blood. 1921.
For reviews, see Book Review Digest, 1917, 1919, 1921.
Edwin (August) Björkman—critic.
Born at Stockholm, Sweden, 1866. Educated in Stockholm high school. Clerk, actor, and journalist in Sweden, 1881–91. Came to America, 1891. On staffs of St. Paul and Minneapolis papers, 1892–7; on the New York Sun and New York Times, 1897–1905. On the editorial staff of the New York Evening Post, 1906. Department editor of the World’s Work and editor of the Modern Drama Series, 1912—.
Bibliography
Is There Anything New Under the Sun? 1911.
Gleams: A Fragmentary Interpretation of Man and His World. 1912.
Voices of To-morrow. 1913.
The Soul of a Child. 1922. (Novel.)
Studies and Reviews
Cur. Op. 55 (’13): 190 (portrait).
R. of Rs. 45 (’12): 115 (portrait).
See also Book Review Digest, 1913.
Maxwell Bodenheim—poet.
Born at Natchez, Mississippi, 1892. Grammar school education. Served in the U. S. Army, 1910–13. Studied law and art in Chicago.
Suggestions for Reading
Mr. Bodenheim gets his effects by his management of detail. For this reason, his use of picture-making words and suggestive phrases offers material for special study. See the New Republic, 13 (’17): 211, for his own statement of his creed.
Bibliography
Minna and Myself. 1918.
Advice. 1920.
Introducing Irony. 1922.
Also in: Poetry. (Passim.)
The Little Review. (Passim.)
Studies and Reviews
Untermeyer.
Dial, 66 (’19): 356; 69 (’20): 645.
Poetry, 13 (’19): 342.
See also Book Review Digest, 1920, 1921.
Gamaliel Bradford—man of letters.
Born at Boston, 1863. Studied at Harvard, 1882; no degree, because of ill health. Has confined his attention almost entirely to literature since 1886. Specializes in character portraits.
Bibliography
Types of American Character. 1895.
A Pageant of Life. 1904.
The Private Tutor. 1904.
Between Two Masters. 1906.
Matthew Porter. 1908.
Lee, the American. 1912.
Confederate Portraits. 1914.
Union Portraits. 1916.
Portraits of Women. 1916.
A Naturalist of Souls. 1917.
Portraits of American Women. 1919.
The Prophet of Joy. 1920. (Poems.)
Shadow Verses. 1920.
American Portraits, 1875–1900. 1922.
Studies and Reviews
Bookm. 41 (’15): 586 (portrait); 52 (’20): 170.
Nation, 112 (’21): 86.
New Repub. 9 (’16): supp. p. 3.
See also Book Review Digest, 1916, 1920.
George H. Broadhurst (1866)—dramatist.
Of his plays the following have been published:
What Happened to Jones. 1897.
The Man of the Hour. 1908.
Why Smith Left Home. 1912.
The Law of the Land. 1914.
Innocent. 1914.
Bought and Paid for. 1916.
For bibliography of unpublished plays, see Cambridge, III (IV), 773.
Alter Brody—poet.
Born in Russia, 1895, of a Russian-Jewish family. Came to New York when he was eight years old. Very little education. Translated for Jewish and American newspapers. His first poems appeared in The Seven Arts (cf. James Oppenheim).
His one book, A Family Album, 1918, is interesting for its realistic pictures of New York as seen through the temperament of a Russian Jew.
Studies and Reviews
Untermeyer.
Poetry, 14 (’19): 280.
See also Book Review Digest, 1918.
Charles (Stephen) Brooks—essayist.
Born in 1878. Graduate of Yale. Business man in Cleveland. Essay writing an avocation.
Bibliography
Journeys to Bagdad. 1915.
“There’s Pippins and Cheese to Come.” 1917.
Chimney-Pot Papers. 1919.
Luca Sarto. 1920. (Historical novel.)
Hints to Pilgrims. 1921.
Frightful Plays! 1922.
Studies and Reviews
Bookm. 47 (’18): 439 (portrait).
Nation, 109 (’19): 178.
Review, 2 (’20): 463.
See also Book Review Digest, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920.
Van Wyck Brooks—critic.
Born at Plainfield, New Jersey, 1886. A. B., Harvard, 1907. Taught at Leland Stanford, 1911–3. With the Century Company since 1915.
Bibliography
The Wine of the Puritans. 1909.
The Malady of the Ideal. 1913.
John Addington Symonds—a Biographical Study. 1914.
The World of H. G. Wells. 1915.
America’s Coming-of-Age. 1915.
Letters and Leadership. 1918.
The Ordeal of Mark Twain. 1919.
The History of a Literary Radical; a Biography of Randolph Bourne, 1920.
Studies and Reviews
Bookm. 41 (’15): 132 (portrait); 52 (’21): 333.
Dial, 69 (’20): 293.
See also Book Review Digest, 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920.
Heywood (Campbell) Broun—critic, essayist.
Born at Brooklyn, New York, 1888. Studied at Harvard, 1906–10. On Morning Telegraph, New York, 1908–9, 1911–12; New York Tribune, 1912–21. Now with New York World. War correspondent in France, 1917.
Bibliography
A. E. F.—With General Pershing and the American Forces. 1918.
Seeing Things at Night. 1921.
Studies and Reviews
Bookm. 53 (’21): 443.
Cur. Op. 67 (’19): 315.
Dial, 65 (’18): 125.
See also Book Review Digest, 1918, 1921.
Alice Brown—short-story writer, novelist, dramatist.
Born on a farm near Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, 1857. Graduated from Robinson Seminary, Exeter, New Hampshire, 1876. Lived on a farm many years and loves outdoor life. Many years on staff of Youth’s Companion.
Her stories of New England life should be compared with those of Sarah Orne Jewett and Mary Wilkins Freeman (q. v.). In 1915, she won the Winthrop Ames $10,000 prize for her play, Children of Earth.
Bibliography
Fools of Nature. 1887.
*Meadow-Grass. 1895. (Short stories.)
Robert Louis Stevenson—A Study. 1895. (With Louise Imogene Guiney.)
By Oak and Thorn. 1896. (English travels.)
The Road to Castaly. 1896. (Poems.)
The Day of His Youth. 1897.
*Tiverton Tales. 1899. (Short stories.)
King’s End. 1901.
Margaret Warrener. 1901.
Judgment. 1903.
The Mannerings. 1903.
The Merrylinks. 1903.
High Noon. 1904. (Short stories.)
Paradise. 1905.
The County Road. 1906.
The Court of Love. 1906.
Rose MacLeod. 1908.
The Story of Thyrza. 1909.
Country Neighbors. 1910. (Short stories.)
John Winterbourne’s Family. 1910.
The One-Footed Fairy. 1911. (Short stories.)
The Secret of the Clan. 1912.
Vanishing Points. 1913. (Short stories.)
Robin Hood’s Barn. 1913.
My Love and I. 1913. (Under the pseudonym “Martin Redfield.”)
*Children of Earth. 1915. (Play.)
The Prisoner. 1916.
Bromley Neighborhood. 1917.
The Flying Teuton. 1918. (Short stories.)
The Black Drop. 1919.
Homespun and Gold. 1920. (Short stories.)
The Wind between the Worlds. 1920. (Short stories.)
Louise Imogene Guiney. 1921.
One Act Plays. 1921.
Old Crow. 1022. (Novel.)
Studies and Reviews
Overton.
Pattee.
Rittenhouse.
Acad. 76 (’09): 110.
Atlan. 98 (’06): 55.
Cur. Op. 57 (’14): 28.
Lit. Digest, 48 (’14): 1435.
Outlook, 123 (’19): 514 (portrait).
R. of Rs. 39 (’09): 761; 43 (’11): 121. (Portraits.)
Spec. 102 (’09): 785.
Arthur Bullard (“Albert Edwards”)—novelist.
Born at St. Joseph, Missouri, 1869. Studied about two years at Hamilton College. Settlement worker, probation officer of Prison Association of New York, 1903–6. Since 1906, has traveled widely. In Russia and Siberia, 1917–9. Foreign correspondent for different magazines both before and during the War. Socialist.
Bibliography
*A Man’s World. 1912.
Comrade Yetta. 1913.
The Barbary Coast. 1913. (Travels.)
The Stranger. 1920.
Studies and Reviews
Bookm. 37 (’13): 518 (portrait).
Cur. Lit. 53 (’12): 698, 699 (portrait).
New Repub. 21 (’20): 361; 24 (’20): 25.
R. of Rs. 47 (’13): 244 (portrait).
See also Book Review Digest, 1913, 1916, 1920.
(Frank) Gelett Burgess (Massachusetts, 1866)—humorist.
Inventor of the “Goops” and of “Bromide” (Are You a Bromide? 1907). The humor of his illustrations contributes greatly to the success of his writing. For bibliography, cf. Who’s Who in America.
Studies and Reviews
Bookm. 53 (’21): 488.
Overland, n. s. 60 (’12): 377.
R. of Rs. 35 (’07): 116 (portrait).
Frances Hodgson Burnett (Mrs. Stephen Townsend)—novelist.
Born at Manchester, England, 1849, but went to live at Knoxville, Tennessee, 1865. She began to write for magazines in 1867.
Bibliography
That Lass o’ Lowrie’s. 1877.
Through One Administration. 1883.
Little Lord Fauntleroy. 1886. (Dramatized.)
Editha’s Burglar. 1888.
The One I Knew the Best of All. 1893. (Autobiographical.)
A Lady of Quality. 1896. (Dramatized; with Stephen Townsend.)
T. Tembaron. 1913.
The White People. 1917.
The Head of the House of Coombe. 1922.
Studies and Reviews
Halsey. (Women.)
Harkins. (Women.)
Overton.
Am. M. 70 (’10): 748 (portrait).
Bookm. 20 (’04): 276 (portrait).
Cur. Lit. 37 (’04): 321 (portrait).
Good Housekeeping, 74 (’22): Feb., p. 27 (portrait).
See also Book Review Digest, 1915–1917.
John Burroughs—Nature writer, essayist, poet.
Born at Roxbury, New York, 1837. Academy education with honorary higher degrees. Taught for about eight years; clerk in the Treasury, 1864–73; national bank examiner, 1873–84. From 1874 lived on a farm, after 1884 dividing his time between market gardening and literature. He died in 1921.
Mr. Burroughs’ cottage in the woods not far from West Park, New York, appropriately called “Slabsides,” has become famous and an effort is being made to keep it for the nation.
Mr. Burroughs continued to write and publish to the time of his death.
Bibliography
Notes on Walt Whitman as Poet and Person. 1867.
Wake Robin. 1871.
Winter Sunshine. 1875.
Birds and Poets. 1877.
Locusts and Wild Honey. 1879.
Pepacton. 1881.
Fresh Fields. 1884.
Signs and Seasons. 1886.
Indoor Studies. 1889.
Riverby. 1894.
Whitman, a Study. 1896.
The Light of Day. 1900.
Squirrels and Other Fur Bearers. 1900.
Literary Values. 1904.
Far and Near. 1904.
Ways of Nature. 1905.
Bird and Bough. 1906. (Poems.)
Camping and Tramping with Roosevelt. 1907.
Leaf and Tendril. 1908.
Time and Change. 1912.
The Summit of the Years. 1913.
The Breath of Life. 1915.
Under the Apple Trees. 1916.
Field and Study. 1919.
Accepting the Universe. 1920.
My Boyhood: An Autobiography. 1922.
Studies and Reviews
Barrus, Clara. Our Friend John Burroughs. 1914.
———— John Burroughs. Boy and Man. 1920.
Halsey.
James, Henry. Views and Reviews. 1908.
Loach, De, R. J. H. Rambles with John Burroughs. 1912.
Sharp, Dallas Lore. The Seer of Slabsides. 1921.
Atlan. 106 (’10): 631; 128 (’21): 517.
Bookm. 49 (’19): 389.
Cent. 63 (’02): 860 (poem by Edwin Markam to John Burroughs); 80 (’10): 521; 101 (’21): 619; 102 (’21): 731. (Hamlin Garland.)
Craftsman, 8 (’05): 564; 22 (’12): 240, 357, 525, 635; 27 (’15): 590.
Critic, 47 (’05): 101 (portraits).
Cur. Lit. 45 (’08): 60; 49 (’10): 680; 50 (’11): 413 (portraits).
Cur. Op. 70 (’21): 644 (portrait), 667; 71 (’21): 74
Dial, 32 (’02): 7.
Edin. R. 208 (’08): 343.
Lit. Digest, 48 (’14): 1441; 69 (’21): Apr. 16, p. 23.
Liv. Age, 248 (’06): 188. (W. H. Hudson.)
Nation, 112 (’21): 531.
New Repub. 26 (’21): 186.
No. Am. 214 (’21): 177.
Outlook, 66 (’00): 351 (portrait); 109 (’15): 224 (portraits); 127 (’21): 580 (portrait), 582; 129 (’21): 344.
R. of Rs. 63 (’21): 517 (portrait).
Review, 4 (’21): 338.
Richard (Eugene) Burton—critic, poet.
Born at Hartford, Connecticut, 1861. A. B., Trinity College, 1883; Ph. D., Johns Hopkins, 1888. Three years of teaching, editorial work, and travel abroad. Editor of the Hartford Courant, 1890–7. Associate editor of Warner’s Library of the World’s Best Literature, 1897–9. Head of the English department at the University of Minnesota, 1898–1902 and 1906—.
Besides his critical work, he has written a novel, a play, and a number of volumes of poetry. For complete bibliography, cf. Who’s Who in America.
Bibliography
Literary Likings. 1898.
Forces in Fiction. 1902.
Literary Leaders of America. 1904.
The New American Drama. 1913.
How to See a Play. 1914.
Bernard Shaw—The Man and the Mask. 1916.
Studies and Reviews
Rittenhouse.
Bookm. 47 (’18): 348.
Chaut. 38 (’03): 82 (portrait).
Lond. Times, Mar. 17, 1910: 95.
R. of Rs. 55 (’17): 214 (portrait).
Witter Bynner—poet, dramatist.
Born at Brooklyn, 1881. A. B., Harvard, 1902. Assistant editor of McClure’s Magazine, 1902–6. Literary adviser to various publishing companies. Has recently traveled in the Orient. Under the pseudonyms “Emanuel Morgan” and “Anne Knish,” Bynner and Arthur Davison Ficke (q. v.) wrote Spectra, a burlesque of modern tendencies in poetry, which some critics took seriously.
Bibliography
An Ode to Harvard. 1907. (= Young Harvard, 1918.)
Tiger. 1913. (Play.)
The Little King. 1914. (Play.)
The New World. 1915.
Spectra. 1916. (Under pseudonym “Emanuel Morgan,” with Arthur Davison Ficke, q. v.)
Grenstone Poems. 1917.
A Canticle of Praise. 1919.
The Beloved Stranger. 1919.
A Canticle of Pan and Other Poems. 1920.
Pins for Wings. 1920. (Under pseudonym “Emanuel Morgan.”)
Studies and Reviews
Boynton
Untermeyer.
Acad. 86 (’14): 687.
Bookm. 47 (’18): 394.
Dial, 67 (’19): 302.
Forum, 55 (’16): 675.
Freeman, 1 (’20): 476.
Mentor, 7 (’19): supp. (portrait).
Nation, 109 (’19): 440.
New Repub. 9 (’16): supp. p. 13. (Review of Spectra, Bynner.)
Poetry, 7 (’15): 147; 12 (’18): 169; 15 (’20): 281.
See also Book Review Digest, 1914, 1920, 1921.
James Branch Cabell—novelist, critic.
Born at Richmond, Virginia, 1879, of an old Southern family. A. B., William and Mary College, 1898, where he taught French and Greek, 1896–7. Newspaper work from 1899–1901. Since then he has devoted his time almost entirely to the study and writing of literature. His study of genealogy and history has an important bearing upon his creative work.
Suggestions for Reading
1. Before reading Mr. Cabell’s stories, read his Beyond Life, which explains his theory of romance. He maintains that art should be based on the dream of life as it should be, not as it is; that enduring literature is not “reportorial work”; that there is vital falsity in being true to life because “facts out of relation to the rest of life become lies,” and that art therefore “must become more or less an allegory.”
2. Mr. Cabell’s fiction falls into two divisions:
(1) Romances of the middle ages.
(2) Comedies of present-day Virginia.
Both elements are found in The Cream of the Jest (cf. with Du Maurier’s Peter Ibbetson). The romances illustrate different aspects of his theory of chivalry; the modern comedies, his theory of gallantry (cf. Beyond Life).
3. In his romances he has created an imaginary province of France, the people of which bear names and use idioms drawn from widely diverse and incongruous sources. His effort to create mediæval atmosphere by the use of archaisms does not preclude modern idiom and slang. Through all this work, elaborate pretense of non-existent sources of the tales and frequent allusions to fictitious authors are a part of the method. After reading some of these stories, consider the following criticism from the London Times quoted by Mr. Cabell himself at the end of Beyond Life: “It requires a nicer touch than Mr. Cabell’s, to reproduce the atmosphere of the Middle Ages … the artifice is more apparent than the art. …”
4. An interesting study is to isolate the authors for whom Mr. Cabell expresses particular admiration and those for whom he expresses contempt in Beyond Life and to deduce from his attitudes his peculiar literary qualities.
5. Mr. Cabell’s style is notable for the elaboration of its rhythm, its careful avoidance of clichés, its preference for rare, archaic words and its allusiveness. Consider it from the point of view of sincerity, simplicity, clarity, and charm. Does it intensify or dull your interest in what he has to say? Study, for example, the following exposition of his theory of art:
