The Mentor: Makers of American Fiction, Vol. 6, Num. 14, Serial No. 162, September 1, 1918
Page 2
_MAKERS OF MODERN AMERICAN FICTION_
BOOTH TARKINGTON]
_Booth Tarkington_
ONE
Towards the close of the last century Booth Tarkington wrote “TheGentleman from Indiana.” It is _as_ the Gentleman from Indiana that Mr.Tarkington has been widely known ever since. There was a time, somefifteen or twenty years ago, when every native Hoosier was supposed tohave the manuscript of a “Best-Selling” novel concealed somewhere abouthis person. Some of the authors died, and some of them went into otheroccupations, and the state has managed to live the belief down. But Mr.Tarkington remains the most conspicuous living figure linking Indianawith letters.
Born in Indianapolis on July 29, 1869, he studied at Phillips-Exeter,and later at Princeton. In both places he was recognized as one likelyto go far. Princeton he entered as a junior, but “made” the editorialboards of both college publications, the _Tiger_ and the _Lit_--hissketches for the former being rather better than his literarycontributions to the latter. He wrote the play for the TriangleClub, and, at graduation, was voted the most popular and promisingman in the Class of 1893. There followed, however, lean years, whenthe prophecies seemed unlikely of fulfillment. That was a period,when, like the John Harkless of his own story (“The Gentleman fromIndiana”), he was figuratively “sitting on a rail fence in Indiana.”Always a hard worker, he toiled unremittingly at invention andrewriting, only to have the manuscripts that he submitted with brighthopes come back to him with disheartening regularity. That was thestory of the five or six years after 1893. His first tale to be soldwas “Cherry,” a whimsical romance of the country about Princeton andundergraduate life at the College of New Jersey in pre-Revolutionarydays. Accepted by _Harper’s_, it was not published until long after.Then, suddenly, success came. Almost simultaneously “The Gentleman fromIndiana” and “Monsieur Beaucaire” appeared, the first a full-lengthnovel of mid-western life, the second a charming little romance ofeighteenth-century manners at Bath when Beau Nash reigned and a Princeof the Blood came over from France in the guise of a barber in theFrench Minister’s train. The recognition won with those two bookshas widened with the years. After the “Gentleman” and “Beaucaire”came “The Two Van Revels,” the germ of which had been a short taleof two thousand words written in the author’s undergraduate days. Asa result of a brief fling at political life Mr. Tarkington wrote thestories collected under the title “In the Arena.” That was followed by“The Conquest of Canaan,” the story of a discredited boy who leaveshis native town under a shadow, and returns to win its reluctantadmiration. The years spent about that time in Europe suggested “TheGuest of Quesnay,” and two shorter stories with scenes laid in Italy,“The Beautiful Lady,” and “Mine Own People.” The chief distinction of“The Flirt,” in which the author returned to the Indiana setting of theearlier books, was the picture of the heroine’s impish brother, HedrickMadison. “The Turmoil,” dealing with the evolution of one of the greatmid-western cities, showed Mr. Tarkington in the full maturity of hispower. After that book he struck a new and rich vein in his sketchesdelineating boy life, the stories dealing with Penrod Schofield andWilliam Sylvanus Baxter having found a response in every corner of theland. Mr. Tarkington has also to his credit considerable achievementas a playwright. “The Man From Home,” written in collaboration withHarry Leon Wilson, was one of the most successful plays of the Americanstage of recent years. Other plays from his pen are “Cameo Kirby,”“Springtime,” “Mister Antonio,” “The Country Cousin,” and “Seventeen.”Calling Indianapolis his home town, Mr. Tarkington spends much of histime at Kennebunkport, Maine, and usually passes a month or two everyyear in Princeton, New Jersey.