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Title: Contemporary American Literature
Bibliographies and Study Outlines
Author: John Matthews Manly and Edith Rickert
Release Date: June 19, 2006 [EBook #18625]
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Transcriber’s Note
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CONTEMPORARY
AMERICAN LITERATURE
BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND STUDY OUTLINES
BY
JOHN MATTHEWS MANLY
AND
EDITH RICKERT
NEW YORK
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.
Printed in the U. S. A.
This book is intended as a companion volume to Contemporary British Literature; but the differences between conditions in America and in England have made it necessary to alter somewhat the original plan.
In America today we have a few excellent writers who challenge comparison with the best of present-day England. We have many more who have been widely successful in the business of making novels, poems, plays, which cannot rank as literature at all. In choosing from such a large number a list for study, it is our hope that we have not omitted the name of any author who counts as a force in our developing literature; but, on the other hand, it is undoubtedly true that we have excluded many writers whose work compares favorably with that of some on the list. Our choice has been governed by two principles: (1) To include experimental work—work dealing with fresh materials or attempting new methods—rather than better work on familiar patterns; and (2) to represent varying tendencies in the literary effort of our country today rather than work that ranks high in popular taste. The task of doing justice to every writer is impossible; but we have been primarily concerned not with writers but with readers—those who wish guidance to the best that there is in our literature and to the signs that point to the future.
The word contemporary we have interpreted arbitrarily to mean since the beginning of the War, excluding writers who died before August, 1914, and living authors who have produced no work since then. Space limitations made it impossible to go back to the beginning of the century, and no other date since then is so significant as 1914.
The biographical material is limited to information of interest for the interpretation of work. The bibliographies[vi] are selective except in the case of the more important authors, for whom they are, for the student’s purpose, complete. The following items have usually been omitted: (1) books privately printed; (2) separate editions of works included in larger volumes; (3) unimportant or inaccessible works; (4) works not of a literary character; (5) English reprints; (6) editions other than the first. Exceptions to this plan explain themselves.
The stars (*) are merely guides to the reader in long bibliographies and bibliographies containing works of very unequal merit.
The Suggestions for Reading given in the case of the more important authors are intended for students who need and desire guidance. It is our hope that these hints and questions may lead to discussion and differences of opinion, for dissent is the guidepost to truth. As far as possible, we have avoided statement of our own opinions.
The Studies and Reviews are the meagre result of long search in periodical literature. The fact that the photograph and the personal note bulk far more largely than criticism in America needs no comment here.
Supplementary to the alphabetical list of authors with material for study, which constitutes the body of the book, are the classified indexes. These are intended for use in planning courses of study. The classification according to form suggests the limitation of work to poets, dramatists, novelists, short-story writers, essayists, critics, writers on country life, travel, and Nature, humorists, “columnists,” and writers of biography and autobiography. In this connection should be noted the supplementary list of poets whose names have not been included in our list but whose work can be studied in one or more of the anthologies indicated.
The classification according to birthplace (in some cases information could not be obtained) furnishes material for the study of local groups of writers.
The classification according to subject matter (including the use of local color and background), although it is neces[vii]sarily incomplete, will, it is hoped, suggest courses of reading on these bases.
Preceding the alphabetical list of authors are bibliographies of different types, which should be of use in the finding of material: lists of indexes and critical periodicals; of general works of reference discussing the period; of collections of poems, plays, short-stories, and essays; and of bibliographies of short plays and short stories.
Our thanks for criticisms and suggestions are due to Professors Robert Herrick, Robert Morss Lovett, and Percy Holmes Boynton.
To Mr. G. Teyen, of the Chicago Public Library, we are indebted for continual help in procuring books, verifying references, and, in general, for putting the resources of the library at our disposal.
Indexes
| American Library Association Index, (to 1900) | A. L. A. I. |
| Supplement, 1901-1910 | A. L. A. Supp. |
| Annual Literary Index (1892-1904) | A. L. I. |
| Continued as Annual Library Index, 1905-1910 | A. L. I. |
| Dramatic Index, 1909- | D. I. |
| Published with Annual Magazine Subject Index. | |
| Magazine Subject Index: Boston, 1908 | M. S. I. |
| Continued by Annual Magazine Subject Index, 1909- | A. S. I. |
| Poole’s Index to Periodical Literature, 1802-1881 | Poole |
| Supplements, 1882-1906; 1907-1908 | Poole Supp. |
| Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, 1900- | R. G. |
| Supplement, 1907-1915, 1916-1919 | R. G. Supp. |
| Continued as International Index to Periodicals, 1921- | I. I. P. |
Periodicals
(The initials following the abbreviated titles of the periodicals refer to the indexes in which they are listed.)
The Book Review Digest, 1905- ——, contains summaries of important reviews in periodicals and newspapers.
Academy: London (ceased 1916)—Acad.
American Catholic Quarterly Review: Philadelphia—Amer. Cath. Quar.
Athenæum: London—Ath.—A. L. I. Combined with Nation (London), Feb. 19, 1921.
Atlantic Monthly: Boston—Atlan.—R. G.; A. S. I.
Bellman: Minneapolis, Minn. (ceased 1919).
Booklist (A. L. A.): Chicago.
Bookman: New York—Bookm.—R. G.
Bookman: London—Bookm. (Lond.)—D. I.; A. S. I.
Book News: Philadelphia (ceased 1918).
Boston Transcript: Boston—Bost. Trans.
Catholic World: New York—Cath. World.
Century: New York—Cent.—R. G.
Chapbook (a Monthly Miscellany): London.
Columbia University Quarterly: New York—Columbia Univ. Quar.[x]
Contemporary Review: London and New York—Contemp.—R. G.; A. S. I.
Craftsman: New York. Includes some literary studies.
Critic: New York (ceased 1906)—R. G.
Current Literature: New York (name changed to Current Opinion, 1913)—Cur. Lit.—R. G.
Current Opinion: New York—Cur. Op.—R. G.
Dial: New York—Dial—R. G.
Double-Dealer: New Orleans (1921- ——).
Drama: Washington—Drama—R. G. S.
Dublin Review: London—Dub. R.—D. I.; A. S. I.; R. G. S.
Edinburgh Review: Edinburgh—Edin. R.
Egoist: London (1914-19). Includes art, music, literature, emphasizing especially new movements.
English Review: London (1908- ——)—Eng. Rev.—R. G. S.; D. I.; A. S. I.
Fortnightly Review: London and New York—Fortn.—R. G.; A. S. I.
Forum: New York—R. G.; A. S. I.
Freeman: New York (ceased 1924).
Harper’s Magazine: New York—Harp.
Independent: New York—Ind.—R. G.
Literary Digest: New York—Lit. Digest—R. G.
Literary Review of the New York Evening Post: New York (1921- ——).—Lit. Rev.
Little Review: Chicago.
Littell’s Living Age: Boston—Liv. Age—R. G. Reprints from the best periodicals.
London Mercury: London (1919- ——)—Lond. Merc. Critical review, established in 1919, edited by J. C. Squire.
London Times Literary Supplement: London—Lond. Times—A. S. I.
Manchester Guardian: Manchester, England—The best English provincial paper for reviews.
Nation: London—Nation (Lond.)—A. S. I. See Athenæum.
Nation: New York—Nation—R. G.
New Republic: New York (1914- )—New Repub.—R. G.
New Statesman: London (1913- )—New Statesman—R. G. S.; A. S. I.
New York Eve. Post. See Literary Review.
New York Times Review of Books: New York—N. Y. Times.
Nineteenth Century and After: London and New York—19th Cent.—R. G.; A. S. I.
North American Review: New York—No. Am.—R. G.; A. S. I.
Outlook: New York.
Poet Lore: Boston—Poet Lore—R. G. S.
Poetry: Chicago—Poetry—R. G.
Quarterly Review: London and New York—Quar.—R. G.; A. S. I.
The Review: New York—a weekly journal of political and general discussion: Began 1919; changed its name, June, 1920, to Weekly Review; consolidated with Independent, October, 1921.
Review of Reviews: New York—R. of Rs.—R. G.
Saturday Review: London—Sat. Rev.—A. S. I.
Sewanee Review: Sewanee, Tennessee.
Spectator: London—Spec.—R. G. S.; A. S. I.
Springfield Republican, Springfield, Mass.—Springfield Repub.
Touchstone: New York.
Unpopular Review—New York. 1915-19. Continued as Unpartizan Review to 1921.
Westminster Review—London—Westm. R. (ceased 1914).
World Today: New York (ceased 1912).
Yale Review: New Haven, Conn.—R. G. S.
Popular magazines, referred to on occasion, are not listed above.
(Referred to in the book by the first word usually)
1. Histories and General Discussion
Boynton, Percy Holmes. A History of American Literature. 1919. (Bibliographies.)
Cambridge History of American Literature. 1917-21. By W. P. Trent, John Erskine, Stuart P. Sherman, and Carl Van Doren. (Vols. III, IV.) (Bibliographies.)
Macy, J. A. The Spirit of American Literature. 1913.
Pattee, Fred Lewis. A History of American Literature since 1870. 1915. (Bibliographies.)
Perry, Bliss. The American Spirit in Literature. 1918.
Stearns, Harold E. America and the Young Intellectual. 1921.
—— —— Civilization in the United States. 1922. (Special chapters.)
2. Criticism of Special Authors or Phases
Canby, H. S., Benét, W. R., and Loveman, Amy, Saturday Papers. 1921.
Hackett, Francis. Horizons: a Book of Criticism. 1918.
—— —— Editor. On American Books. 1920. (Symposium by Joel D. Spingarn, Padraic Colum, H. L. Mencken, Morris R. Cohen, and Francis Hackett.)
Littell, Philip, Books and Things. 1919.
Mencken, H. L. Prefaces. 1917.
—— —— Prejudices, First and Second Series. 1919-20.
Underwood, John Curtis, Literature and Insurgency. 1914.
3. Drama
Andrews, Charlton. The Drama Today. 1913.
Baker, George Pierce. Dramatic Technique. 1912.
Beegle, Mary Porter, and Crawford, Jack R. Community Drama and Pageantry. 1916.
Burleigh, Louise. The Community Theatre in Theory and in Practice. 1917. (Bibliography.)
Chandler, F. W. Aspects of Modern Drama. 1914.
Cheney, Sheldon. The Art Theatre. 1917.
—— —— The New Movement in the Theatre. 1914.
—— —— The Out-Of-Door Theatre. 1918.
Clark, Barrett H. The British and American Drama of Today. 1915, 1921.
Dickinson, Thomas H. The Case of American Drama. 1915.
—— —— The Insurgent Theatre. 1917.
Eaton, Walter Prichard. At the New Theatre and Others. 1910.
—— —— Plays and Players: Leaves from a Critic’s Notebook. 1916.
Goldman, Emma. The Social Significance of the Modern Drama. 1914.
Grau, Robert. The Theatre of Science. 1914.
Hamilton, Clayton. Studies in Stagecraft. 1914.
Henderson, Archibald. The Changing Drama. 1914.
Lewis, B. Roland. The Technique of the One-Act Play. 1918.
Lewisohn, Ludwig. The Modern Drama. 1915.
Mackay, Constance D’Arcy. The Little Theatre in the United States. 1917.
Mackaye, Percy. The Civic Theatre. 1912.
—— —— Community Drama. 1917.
—— —— The Playhouse and the Play. 1909.
Macgowan, K. The Theatre of Tomorrow. 1921.
Matthews, Brander. A Book about the Theatre. 1916.
Moderwell, Hiram Kelly. The Theatre of Today. 1914.
Moses, Montrose J. The American Dramatist. 1917.
Nathan, George Jean. Another Book on the Theatre. 1915.
Phelps, William Lyon. The Twentieth Century Theatre. 1918.
4. Novel
Cooper, Frederic Taber. Some American Story-Tellers. 1911.
Gordon, G. The Men Who Make our Novels. 1919.
Overton, Grant. The Women Who Make our Novels. 1918.
Phelps, William Lyon. The Advance of the English Novel. 1916.
Van Doren, Carl. The American Novel. 1921.
Wilkinson, H. Social Thought in American Fiction (1910-17). 1919.
5. Poetry
Aiken, Conrad, Scepticisms. Notes on Contemporary Poetry. 1919.
Caswell, E. S. Canadian Singers and Their Songs. 1920.
Cook, H. W. Our Poets of Today. 1918.
Lowell, Amy. Tendencies in Modern American Poetry. 1917.
Lowes, John Livingston. Convention and Revolt in Poetry. 1919.
Peckham, E. H. Present-Day American Poetry. 1917.
Phelps, William Lyon. The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century. 1918.
Rittenhouse, Jessie B. The Younger American Poets. 1904.
Untermeyer, Louis. The New Era in American Poetry. 1919.
Wilkinson, Marguerite. New Voices. 1919.
6. Biographical and Personal
Halsey, F. W. American Authors and Their Homes. Personal Descriptions and Interviews (Illustrated). 1901.
—— —— Women Authors of our Day in their Homes (Illustrated.) 1903.
Harkins, E. F. Famous Authors. (Men.) 1901.
—— —— Famous Authors. (Women.) 1901.
Andrews, C. E. From the Front; Trench Poetry. Appleton, 1918.
Anthology of American Humor in Verse. Duffield, 1917.
American and British from the Yale Review. (Foreword by J. G. Fletcher.) 1920-21.
Armstrong, H. F. Book of New York Verse. Putnam, 1917.
Blanden, C. G., and Mathison, M. Chicago Anthology. Roadside Press, 1916.
Braithwaite, W. S. Anthology of Magazine Verse and Yearbook of
American Poetry. Small, Maynard, 1914- ——.
—— —— Golden Treasury of Magazine Verse. Small, Maynard, 1918.
Clarke, G. H. Treasury of War Poetry. Houghton Mifflin: First Series, 1917; Second Series, 1919.
Cook, H. W. Our Poets of Today. Moffat, Yard, 1918.
Cronyn, George W. The Path on the Rainbow (North American Indian Songs and Chants.) Boni & Liveright, 1918.
Des Imagistes: 1914. Poetry Bookshop, London, 1914.
Edgar, W. C. The Bellman Book of Verse, 1906-19. Bellman Co., 1919.
Erskine, John. Contemporary Verse Anthology. (War poetry.) Dutton, 1920.
Kreymborg, Alfred. Others. Knopf, 1916, 1917, 1919.
Le Gallienne, Richard. Modern Book of American Verse. Boni & Liveright, 1919.
Miscellany of American Poetry, A. Harcourt, Brace, 1920.
Monroe, Harriet, and Henderson, Alice Corbin. The New Poetry. Macmillan, 1917; revised edition, 1920.
O’Brien, Edward J. A Masque of Poets. Dodd, Mead, 1918.
Richards, G. M. High Tide; Songs of Joy and Vision. Houghton Mifflin, 1918.
—— —— The Melody of Earth. (Nature and Garden Poems from Present-day Poets.) Houghton Mifflin, 1920.
—— —— Star Points; Songs of Joy, Faith, and Promise. Houghton Mifflin, 1921.
Rittenhouse, Jessie B. The Little Book of Modern Verse. Houghton Mifflin, 1913-19.
—— —— The Second Book of Modern Verse. Houghton Mifflin, 1919.
Some Imagist Poets: 1915, 1916, 1917. Constable.
Stork, Charles Wharton, Contemporary Verse Anthology. Favorite Poems Selected from the Magazine of Contemporary Verse. 1916-20. Dutton, 1920.
Untermeyer, Louis. Modern American Poetry. Harcourt, Brace, 1920; enlarged, 1921.
Baker, George Pierce. Harvard Plays. Brentano.
I. 47 Workshop Plays. First Series. 1918. (Rachel L. Field, Hubert Osborne, Eugene Pillot, William L. Prosser.)
II. Plays of the Harvard Dramatic Club. First Series. 1918. (Winifred Hawkridge, H. Brock, Rita C. Smith, K. Andrews.)
III. Plays of the Harvard Dramatic Club. Second Series. 1919. (Louise W. Bray, E. W. Bates, F. Bishop, C. Kinkead.)
IV. 47 Workshop Plays. Second Series, 1920. (Kenneth Raesback, Norman C. Lindau, Eleanor Holmes Hinkley, Doris F. Halnan.)
Baker, George Pierce. Modern American Plays. Harcourt, Brace, 1920. (Belasco, Sheldon, Thomas).
Cohen, Helen Louise. One-Act Plays by Modern Authors. Harcourt, Brace, 1921. (Mackaye, Marks, Peabody, R. E. Rogers, Tarkington, Stark Young.)
—— —— Longer Plays by Modern Authors. Harcourt, Brace, 1922. (Thomas, Tarkington.)
Cook, G. C. and Shay, F. Provincetown Plays. Stewart Kidd.
—— —— First Series (Louise Bryant, Dell, O’Neill), 1916.
—— —— Second Series (Neith Boyce and Hutchins Hapgood, G. C. Cook and Susan Glaspell, John Reed), 1916.
—— —— Third Series (Neith Boyce, Kreymborg, O’Neill), 1917. (Boyce and Hapgood, Cook and Glaspell, Dell, P. King, Millay, O’Neill, Oppenheim, Alice Rostetter, W. D. Steele, Wellman), 1921.
Dickinson, Thomas H. Chief Contemporary Dramatists. Houghton Mifflin, 1915. (Mackaye, Thomas.)
—— —— Second Series (G. C. Hazelton and Benrimo, Peabody, Walter).
Dickinson, Thomas H. Wisconsin Plays. Huebsch.
—— —— First Series (Thomas H. Dickinson, Gale, William Ellery Leonard), 1914.
—— —— Second Series (M. Ilsley, H. M. Jones, Laura Sherry), 1918.
47 Workshop, Plays of the. See Baker.
Harvard Dramatic Club, Plays of the. See Baker.
Knickerbocker, Edwin Van B. Plays for Classroom Interpretation. Holt, 1921.
Lewis, B. Roland. Contemporary One-Act Plays. 1922. (Bibliographies.)
(Middleton, Althea Thurston, Mackaye, Eugene Pillot, Bosworth
Crocker, Kreymborg, Paul Greene, Arthur Hopkins, Jeannette Marks,
Oscar M. Wolff, David Pinski, Beulah Bornstead.)
Mayorga, Margaret Gardner. Representative One-Act Plays by American Authors. Little, Brown, 1919. (Full bibliographies). (Mary Aldis, Cook and Glaspell, Sada Cowan, Bosworth Crocker, Elva De Pue, Beulah Marie Dix, Hortense Flexner, Esther E. Galbraith, Alice Gerstenberg, Doris F. Halnan, Ben Hecht and Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, Phœbe Hoffman, Kreymborg, Mackaye, Marks, Middleton, O’Neill, Eugene Pillot, Frances Pemberton Spenser, Thomas Wood Stevens and Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, Walker, Wellman, Wilde, Oscar M. Wolff.)
More Portmanteau Plays. Stewart Kidd, 1919. (Stuart Walker.)
Morningside Plays. Shay, 1917. (Elva de Pue, Caroline Briggs, Elmer L. Reizenstein, Zella Macdonald).
Moses, Montrose J. Representative Plays by American Dramatists. Dutton, 1918-21. Vol. III. (Belasco, Thomas, Walter.)
Pierce, John Alexander. The Masterpieces of Modern Drama. English and American. (Summarized and quoted.) 1915. (Thomas [2], Walter, Mackaye, Belasco.)
Portmanteau Plays. Stewart Kidd, 1918. (Stuart Walker.)
Provincetown Plays. See Cook.
Quinn, A. H. Representative American Plays. Century, 1917. (Crothers, Mackaye, Sheldon, Thomas).
Shay, Frank, and Loving, P. Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays, 1920.
Small Stages, Plays for. Duffield, 1915. (Mary Aldis.)
Smith, Alice Mary. Short Plays by Representative Authors. Macmillan, 1920. (Constance D’Arcy Mackay, Mary Macmillan, Marks, Torrence, Walker.)
Stage, Guild Plays and Masques. (Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, Thomas Wood Stevens.)
Washington Square Plays. Drama League Series. Doubleday, Page, 1916. (Lewis Beach, Alice Gerstenberg, Edward Goodman, Moeller.)
Wisconsin Plays. See Dickinson.
Heydrick, B. A. Americans All. Harcourt, Brace, 1920.
Howells, W. D. Great Modern American Stories. Boni & Liveright, 1920. (Does not include much recent work.)
Laselle, Mary Augusta. Short Stories of the New America. Holt, 1919.
Law, F. H. Modern Short Stories. Century, 1918.
O’Brien, Edward J. H. Best short stories for 1915, 1916, etc. Published annually. Small, Maynard.
Thomas, Charles Swain. Atlantic Narratives. Atlantic, 1918.
Wick, Jean. The Stories Editors Buy and Why. Small, Maynard, 1921.
Williams, Blanche Colton. Our Short Story Writers. Moffat, Yard, 1920.
Kilmer, Joyce. Literature in the Making. Harper, 1917.
Morley, Christopher, Modern Essays. Harcourt, Brace, 1921.
Tanner, W. M. Essays and Essay-Writing. Atlantic, 1917.
Thomas, Charles Swain. Atlantic Classics, First and Second Series. Atlantic, 1918.
OF SHORT PLAYS
Boston Public Library. One-Act Plays in English. 1900-20.
Brown University Library. Plays of Today. 1921. (100 of the best modern dramas.)
Chicago Public Library. Actable One-Act Plays. 1916.
University of Utah. The One-Act Play in Colleges and High Schools. 1920.
Worcester, Massachusetts, Free Public Library. Selected List of One-Act Plays. 1921.
Boynton, Percy H. History of American Literature. 1919.
Cheney, Sheldon. The Art Theatre. 1917. (Appendix.)
Clapp, John Mantel. Plays for Amateurs. 1915. (Drama League of America.)
Clark, Barrett H. How to Produce Amateur Plays. 1917.
Dickinson, Thomas H. The Insurgent Theatre. 1917. (Appendix.)
Drummond, A. M. Fifty One-Act Plays. 1915. (Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking, I, 234.)
—— —— One-Act Plays for Schools and Colleges. 1918. (Education, IV, 372.)
Johnson, Gertrude Elizabeth. Choosing a Play. Century, 1920.
Lewis, B. Roland. Contemporary One-Act Plays. 1922.
Mackay, Constance D’Arcy, The Little Theatre in the United States. 1917. Appendix.
Mayorga, Margaret Gardner, Representative One-Act Plays by American Authors. 1919.
Plays for Amateurs; a Selected List Prepared by the Little Theatre Department of the New York Drama League. Wilson, 1921.
Riley, Alice C. D. The One-Act Play Study Course. 1918. (Drama League Monthly, Feb.-Apr.)
Shay, Frank, Plays and Books of the Little Theatre, 1921.
Shay, Frank, and Loving, P. Fifty Contemporary One-act Plays, 1920.
Stratton, Clarence, Producing in Little Theatres, 1921. (Appendix lists 200 plays for amateurs.)
OF SHORT STORIES
Hannigan, F. J. Standard Index to Short Stories, 1900-1914. 1918.
O’Brien, E. J. H. Best Short Stories for 1915, 1916, etc. (Published annually.)
Editor of “The Conning Tower” in the New York World.
For bibliography, cf. Who’s Who in America.
Born in Boston, 1838. Great-grandson of John Adams and grandson of John Quincy Adams, presidents of the United States. Brother of Charles Francis and Brooks Adams. A. B., Harvard, 1858, LL. D., Western Reserve, 1892.
Secretary to his father, Charles Francis Adams, American Minister to England, 1861-8. Assistant professor at Harvard, 1870-7, and editor of North American Review, 1870-6.
Lived in Washington from 1877 until his death in 1918, but traveled extensively and knew many famous people.
In memory of his wife, he commissioned Saint Gaudens to make for her tomb in Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, the statue sometimes called Silence, which is one of the sculptor’s most beautiful works.
Suggestions for Reading
1. The Education of Henry Adams is autobiographic.
The persistent irony of the presentation should be corrected by reading Brooks Adams’s account of his brother.
2. Mont Saint Michel and Chartres is an attempt to interpret the spirit of mediæval architecture, both secular and ecclesiastical. To appreciate it fully, familiarity with the subject is necessary.
The novels are worth study as satires.[2]
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Born at Kentland, Indiana, 1866. B. S., Purdue University, 1887. Newspaper work at Lafayette, Indiana, 1887-90. On the Chicago Record, 1890-1900.
Although some of his earlier plays were successful and promised a career as dramatist, his reputation now rests chiefly upon his humorous modern fables.
Bibliography
For complete bibliography, see Cambridge, III (IV), 640, 763.[3]
Studies and Reviews
Born at Savannah, Georgia, 1889. A. B., Harvard, 1912. Has lived abroad, in London, Rome, and Windermere.
Suggestions for Reading
1. A good introduction to Mr. Aiken’s verse is his own explanation of his theory in Poetry, 14 (’19); 152ff. To readers to whom this is not accessible, the following extracts may furnish some clue as to his aim and method:
What 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 [4]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
Studies and Reviews
Bibliography
For reviews, see Book Review Digest, 1919, 1921.
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.
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
Studies and Reviews
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
Studies and Reviews
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[7] 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?
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Studies and Reviews
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.
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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.
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.
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Studies and Reviews
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.).
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His outstanding books are:
For bibliography, see Who’s Who in America.
Born at Stamford, Connecticut, 1876. A. B., Smith College, 1898.
Mrs. Bacon has made a special study of child life.
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Studies and Reviews
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.
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Studies and Reviews
Published some sixty volumes of prose sketches, verses, stories, and plays, most of which belong to the nineteenth century. Characteristic volumes are:
For complete bibliography, cf. Who’s Who in America.[13]
Studies and Reviews
Writer of novels of adventure, mainly about Alaska. For bibliography, see Who’s Who in America.
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.[14]
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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
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.[15]
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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.
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Bibliography
For reviews, see Book Review Digest, 1917, 1919, 1921.
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—.
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Studies and Reviews
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.[17]
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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.
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Studies and Reviews
Of his plays the following have been published:
For bibliography of unpublished plays, see Cambridge, III (IV), 773.
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
Born in 1878. Graduate of Yale. Business man in Cleveland. Essay writing an avocation.
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Studies and Reviews
Born at Plainfield, New Jersey, 1886. A. B., Harvard, 1907. Taught at Leland Stanford, 1911-3. With the Century Company since 1915.
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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.
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Studies and Reviews
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.
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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.
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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
Born at Manchester, England, 1849, but went to live at Knoxville, Tennessee, 1865. She began to write for magazines in 1867.
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Studies and Reviews
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.[23]
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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.
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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”[25] and “Anne Knish,” Bynner and Arthur Davison Ficke (q. v.) wrote Spectra, a burlesque of modern tendencies in poetry, which some critics took seriously.
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Studies and Reviews
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[26] 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:
For the creative artist must remember that his book is structurally different from life, in that, were there nothing else, his book begins and [27]ends at a definite point, whereas the canons of heredity and religion forbid us to believe that life can ever do anything of the sort. He must remember that his art traces in ancestry from the tribal huntsman telling tales about the cave-fire; and so, strives to emulate not human life, but human speech, with its natural elisions and falsifications. He must remember, too, that his one concern with the one all-prevalent truth in normal existence is jealously to exclude it from his book.... For “living” is to be conscious of an incessant series of less than momentary sensations, of about equal poignancy, for the most part, and of nearly equal unimportance. Art attempts to marshal the shambling procession into trimness, to usurp the rôle of memory and convention in assigning to some of these sensations an especial prominence, and, in the old phrase, to lend perspective to the forest we cannot see because of the trees. Art, as long ago observed my friend Mrs. Kennaston, is an expurgated edition of nature: at art’s touch, too, “the drossy particles fall off and mingle with the dust” (Beyond Life, p. 249).
In summing up Mr. Cabell’s work, consider the following:
(1) Has he a definite philosophy?
(2) Has he a genuine sense of character or do his characters
repeat the same personality?
(3) Is he a sincere artist or “a self-conscious attitudinizer?”
(4) Is he likely ever to hold the high place in American
literature which by some critics is denied him today? If so,
on what basis?
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Studies and Reviews
Born at New Orleans, 1844. Educated in public schools, but has honorary higher degrees. Served in the Confederate army, 1863-5. Reporter on the New Orleans Picayune and accountant with a firm of cotton factors, 1865-79. Since 1879, has devoted his time to literature.
Mr. Cable became at once famous for his studies of Louisiana life in Old Creole Days, and his pictures of this life have given him a permanent place in American literature. His stories should be read in connection with those of Kate Chopin and of Grace King (q. v.).
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Of Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry. Became editor of the Arbeiter Zeitung, 1891, and of The Jewish Daily Forward, 1897. A journalist who has done most of his work in Yiddish, but who has also written one remarkable novel in English: The Rise of David Levinsky, 1917.
Studies and Reviews
Born at Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, 1861. His ancestors lived in Connecticut at the time of the Revolution. A. B., University of New Brunswick, 1881; A. M., 1884. Studied at the University of Edinburgh, 1882-3, and at Harvard, 1886-8. Studied law two years. LL. D., University of New Brunswick, 1906. Came to live in the United States, 1889. Has been teacher, editor, and civil engineer.
In collaboration with Mary Perry King, Mr. Carman has produced several poem-dances (Daughters of Dawn, 1913, and Earth Deities, 1914), which it is interesting to compare with Mr. Lindsay’s development of the idea of the poem-game.
Mr. Carman’s most admired work is to be found in the Vagabondia volumes, in three of which he collaborated with Richard Hovey (1894, 1896, 1900). His Collected Poems were published in 1905, and his Echoes from Vagabondia, 1912.[30]
Studies and Reviews
Born at Winchester, Virginia, 1875. A. B., University of Nebraska, 1895; Litt. D., 1917. On staff of Pittsburgh Daily Leader, 1897-1901. Associate editor of McClure’s Magazine, 1906-12.
Suggestions for Reading
1. Miss Cather’s special field is the pioneer life of immigrants in the Middle West. Points to be considered are: (1) her realism; (2) her detachment or objectivity; (3) her sympathy.
2. In what other respects does she stand out among the leading women novelists of today?
3. What is the value of her material?
4. Compare her studies with those of Cahan (q. v.), Cournos (q. v.), and Tobenkin (q. v.).
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
For bibliography, see Who’s Who in America.
Born at St. Louis, 1871. Graduate of U. S. Naval Academy, 1894. Honorary higher degrees. Member of New Hampshire Legislature 1903, 1905. Fought boss and corporation control and was barely defeated for governor of the state, 1908. Lives at Cornish, New Hampshire.
Suggestions for Reading
As an aid to analysis of Mr. Churchill’s work, consider Mr. Carl Van Doren’s article in the Nation, of which the most striking passages are quoted below:
To reflect a little upon this combination of heroic color and moral earnestness is to discover how much Mr. Churchill owes to the element injected into American life by Theodore Roosevelt.... Like him Mr. Churchill has habitually moved along the main lines of national feeling—believing in America and democracy with a fealty unshaken by any adverse evidence and delighting in the American pageant with a gusto rarely modified by the exercise of any critical intelligence. Morally he has been strenuous and eager; intellectually he has been naïve and belated.
Once taken by an idea for a novel, he has always burned with it as if it were as new to the world as to him. Here lies, without much question, the secret of that genuine earnestness which pervades all his books: he writes out of the contagious passion of a recent convert or a still excited discoverer. Here lies, too, without much question, the secret of Mr. Churchill’s success in holding his audiences: a sort of unconscious politician among novelists, he gathers his premonitions at happy moments, when the drift is already setting in. Never once has Mr. Churchill like a philosopher or a seer, run off alone.
Even for those, however, who perceive that he belongs intellectually to a middle class which is neither very subtle nor very profound on the one hand nor very shrewd or very downright on the other, it is impossible to withhold from Mr. Churchill the respect due a sincere, [32]scrupulous, and upright man who has served the truth and his art according to his lights.... The sounds which have reached him from among the people have come from those who eagerly aspire to better things arrived at by orderly progress, from those who desire in some lawful way to outgrow the injustices and inequalities of civil existence and by fit methods to free the human spirit from all that clogs and stifles it. But as they aspire and intend better than they think, so, in concert with them, does Mr. Churchill.
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Deals with cowboy life. For bibliography, see Who’s Who in America.
Born at Norfolk, Virginia, 1876, but since childhood has lived in Vermont. Studied at Radcliffe, 1895-6. In 1915 some of her lyrics were published in a volume of short-stories called Hillsboro People, by her friend, Dorothy Canfield Fisher (q. v.).
Socialist, pacifist, and anti-vivisectionist. Strong propagandist element in her work. The Spinster is said to contain much autobiography.
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His reputation is built upon his stories of Kentucky life and his humorous criticisms of contemporary manners. For bibliography, see Who’s Who in America.
Work consists mainly of romances of Oriental adventure. His book, Child and Country, 1916, is on education (cf. Book Review Digest, 1916).[34]
Born in New York City, 1878. Graduate of Smith College, 1899. Studied music and languages at the University of Heidelberg, 1902-3, and in Paris, 1903-4. Lived also in Mexico. Has taught in various schools, and since 1914 has been a teacher of English at Smith College, where she has roused much interest in poetry. Mother of Hilda Conkling (q. v.).
Bibliography
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Born at Catskill-on-Hudson, New York, 1910, daughter of Grace Hazard Conkling (q. v.). She began to talk her poems to her mother at the age of four. Her mother took them down without change, merely arranging the line divisions. Her earliest expression was in the form of a chant to an imaginary companion to whom she gave the name “Mary Cobweb” (cf. Poetry, 14 [’19]: 344).
Hilda Conkling’s name is included in this list, not because her poems are remarkable for a child, but because they show actual achievement and the highest quality of imagination.
Her work is to be found in Poetry, 8 (’16): 191; and 10 (’17): 197, and one volume has been published, Poems by a Little Girl, 1920 (with introduction by Amy Lowell).
Studies and Reviews
Director of the Provincetown Players since 1915. With Susan Glaspell (q. v.) wrote Suppressed Desires (1915) and Tickless Time (1920).
For complete bibliography, see Who’s Who in America.
Born at St. Louis, Missouri. Lived many years in Santa Fé, New Mexico, which has furnished material for many of her poems. Associate editor of Poetry since its foundation in 1912.
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Studies and Reviews