Booth Tarkington
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Newton Booth Tarkington was born on the 29th of July in
Indianapolis,
Indiana. He was born into a comfortable family, although
some difficulties came in 1873, when his father lost a great deal of money in
the stock market crash of that year. Still the family had well-established
roots in Indianapolis, and stayed afloat with some assistance from his
grandfather (Newton Booth) and uncles (one of whom at one time provided
a house for the family to live in).
He spent two years at Purdue and two years at
Princeton before returning to Indianapolis in 1893 to earn
a living by sketching and writing. His first efforts were illustrated short
stories that he submitted to magazines; usually to be rejected. Success came
in 1898 when his first novel, A Gentleman from Indiana was accepted
for publication by S.S. McClure of NYC. After the success of
A Gentleman, Tarkington entered into his first marriage, with Laurel
Louise Fletcher, in 1902.
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Newton Booth Tarkington (1869-1946)
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Booth and Laurel had one child, a daughter, who was named after the child's
mother. But the
marriage
didn't last and, after a divorce in 1911, Tarkington
married his second wife, Susanah Kiefer Robinson in 1912.
He became a very successful author and was able to build a summer home
for Susanah in Kennebunkport, Maine, where the couple lived from May to
December of each year; returning to Indianapolis for the remainder of the
year.
Many of Tarkington's novels depict the experience that he enjoyed as a
member of a secure and comfortable upper-middle class in
America. Unfortunately, this was the experience of only a small minority
of Americans of the time; the majority experience of urban Americans of
the time would be closer to Upton Sinclair's
The Jungle. But, as might be
expected (given his family background and his success as an author of
popular fiction), Booth Tarkington joined enthusiastically into the politics
of the Republican party and vociferously opposed the programs and policies
of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which did so much to establish a more equitable
distribution of wealth in the United States.
After the onset of the great depression, like Charles Lindbergh,
Tarkington's distinctly right-of-center political ideology set him at odds
with the majority of Americans; which may be one reason for the
diminished level of success achieved by his published works in the 1930s
and 40s. Yet his pre-1928 publications continued to enjoy great success,
both in their printed forms as well as the basis of popular films.
Alice Adams (1921)
Story of a young middle-class woman, struggling to gain acceptance in
higher society. Winner of the 1922 Pulitzer Prize. Made into a
movie
starring Katherine Hepburn in 1935 (nominated for Best Picture among that
year's Academy Awards).
Alice Adams
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 258 KB |
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Ramsey Milholland (1919)
A novel of the first World War.
Ramsey Milholland
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 128 KB |
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The Magnificent Ambersons (1918)
Tarkington won two Pulitzer Prizes for his novels; one of those prizes
was for this one. In 1942, Orson Welles produced, directed and scripted
the screenplay for the cinematic version. It is a saga covering three
generations of a midwestern family.
The Magnificent Ambersons
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 310 KB |
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Harlequin and Columbine (1918)
Booth Tarkington was not only a novelist, but also a playwright who was
active in the theatre. Here is a story taken from that aspect of his life:
it is a tale of actors and a playwright in rehearsals for a play.
Harlequin and Columbine
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 74 KB |
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Seventeen (1917)
Seventeen
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 214 KB |
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Penrod and Sam (1916)
The sequel to Penrod.
Penrod and Sam
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 214 KB |
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Penrod (1914)
Juvenile humour. Stories about a mischievous and imaginative young boy.
Penrod
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 194 KB |
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The Flirt (1912)
Romantic comedy.
The Flirt
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 230 KB |
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Beasley's Christmas Party (1909)
Beasley's Christmas Party
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 55 KB |
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The Guest of Quesnay (1908)
The Guest of Quesnay
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 195 KB |
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His Own People (1907)
His Own People
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 56 KB |
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In the Arena (1905)
1902 was a busy year for Booth Tarkington. It was that year that
he got married to Laurel Louise Fletcher and elected to the Indiana State
House of Representatives. In the Arena is his memoir of his term as
a representative in the Indiana state legislature.
In the Arena
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 156 KB |
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The Conquest of Canaan (1905)
The Conquest of Canaan
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 261 KB |
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The Turmoil (1905)
The Turmoil
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 272 KB |
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The Beautiful Lady (1905)
The Beautiful Lady
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 53 KB |
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The Two Vanrevels (1902)
The Two Vanrevels
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 196 KB |
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Monsieur Beaucaire (1900)
Monsieur Beaucaire
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 43 KB |
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The Gentleman from Indiana (1899)
Booth Tarkington's first novel.
The Gentleman from Indiana
by Booth Tarkington |
Size: 317 KB |
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