Booth Tarkington

Newton Booth Tarkington ( born July 29, 1869 in Indianapolis, Indiana, † May 19, 1946 ) was an American writer.

Life

Tarkington was the son of the lawyer John S. Tarkington and his wife Elizabeth Booth Tarkington. His name " Booth" he received after his maternal uncle Newton Booth, 11th Governor of California and U.S. Senator.

Tarkington attended Shortridge High School in his hometown and moved to the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter (New Hampshire) later. Subsequently, he began studying at Purdue University and moved to the Princeton University two years later. Despite founder Barney (→ Great Depression ), the family could afford it.

1902 Laurel Fletcher Tarkington married and had with her a daughter, Laurel ( 1906-1923 ). 1911, the couple divorced and the following year married his second wife Susannah Tarkington K. Robinson.

Tarkington began from the twenties to lose his eyesight, and was completely blind after a few years. His other works he dictated to a secretary. In 1923 he settled in his native town and remained there until his death. Regular trips led him repeatedly to Kennebunkport (Maine) to his house.

Booth Tarkington died on May 19, 1946 in Indianapolis and found on the Crown Hill Cemetery their final resting place.

Reception

Tarkington wrote the foreword to the book New Lands (1923 ) of the Para scientist Charles Fort, and in 1931 a founding member of the Fortean Society.

His debut novel, The Gentleman from Indiana ( 1899), followed by numerous other works such as Monsieur Beaucaire (1900), The Two Vanrevels (1902 ), Penrod (1914 ), The Turmoil (1915), Penrod and Sam (1916 ) and Seventeen (1917 ). In addition, published articles written by him in the magazine Harper 's Magazine and the weekly magazine The Saturday Evening Post.

Many of his works were also made ​​into a movie. Monsieur Beaucaire, 1930 under the title of Ernst Lubitsch Monte Carlo in theaters. Followed in 1935 Alice Adams by director George Stevens with Katharine Hepburn in the title role, for which she received a 1936 Oscar nomination for Best Actress. 1942 was The Magnifent Ambersons, directed by Orson Welles with Joseph Cotten and Dolores Costello in the lead roles.

Honors

Works (selection)

• On plays, playwrights, and playgoers. Selections from the letters of Boothe Tarkington to George C. Tyler and John Peter Toohey, 1918-1925. University Press, Princeton, N. J. In 1959.
• Your amiable uncle. Letters to his nephews. Bobbs- Merrill, Indianapolis, 1949.

• The two Vanrevels.
• In the Arena. Stories of the political life. In 1905.
• War stories. , 1919.

• Poe 's Run and other poems. In 1904.

• The gentleman from Indiana., 1899.
• Monsieur Beaucaire. , 1900.
• Old gray eagle. In 1901.
• Cherry. In 1901.
• The beautiful lady. In 1905.
• Growth - Trilogy

• Gentle Julia. In 1922.
• The Plutocrat. , 1927. German Translation: The man with the dollar. Publisher valley, Vienna 1929.

• The man from Home. , 1908.
• Colonel Satan, or A Night in the Life of Aaron Burr.
• The humble servant. , 1910.
• Beauty and the Jacobin. An Interlude of the French Revolution. In 1912.
• The Gibson Upright. , 1919.
• The Country cousins ​​. A comedy in four acts. In 1921.
• The Wren. A comedy in three acts. In 1922.
• The intimate strangers. In 1921.
• Clarence. A comedy. In 1921.
• The Ghost Story. In 1922.

• Some old portraits. A book about art and human beings. , 1939.

• John Beecroft (ed.): The gentleman of Indiana. A treasury of Booth Tarkington. Doubleday, Garden City, N. Y. In 1957.
• Works. Doubleday Page, Garden Cirty, N. Y. 1922/32 (27 vols ).