Frances Hodgson Burnett.—Frances H. Burnett was born in Manchester, England, in 1849, but came to America with her parents in 1865 and lived for eight years, until her marriage, in New Market and Knoxville, Tennessee. Since then she has lived in Washington and in Kent, England. She first gained notice with “Surly Tim’s Trouble” (Scribner’s Monthly, June, 1872), a story of Lancashire, as were also “That Lass o’ Lowrie’s” (1877), “Dolly” (1877, republished in 1883 as “Vagabondia”), and “Haworth’s” (1879) said to be a favourite with its author. With “Louisiana” (1880) she turned to America for material, describing life in the mountains of North Carolina. “Through One Administration” (1883) is a pathetic and powerful story of social and political life in Washington. “Little Lord Fauntleroy” (1886), the Anglo-American story of a seven-year-old hero, has become a children’s classic; similar but less known are the tales in “Sara Crewe, and Other Stories” (1888), and “The Captain’s Youngest, Piccino, and Other Stories” (1894). In “The Pretty Sister of José” (1889), Mrs. Burnett deals with picturesque and striking Spanish characters and scenes. “A Lady of Quality” (1896) and its sequel, “His Grace of Osmonde” (1897), are melodramatic stories of English aristocrats in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. “In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim” (1899) deals with country life in Tennessee in the early sixties. Her latest stories are “The Dawn of a To-Morrow” (1906) and “The Shuttle” (1907), the latter a fascinating international novel. She has thoroughly demonstrated her power to delineate character as moulded by passion.
Philander Deming.—Philander Deming (born in Carlisle, New York, in 1829), a lawyer by profession, in 1873 began publishing in The Atlantic Monthly stories and sketches the scene of which is laid in the Adirondack region of northern New York. Devoid of sensationalism, these stories portray simply and effectively the rude but sound life of plain country folk. Mr. Deming has published in book form “Adirondack Stories” (1880), “Tompkins and Other Folks” (1885), and “The Story of a Pathfinder” (1907).
Lew Wallace.—General Lewis Wallace (1827–1905), an Indiana lawyer and soldier in the Mexican and Civil Wars, was the author of three novels, “The Fair God” (1873), “Ben Hur, a Tale of the Christ” (1880), and “The Prince of India” (1893), which deserve mention chiefly because of their popularity. The second, especially, in this respect, ranks close to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Written in a spirit of deep reverence for the traditional view of Jesus of Nazareth, and making small demands upon the imagination, it could hardly fail to make a strong appeal to a large body of readers. As literature, however, Wallace’s books are of only transient importance.
Charles Dudley Warner.—Charles Dudley Warner (1829–1900) belongs mainly with the essayists, but wrote a few novels that deserve to live. With Mark Twain he wrote “The Gilded Age” (1873). “Their Pilgrimage” (1887) has a slight plot, but gives minute and accurate descriptions of Southern watering-places. “A Little Journey in the World” (1889) and its sequel, “The Golden House” (1895), are vivid pictures of decadent New York society. “That Fortune” (1899) is a picture, drawn from expert knowledge, of the New York financial world.
Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen.—Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen (1848–95) realised the dream of many in successfully combining the careers of authorship and teaching. Born at Frederiksvärn, Norway, and educated at Christiania, he came to America in 1869. He first became editor of a Scandinavian journal in Chicago. Then he studied philology at Leipsic for two years (1872–74). From 1874 till 1880 he was professor of German at Cornell University, and from 1881 till his death he filled a similar chair at Columbia University. Besides some poetry and essays, he wrote “Gunnar, a Norse Romance” (1874), his one effort in romance, “Tales from Two Hemispheres” (1876), “Falconberg” (1879), “Ilka on the Hilltop” (1881), a collection of short stories, “Queen Titania” (1881), “A Daughter of the Philistines” (1883), “Social Strugglers” (1893), “The Mammon of Unrighteousness” (1891), and “The Golden Calf” (1892). His later stories were realistic novels concerned with vital problems, such as the conflict between wealth and essential culture. Their vogue was not great, but their workmanship was genuine.
Blanche Willis Howard.—Blanche Willis Howard (1847–98) was born in Bangor, Maine, was educated in New York, and in 1878 went to Stuttgart, Germany, to engage in teaching and writing. In 1890 she was married to Baron von Teuffel, a physician. She wrote a number of novels, of which “One Summer” (1875), “Aunt Serena” (1880), “Guenn” (1882), “Aulnay Tower” (1886), “The Open Door” (1889), “No Heroes” (1893), a boys’ story, and “Seven on the Highway” (1897), a collection of short stories, may be mentioned. In collaboration with William Sharp she wrote “A Fellowe and His Wife” (1892), in which a comic atmosphere prevails. Perhaps “Guenn,” the pathetic story of a Breton maiden’s hopeless love, is the book by which she will be longest remembered.
Edgar Fawcett.—Edgar Fawcett (1847–1904) was in his day a prominent and popular poet, dramatist, and novelist. Born and reared in New York, and at twenty graduated from Columbia College, he early saw the rich possibilities of the life around him, and confined himself to the delineation of New York people. The best of his novels are “Rutherford” (written in 1876, but not published in book form till 1884), “A Hopeless Case” (1880), “A Gentleman of Leisure” (1881), “An Ambitious Woman” (1883), “The House at High Bridge” (1886), perhaps his best story, “Fair Fame” (1894), “Outrageous Fortune” (1894), and “The Ghost of Guy Thyrle” (1897). He was fond of attacking the petty conventions of social life and his satire was not ineffective. Partly because of this unpleasant realism his books have already ceased to be much read.
Edwin Lassetter Bynner.—Edwin L. Bynner (1842–93), a New England lawyer and journalist, for a time librarian of the Boston Law Library, achieved success in the field of the historical romance. Beginning with “Nimport” (1877), he produced a large number of novels and short stories, of which the best are “Penelope’s Suitors” (The Atlantic, December, 1884), “Agnes Surriage” (1887), “The Begum’s Daughter” (1889), a story of New Amsterdam in 1689, and “Zachary Phips” (1892), which introduces the mysterious Western expedition of Aaron Burr. Accurate on the historical side, his works are not distinguished artistic successes; yet they make the past live again.
Sarah Orne Jewett.—Sarah Orne Jewett (born in 1849) has written some interesting and even powerful stories of the coast of New England. She was reared at South Berwick, near the Maine coast. While accompanying her father, a physician, on his rounds, she heard from him many local and family histories and traditions. Her first story was “Deephaven” (1877); and she has since written, among others, “Country By-Ways” (1881), eight sketches; “The Mate of the Daylight, and Friends Ashore” (1884), short stories and sketches; “A Country Doctor” (1884), “A Marsh Island” (1885), and “A White Heron” (1886), three stories of rural New England; “Strangers and Wayfarers” (1890); “A Native of Winby, and Other Tales” (1893); “The Country of the Pointed Firs” (1896), which contains her most successful character studies; “The Queen’s Twin, and Other Stories” (1899); “The Tory Lover” (1901), a love-story of the Revolution, introducing John Paul Jones, which cannot be pronounced successful. Miss Jewett is at her best in her kindly humorous and sympathetic interpretations of humble but self-respecting New Englanders of the present day. Her humour is healthy and contagious and her style is for the most part simple, clear, and vigorous.
Mrs. Ellen Olney Kirk.—Ellen Olney Kirk (“Henry Hayes,” born in Connecticut in 1842) has been popular as a novelist. She received her education at Stratford, Conn., and was married to John Foster Kirk, the historian, in 1879. Her stories include “Love in Idleness” (1877), “A Lesson in Love” (1883), a study in character, “A Midsummer Madness” (1885), “The Story of Margaret Kent” (1886), “Queen Money” (1888), “The Story of Lawrence Garth” (1894), her best book, in which the difficult character of an adventuress is well drawn, “The Revolt of a Daughter” (1898), “Dorothy Deane” (1899), “Our Lady Vanity” (1901), “The Apology of Ayliffe” (1904), and “Marcia” (1907). The moral in her stories is generally not obtrusive and the humour is genial.