For the creative artist must remember that his book is structurally different from life, in that, were there nothing else, his book begins andends 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).
For the creative artist must remember that his book is structurally different from life, in that, were there nothing else, his book begins andends 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?
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
George Washington Cable—novelist.
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 OrleansPicayuneand 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 inOld 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.).
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Abraham Cahan—novelist.
Of Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry. Became editor of theArbeiter Zeitung, 1891, and ofThe 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
(William) Bliss Carman—poet.
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, andEarth 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 theVagabondiavolumes, in three of which he collaborated with Richard Hovey (1894, 1896, 1900). HisCollected Poemswere published in 1905, and hisEchoes from Vagabondia, 1912.
Studies and Reviews
Willa Sibert Cather—novelist, short-story writer.
Born at Winchester, Virginia, 1875. A. B., University of Nebraska, 1895; Litt. D., 1917. On staff ofPittsburgh Daily Leader, 1897-1901. Associate editor ofMcClure’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
George Randolph Chester(Ohio, 1869)—novelist, short-story writer. The inventor of theGet-Rich-Quick-Wallingfordtype of fiction.
For bibliography, seeWho’s Who in America.
Winston Churchill—novelist.
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 theNation, 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,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.
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,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.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
(Charles) Badger Clark(Iowa, 1883)—poet.
Deals with cowboy life. For bibliography, seeWho’s Who in America.
Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn—novelist, poet.
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 calledHillsboro People, by her friend, Dorothy Canfield Fisher (q. v.).
Socialist, pacifist, and anti-vivisectionist. Strong propagandist element in her work.The Spinsteris said to contain much autobiography.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Irvin S(hrewsbury) Cobb(Kentucky, 1876)—short-story writer, humorist, dramatist.
His reputation is built upon his stories of Kentucky life and his humorous criticisms of contemporary manners. For bibliography, seeWho’s Who in America.
Octavus Roy Cohen(South Carolina, 1891)—short-story writer. The discoverer of the Southern negro in town life. For bibliography, seeWho’s Who in America.
Will Levington Comfort(Michigan, 1878)—novelist.
Work consists mainly of romances of Oriental adventure. His book,Child and Country, 1916, is on education (cf.Book Review Digest, 1916).
Grace Walcott Hazard Conkling (Mrs. Roscoe Platt Conkling)—poet.
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
Studies and Reviews
Hilda Conkling—poet.
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 inPoetry, 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
James Brendan Connolly(Massachusetts)—short-story writer. Writes realistic sea stories. For bibliography, seeWho’s Who in America.
George Cram Cook(Iowa, 1873)—dramatist.
Director of the Provincetown Players since 1915. With Susan Glaspell (q. v.) wroteSuppressed Desires(1915) andTickless Time(1920).
For complete bibliography, seeWho’s Who in America.
Alice Corbin (Mrs. William Penhallow Henderson)—poet, critic.
Born at St. Louis, Missouri. Lived many years in Santa Fé, New Mexico, which has furnished material for many of her poems. Associate editor ofPoetrysince its foundation in 1912.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
John Cournos—novelist.
Mr. Cournos’ studies of the immigrant in America inThe Mask,1920, andThe Wall, 1921, attracted attention.
Studies and Reviews
Adelaide Crapsey—poet.
Born at Rochester, New York, 1878. A. B., Vassar, 1902. Taught English at Kemper Hall, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1903.In 1905, studied archæology in Rome. Instructor in poetics at Smith College, 1911; but stopped teaching because of failing health. Died at Saranac Lake, 1914.
She had begun an investigation into the structure of English verse, which she was unable to finish. Her poems were nearly all written after her breakdown in 1913, and reflect the tragic experience through which she was passing.
Some of them are written in a form of her own invention, the “cinquain” (five unrhymed lines, having two, four, six, eight, and two syllables).
Suggestions for Reading
1. Miss Crapsey’s theories of versification should be remembered in studying her forms.
2. What is to be said of her verbal economy?
3. A comparison of her verses with those of Emily Dickinson has been suggested. Carried out in detail, it suggests interesting points of difference as well as of resemblance.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Gladys Cromwell—poet.
Born in New York City, 1885. Educated in New York private schools and lived much abroad. In 1918, with her twin sister, she went into Red Cross Canteen work and was stationed at Chalons. As a result of depression due to nerve strain, both sisters committed suicide by jumping overboard from the steamer on which they were coming home. For their War service the French Government later awarded them the Croix de Guerre. Miss Cromwell’sPoemsin 1919divided with Mr. Neihardt’s (q. v.)Song of Three Friendsthe annual prize of the Poetry Society of America.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Rachel Crothers—dramatist.
Born at Bloomington, Illinois. Graduate of the Illinois State Normal School, Normal, Illinois, 1892.
Miss Crothers directs her plays and sometimes acts in them.
Bibliography
For bibliography of unpublished plays, cf.Cambridge, III (IV), 765.
Studies and Reviews
Samuel McChord Crothers—essayist.
Born at Oswego, Illinois, 1857. A. B., Wittenberg College, 1873, Princeton, 1874. Studied at Union Theological Seminary, 1874-7, and at Harvard Divinity School, 1881-2.Higher honorary degrees. Ordained Presbyterian minister, 1877. Pastorates in Nevada and California. Became a Unitarian, 1882. Pastor in Brattleboro, Vermont, 1882-6; in St. Paul, Minnesota, 1886-94; and of the First Church, Cambridge, since 1894. Preacher to Harvard University.
Dr. Crothers’s essays are rich with suave and scholarly humor, and are written in a style suggestive of Lamb’s.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
James Oliver Curwood(Michigan, 1878)—novelist.
His material deals with primitive life in Canada. For bibliography, seeWho’s Who in America.
Thomas Augustine Daly—poet.
Born at Philadelphia, 1871. Left college without a degree. Honorary higher degrees. In 1889 became a newspaper man, and since 1891 has been connected as reviewer, editorial writer, and “columnist” with Philadelphia newspapers; associate editor of theEvening Ledger, 1915-8.
Mr. Daly has written good poetry in English, but is bestknown for the dialect verses which he has published in the columns edited by him. His most popular verses are in the Irish and Italian dialects.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Olive Tilford Dargan (Mrs. Pegram Dargan)—poet, dramatist.
Born in Kentucky. Educated at the University of Nashville and at Radcliffe. Taught in Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and Canada until she married. Traveled abroad, 1910-14. Winner of $500 prize offered by the Southern Society of New York for best book by Southern writer, 1916.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Mary Carolyn Davies—poet.
Born at Sprague, Washington, and educated in and near Portland, Oregon. As a freshman at the University of California, she won the Emily Chamberlin Cook prize for poetry, 1912, and also the Bohemian Club prize.
The poems of Miss Davies express “the girl consciousness” (Kreymborg).
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Fannie Stearns Davis.SeeFannie Stearns Davis Gifford
Margaret Wade Deland (Mrs. Lorin F. Deland)—novelist, short-story writer.
Born at a village called Manchester, now a part of Alleghany, Pennsylvania, 1857. Educated in private schools, and studied drawing and design at Cooper Institute. Later, taught design in a girls’ school in New York City.
Mrs. Deland’s father was a Presbyterian and her mother an Episcopalian (cf.John Ward, Preacher), and her home town is the “Old Chester” of her books.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Floyd Dell—novelist.
Born in Barry, Illinois, 1887. Left school at sixteen for factory work. Literary editor of theChicago Evening Post. Literary editor ofThe Massesand now ofThe Liberator.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Babette Deutsch (Mrs. Avrahm Yarmolinsky)—poet, critic.
Born in New York City, 1895. A. B., Barnard, 1917. Later, worked at the School for Social Research. She attracted attention by her first volume of poems,Banners, 1919.
Studies and Reviews
John (Roderigo) Dos Passos—novelist.
Mr. Dos Passos’ presentation (Three Soldiers) of the experiences of privates in the U. S. Army during the War roused violent discussion.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Theodore Dreiser—novelist, dramatist.
Born at Terre Haute, Indiana, 1871, of German ancestry. Educated in the public schools of Warsaw, Indiana, and at the University of Indiana. Newspaper work in Chicago and St. Louis, 1892-5. Editor ofEvery Month(literary and musical magazine), 1895-8. Editorial positions onMcClure’s,Century,Cosmopolitan, and various other magazines, finally becoming editor-in-chief of the Butterick Publications (Delineator,Designer,New Idea,English Delineator), 1907-10. Organized the National Child Rescue Campaign, 1907.
Suggestions For Reading
1. As Mr. Dreiser is considered by many critics the novelist of biggest stature as yet produced by America, the natureand sources of his strength and of his weakness deserve careful analysis. Observe (1) that his attitude toward life and his general method derive from Zola; (2) that his materials are drawn from his extensive and varied experience as a journalist; (3) that these two facts are exemplified in brief in his biographical studies,Twelve Men, which are “human documents.”
2. Note the dates ofSister Carrieand ofJennie Gerhardt, and work out Dreiser’s loss and gain during the long period of silence between them.
3.Hey, Rub-a-Dub-Dub(cf.Nation, 109 [’19]: 278) should be read by every student of Dreiser, for its revelation of his attitude toward humanity, which contributes largely to the greatness of his work, and of his failure to think out a point of view, which is a fundamental weakness. Note his admission: “I am one of those curious persons who cannot make up their minds about anything.”
4. With what types of material does Mr. Dreiser succeed best? Why?
5. Discuss Mr. Dreiser’s style in connection with the following topics: (1) economy; (2) realism; (3) suggestion; (4) taste; (5) rhythmic beauty. What deeply rooted defect is suggested by the following description of the Woolworth Building in New York:—“lifts its defiant spear of clay into the very maw of heaven”?
6. How far does Mr. Dreiser represent American life? Do you think his work will be for some time the best that we can do in literature?
7. Read Mr. Van Doren’s article (listed below) for suggestion of other points for discussion. The following passage is especially significant:
Not the incurable awkwardness of his style nor his occasional merciless verbosity nor his too frequent interpositions of crude argument can destroy the effect which he produces at his best—that of a noble spirit brooding over a world which in spite of many condemnations he deeply, somberly loves. Something peasantlike in his genius may blind him a little to the finer shades of character and set him astray in his reports of cultivated society. His conscience about telling the plaintruth may suffer at times from a dogmatic tolerance which refuses to draw lines between good and evil or between beautiful and ugly or between wise and foolish. But he gains, on the whole, more than he loses by the magnitude of his cosmic philosophizing.... From somewhere sound accents of an authority not sufficiently explained by the mere accuracy of his versions of life. Though it may indeed be difficult for a thinker of the widest views to contract himself to the dimensions needed for realistic art, and though he may often fail when he attempts it, when he does succeed he has the opportunity, which the mere worldling lacks, of ennobling his art with some of the great lights of the poets.
Not the incurable awkwardness of his style nor his occasional merciless verbosity nor his too frequent interpositions of crude argument can destroy the effect which he produces at his best—that of a noble spirit brooding over a world which in spite of many condemnations he deeply, somberly loves. Something peasantlike in his genius may blind him a little to the finer shades of character and set him astray in his reports of cultivated society. His conscience about telling the plaintruth may suffer at times from a dogmatic tolerance which refuses to draw lines between good and evil or between beautiful and ugly or between wise and foolish. But he gains, on the whole, more than he loses by the magnitude of his cosmic philosophizing.... From somewhere sound accents of an authority not sufficiently explained by the mere accuracy of his versions of life. Though it may indeed be difficult for a thinker of the widest views to contract himself to the dimensions needed for realistic art, and though he may often fail when he attempts it, when he does succeed he has the opportunity, which the mere worldling lacks, of ennobling his art with some of the great lights of the poets.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois—man of letters.
Born at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 1865. Of negro descent but with large admixture of white blood. A. B.,Fisk University, 1888; Harvard, 1890; A. M., 1891; Ph. D., 1895. Studied at the University of Berlin. Professor of economics and history, Atlanta University, 1896-1910. Director of publicity of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and editor of theCrisis, 1910—.
Mr. Du Bois is a distinguished economist and primarily a propagandist for the equal rights and education of the negro, but he belongs to literature as the author ofDarkwater.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Finley Peter Dunne—humorist.
Born at Chicago, 1867. Educated in Chicago public schools. Began newspaper work as reporter, 1885. OnChicago Evening PostandChicago Times Herald, 1892-7. Editor of theChicago Journal, 1897-1900. Since 1900 has lived and worked in New York.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa)—writer.
Born at Redwood Falls, Minnesota, 1858, of Santee Sioux ancestry, his father being a full-blood Indian, and his mother a half-breed. B. S., Dartmouth, 1887; M. D., Boston University, 1890. Government physician, Pine Ridge Agency, 1890-3. Indian secretary, Y. M. C. A., 1894-7. Attorney for Santee Sioux at Washington, 1897-1900. Government physician, Crow Creek, South Dakota, 1900-3. Appointed to revise Sioux family names, 1903-9.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Max Eastman—poet, essayist, critic.
Born at Canandaigua, New York, 1883. Both his parents were Congregationalist preachers. A. B., Williams College, 1905. From 1907 to 1911, associate in philosophy at Columbia. In 1911, began to give his entire time to studying and writing about the problems of economic inequality. In 1913,became editor ofThe Masses, a periodical which voiced his theories, and which in 1917 becameThe Liberator.
In hisEnjoyment of Poetry, Mr. Eastman shows in an interesting way how poetry can be made to contribute to the enrichment of life.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Walter Prichard Eaton—critic, essayist.
Born at Malden, Massachusetts, 1878. A. B., Harvard, 1900. Dramatic critic on theNew York Tribune, 1902-7, and theNew York Sun, 1907-8, and on theAmerican Magazine, 1909-18.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
“Albert Edwards.”SeeArthur Bullard.
T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot—poet, critic.
Born at St. Louis, Missouri, 1888. A. B., Harvard, 1909; A. M., 1910. Studied at the Sorbonne, Paris, and at Merton College, Oxford. Teacher and lecturer in London since 1913.
Suggestions for Reading
1. Is Mr. Eliot’s poetry derived from a keen sense of life experienced or from literature? What echoes of earlier poets do you find in his work?
2. Does the adjectivedistinguishedapply to his work? What are the sources of his distinction? What evidences of fresh vision of old things do you find? of unexpected and true associations and contrasts? of a delicate sense for essential details that make a picture? of the power of suggestive condensation? of ability to get an emotional effect through irony?
3. Consider the following quotation from Mr. Eliot as illuminative of his method of work: “The contemplation of the horrid or sordid by the artist is the necessary and negative aspect of the impulse toward beauty.”
4. It is interesting to make a special study of Mr. Eliot’s management of verse.
5. What, if any, temperamental defect is likely to interfere with his development?
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
John Erskine—essayist, poet.
Born in New York City, 1879. A. B., Columbia, 1900; A. M., 1901; Ph. D., 1903. Taught English at Amherst and Columbia. Since 1916, professor at Columbia. Co-editor of theCambridge History of American Literature.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Theodosia Faulks (Theodosia Garrison: Mrs. Frederic J. Faulks)—poet.
Born at Newark, New Jersey, 1874. Educated in private schools.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Edna Ferber—short-story writer, novelist.
Born at Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1887. Educated in the public and high schools of Appleton, Wisconsin. Began newspaper work at seventeen as reporter on theAppleton Daily Crescent. Later, employed on theMilwaukee Journaland theChicago Tribune.
Miss Ferber’s special contribution to American Literature thus far has been through her studies of American women in business.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Arthur Davison Ficke—poet.
Born at Davenport, Iowa, 1883. A. B., Harvard, 1904. Studied at the College of Law, State University of Iowa. Taught English at State University of Iowa, 1905-7. Admitted to the bar, 1908. Under the name “Anne Knish” joined Witter Bynner (q. v.) under the pseudonym “Emanuel Morgan” in writingSpectra. Mr. Ficke’s knowledge of art, especially Japanese art, has an important bearing upon his work.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Dorothy Canfield Fisher (Dorothea Frances Canfield Fisher, Mrs. John Redwood Fisher)—novelist.
Born at Lawrence, Kansas, 1879. Ph. B., Ohio State University, 1899; Ph. D., Columbia, 1904. Secretary of Horace Mann School, 1902-5. Studied and traveled widely in Europe and speaks several languages. Spent several years in France, doing war work.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
F(rancis) Scott (Key) Fitzgerald—novelist, short-story writer.
Born in 1896.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
John Gould Fletcher—poet, critic.
Born at Little Rock, Arkansas, 1886. Studied at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and at Harvard, 1903-7. Has lived much in England.
Suggestions for Reading
1. Read the prefaces toIrradiationsandGoblins and Pagodasfor Mr. Fletcher’s theory of poetry before you read the poems themselves. Has he succeeded in making the arts of painting and music do service to poetry?
2. After reading the poems, consider the justice or injustice of Mr. Aiken’s criticism: “It is a sort of absolute poetry, a poetry of detached waver and brilliance, a beautiful flowering of language alone—a parthenogenesis, as if language were fertilized by itself rather than by thought or feeling. Remove the magic of phrase and sound and there is nothing left: no thread of continuity, no thought, no story, no emotion. But the magic of phrase and sound is powerful, and it takes one into a fantastic world.”
3. Do you find any poems to which the quotation given above does not apply? Are these of more or of less value than the others?
Bibliography
For bibliography of editions out of print, seeA Miscellany of American Poetry. 1920.
Studies and Reviews
Sewell Ford(Maine, 1868)—short-story writer.
The creator of Shorty McCabe and Torchy. For bibliography, seeWho’s Who in America.
John (William) Fox, Jr.—novelist.
Born in Kentucky, 1862, of a pioneer family. Pupil of James Lane Allen (q. v.), whose influence on his work should be noted. Also associated in friendship with Roosevelt and with Thomas Nelson Page. War correspondent during the Spanish and Japanese wars. Died in 1919.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Waldo David Frank—novelist.
Born in 1889. His criticism of America (1919) roused much discussion.
Bibliography
Studies and Reviews
Mary E(leanor) Wilkins Freeman (Mrs. Charles M. Freeman)—short-story writer, novelist, dramatist.
Born at Randolph, Massachusetts, 1862. Educated there and at Mount Holyoke Seminary, 1874.
Bibliography