Contemporary American Literature Part 61

Peacemakers--Blessed and Otherwise. 1922.

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Am. M. 62 ('06): Oct., 569, 574 (portrait); 63 ('06): Nov., p. 79; 78 ('14): Nov., p. 10 (portrait only).

Bookm. 16 ('03): 438. (Portraits.) Craftsman, 14 ('08): 2 (portrait).

Critic, 46 ('05): 296 (portrait), 366.

Cur. Lit. 37 ('04): 28; 52 ('12): 682. (Portraits.) Dial, 28 ('00): 192.

Ind. 90 ('17): 34; 91 ('17): 19. (Portraits.) McClure's, 24 ('04): 109 (portrait), 217.

Nation, 70 ('00): 164; 104 ('17): 84.

Outlook, 64 ('00): 413; 78 ('04): 283 (portrait).

+(Newton) Booth Tarkington+--novelist, dramatist.

Born at Indianapolis, Indiana, 1869, of French ancestry on one side. Came early under the influence of Riley (q.v.), a neighbor. Educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, Purdue University, and Princeton. Honorary higher degrees. Popular at college for his singing, acting and social talents. Began to study art but was not successful as an artist. Has written songs. Takes an active part in the social and political life of his state. Served in the Indiana legislature, 1902-3.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

1. Consider separately Mr. Tarkington's studies of boy life (especially _Penrod_), and of adolescence (especially _Seventeen_ and _Clarence_).

Judged by your own experience and observation, are they presented with true knowledge and humor, or are they a farcical skimming of surface eccentricities? Compare them with Mark Twain's books about boys and with Howells's _Boy's Town_.

2. Consider separately the historical novels. Is pure romance Mr.

Tarkington's field? Why or why not?

3. Consider the justice or the injustice of the following:

According to all the codes of the more serious kinds of fiction, the unwillingness--or the inability--to conduct a plot to its legitimate ending implies some weakness in the artistic character; and this weakness is Mr. Tarkington's princ.i.p.al defect.... Now this causes the more regret for the reason that he has what is next best to character in a novelist--that is, knack. He has the knack of romance, when he wants to employ it: a light, allusive manner; a sufficient acquaintance with certain charming historical epochs and the "properties" thereto pertaining...; a considerable experience in the ways of the "world"; gay colors, swift moods, the note of tender elegy. He has also the knack of satire, which he employs more frequently than romance ... he has traveled a long way from the methods of his greener days. Why, then, does he continue to trifle with his threadbare adolescents, as if he were afraid to write candidly about his coevals? Why does he drift with the sentimental tide and make propaganda for provincial complacency?

4. In what direction lies Mr. Tarkington's future? Is he likely to become more than a popular writer? What, if any, elements of enduring value do you find in his work?

5. What "Hoosier" elements do you find in his work? Compare him with Ade, Riley, Nicholson, and with the older writers of Indiana, Edward Eggleston, and Maurice Thompson.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Gentleman from Indiana. 1899.

*Monsieur Beaucaire. 1900. (Dramatized, with E.G. Sutherland.) The Two Vanrevels. 1902.

Cherry. 1903.

In the Arena. 1905.

The Conquest of Canaan. 1905.

The Beautiful Lady. 1905.

His Own People. 1907.

The Guest of Quesnay. 1908.

Beasley's Christmas Party. 1909.

Beauty and the Jacobin. 1911.

The Flirt. 1913.

*Penrod. 1914.

*The Turmoil. 1915.

Penrod and Sam. 1916.

*Seventeen. 1916.

The Magnificent Ambersons. 1918.

Ramsey Milholland. 1919.

*Clarence. 1919. (Play.) *Alice Adams. 1921.

Gentle Julia. 1922.

For bibliography of unpublished plays, cf. _Who's Who in America_.

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Cooper.

Eaton, W.P. At the New Theatre. 1910.

Holliday, Robert C. Booth Tarkington. 1918.

Nicholson, Meredith. The Hoosiers. (National Studies in American Letters.) 1900.

Phelps.

Am. M. 83 ('17): Jan., p. 9; 86 ('18): Nov., p. 18. (Portraits.) Bookm. 16 ('02): 214 (portrait), 373; 21 ('05): 5 (portrait); 24 ('07): 605 (portrait); 42 ('16): 505, 507 (portrait); 46 ('17): 259 (portrait); 48 ('18): 493.

Bookm. (Lond.) 55 ('19): 123 (portrait).

Critic, 36 ('00): 399 (portrait); 37 ('00): 396.

Cur. Lit. 30 ('01): 280.

Harp. W. 46 ('02): 1773 (portrait).

Ind. 52 ('00): 67, 2795 (portrait).

Liv. Age, 300 ('19): 541.

Mentor, 6 ('18): supp., p. 3 (portrait).

Nation, 103 ('16): 330; 112 ('21): 233. (Carl Van Doren.) Outlook, 72 ('02): 817 (portrait); 90 ('08): 701; 126 ('20): 281; 128 ('21): 658 (portrait).

World's Work, 39 ('20); 496 portrait).

+Bert Leston Taylor+ (+"B.L.T."+, Ma.s.sachusetts, 1866)--humorist, poet, "columnist."

Editor of "A Line o' Type or Two" in the _Chicago Tribune_ until his death in 1921. Characteristic books are _Motley Measures_, 1913, and _The So-Called Human Race_, 1922. For complete bibliography, cf. _Who's Who in America_.

+Sara Teasdale (Mrs. Ernst B. Filsinger)+--poet.

Born at St. Louis, Missouri, 1884. Educated in private schools, St.

Louis. Traveled in Europe and the Near East. Received prizes from the Poetry Society of America, 1916, 1918.

Sara Teasdale's love lyrics have been admired for their simplicity, feeling, and perfection of form. They need merely to be read to be appreciated.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sonnets to Duse, and Other Poems. 1907.