Gerald Warner Brace
Encyclopedia
Gerald Warner Brace was an American
novelist, writer
, educator, sailor
and boat builder
. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England
.
, Long Island
, Suffolk County, New York
, and died on July 20, 1978 at Blue Hill, Maine
.
He was a son of Charles Loring Brace, Jr., a 1874 graduate of Phillips Academy
in Andover, Massachusetts
and a graduate of Yale College
class of 1876 with a degree in Civil Engineering. He was a Mugwump
in politics. He was employed as Superintendent and Engineer of Construction with the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway
at Minneapolis, Minnesota
. When his father died in 1890, he was invited by the trustees of the New York Children's Aid Society to take up as Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of that society.
His mother was Louise Tillman Warner, the daughter of Dr. Lewis Tillman Warner and Elizabeth Williams Gray. Elizabeth was the daughter of Elizabeth Williams Hull, a daughter of Dr. Amos Gift Hull, a well known surgeon of New York, and a sister of Dr. Amos Gerald Hull (1810–1859), an 1832 graduate of Rutgers Medical College and an influential Homeopathic Physician.
Elizabeth Williams Gray was also the daughter was Dr. John Franklin Gray
(1804–1882), an 1826 graduate of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
and the first practitioner of Homeopathy
in the United States. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery
in Brooklyn, New York. He was a grandson of the Rev. Mr. Blackleach Burritt
and a descendant of Governor Thomas Welles
.
Dr. Warner's second wife was Sarah Loring MacKaye, (1841–1876) a woman of extraordinary charm and brilliance, and a pianist of professional ability. She was the daughter of Emily Steele and Colonel James M. MacKaye, a successful attorney and an ardent abolitionist and an organizer of The Wells Fargo Express Company, and President of American Telegraph Company. Sarah was a sister of American playwright, actor, theater manager and inventor James Morrison Steele MacKaye
.
He is the grandson of Letitia Neill of Belfast, Ireland
and Charles Loring Brace
, Yale College 1846, who was a contributing philanthropist in the field of social reform. He is considered a father of the modern foster care movement and was most renowned for starting the Orphan Train movement of the mid-19th century, and for founding The Children's Aid Society
in 1853.
He is a great-grandson of John Pierce Brace, an 1812 graduate of Williams College
who was head teacher at Litchfield Female Academy
. The Academy was founded in 1792 by his aunt, Sarah Pierce
(1767–1852) and was one the earliest schools for girls in the United States.
He left Litchfield Female Academy in 1833 and moved on to a position at Catharine Beecher
's Hartford Female Seminary. He was also editor of the Hartford Courant. His wife was Lucy Porter, the sister-in-law of Lyman Beecher
, Yale College, 1797 and a descendant of Senator Rufus King
, who was one of the List of signatories of the United States Constitution
He had a typical upper-middle class Victorian upbringing. He always looked back with nostalgia on the moral certainties and romantic visions of that age. Though he lived in a century of industrialization and technology, and rapid social change, he dreamt of sailing ships, lonely country farms, and romantic adventures.
Although Brace spent his youth in New York, he became a quintessential New Englander. From the beginning of the 20th century, the Brace family summered in Maine, especially at Deer Isle. Sailing was a way of life. He wrote about it in both his fiction and non-fiction.
on Fifty-sixth Street, between Park Avenue
and Madison Avenue in New York City. In 1913, he began attending The Gunnery
and graduated from Loomis Chaffee School in 1918. He received his Bachelor of Arts
degree in English
from Amherst College
in 1922. He received both his Master of Arts (postgraduate)
and Ph.D degrees from Harvard University
.
When he entered Amherst College he first became acquainted with and studied under the poet Robert Frost
. In later years, when both he and Frost lived in the Boston area, Frost would often join them for dinner and fascinated Brace's children by his speculative nonstop monologue.
It was also during his college years that he began taking long hikes in The Berkshires
and then into the mountains of Vermont.
He became acquainted with the harsh life of the rural people who lived on the back country roads, subconsciously gathering subject matter for his novels. Many of his books dealt with a way of life that was already disappearing, however, his plots and writing style continued to evolve.
Hoping to learn more about boat design, Gerald entered a graduate program in Architecture at Harvard, but he soon realized that he was in the wrong field. He really wanted to write, and he was allowed to transfer to English and take a seminar in Creative Writing.
After he received his Master’s Degree, he was offered a teaching position at Williams College where he added a passion for skiing to his enjoyment of long mountain hikes. He found that he got along well with students and enjoyed teaching.
by the Rev. James Alexander Fairley, (Rev. Fairley's son, Lincoln Fairley, was Brace's roommate at Harvard) Huldah Potter Laird, born on November 12, 1902 at Boston
, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
and died in August 1986 in Belmont, Massachusetts
. She was the daughter of Raymond Gilchrist Laird and Huldah Blanche Potter. She taught biology at Lasell College
(formerly known as Lasell Seminary) prior to her marriage to Brace.
Gerald and Huldah were the parents of three children:
, and later at Dartmouth College
and Mount Holyoke College
. He has spent most of his teaching career at Boston University
where the creative writing program still awards a prize in his name.
It was said of him that as a sailor he as skilled as any lobsterman who shared Penobscot Bay
. Laconic in his ways, he woke early to write, to shape words that spoke his sense of what Maine stood for against the ebbing of old New England.
His college years at Amherst served to confirm his strong and romantic attachment to the traditions of New England. He always looked for the old ways, the remnants of the past in action ... and though he knew life and the world were harsh and often tragic, he had a conviction that old New England had once discovered a classic serenity that could still be perceived.
above all of the English novelists and wrote an introduction to The Last Chronicle of Barset
. Reviewers of his novel, The Department, inevitably compared him to Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow CBE
. One reviewer called his novel The Department the American equivalent of The Masters, which was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
in 1954, in its witty and basically good-humored anatomy of every English Department there ever was.
He was referred to by The New England Quarterly
as "the forgotten New England novelist," and he was renowned in his time for his beautifully illustrated chronicles of life along and near the New England coast. A writer, sailor, boat designer, and teacher, he introduced readers to seafaring folk and farmers, townspeople and "summer people," and has made us see them, their lives, and their background.
From his first book through of his succeeding books, it is dominated by scene. He has few equals in New England landscapes and perhaps none in describing her coastline, especially the jagged rock and spruce covered coast of Maine. It was also said of all of his novels that the quality of his "prose style so perfected and shaped that it is difficult to find anywhere a poorly written sentence."
What follows is a brief description of his works.
in 1948.
It is also one of the first novels portraying the institutional and personal responses to political influences on college campuses during the 1960s.
Most of Brace's novels are set in New England. They include:
nominee for fiction. In 1967 he won the Shell Award for Distinguished Writing from Boston University.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, educator, sailor
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
and boat builder
Boat building
Boat building, one of the oldest branches of engineering, is concerned with constructing the hulls of boats and, for sailboats, the masts, spars and rigging.-Parts:* Bow - the front and generally sharp end of the hull...
. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
.
Early life and ancestors
He was born on September 24, 1901 in IslipIslip (town), New York
The Town of Islip is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York . Located on the south shore of Long Island, the town population was 322,612 at the 2000 census. The smaller, unincorporated hamlet of Islip lies within the town.-Demographics:...
, Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
, and died on July 20, 1978 at Blue Hill, Maine
Blue Hill, Maine
Blue Hill is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,390 at the 2000 census. It is home to Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, George Stevens Academy, the now-closed Liberty School, New Surry Theatre, Kneisel Hall, Bagaduce Music Lending Library, the Kollegewidgwok Yacht Club...
.
He was a son of Charles Loring Brace, Jr., a 1874 graduate of Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
in Andover, Massachusetts
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...
and a graduate of Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
class of 1876 with a degree in Civil Engineering. He was a Mugwump
Mugwump
The Mugwumps were Republican political activists who bolted from the United States Republican Party by supporting Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the United States presidential election of 1884. They switched parties because they rejected the financial corruption associated with Republican...
in politics. He was employed as Superintendent and Engineer of Construction with the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway
Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway
The Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway was an American Class I railroad that built and operated lines radiating south and west from Minneapolis, Minnesota which existed for 90 years from 1870 to 1960....
at Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
. When his father died in 1890, he was invited by the trustees of the New York Children's Aid Society to take up as Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of that society.
His mother was Louise Tillman Warner, the daughter of Dr. Lewis Tillman Warner and Elizabeth Williams Gray. Elizabeth was the daughter of Elizabeth Williams Hull, a daughter of Dr. Amos Gift Hull, a well known surgeon of New York, and a sister of Dr. Amos Gerald Hull (1810–1859), an 1832 graduate of Rutgers Medical College and an influential Homeopathic Physician.
Elizabeth Williams Gray was also the daughter was Dr. John Franklin Gray
John Franklin Gray
John Franklin Gray was an American educator and physician a pioneer in the field of and the first practitioner of homoeopathy in the United States...
(1804–1882), an 1826 graduate of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, often known as P&S, is a graduate school of Columbia University that is located on the health sciences campus in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan...
and the first practitioner of Homeopathy
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...
in the United States. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County , New York. It was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.-History:...
in Brooklyn, New York. He was a grandson of the Rev. Mr. Blackleach Burritt
Blackleach Burritt
Blackleach Burritt was a preacher during the American Revolutionary War. During the American War of Independence, he was incarcerated in the Sugar House Prison-Early life and ancestors:...
and a descendant of Governor Thomas Welles
Thomas Welles
Thomas Welles is the only man in Connecticut's history to hold all four top offices: governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary. In 1639, he was elected as the first treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut, and from 1640–1649 served as the colony's secretary...
.
Dr. Warner's second wife was Sarah Loring MacKaye, (1841–1876) a woman of extraordinary charm and brilliance, and a pianist of professional ability. She was the daughter of Emily Steele and Colonel James M. MacKaye, a successful attorney and an ardent abolitionist and an organizer of The Wells Fargo Express Company, and President of American Telegraph Company. Sarah was a sister of American playwright, actor, theater manager and inventor James Morrison Steele MacKaye
Steele MacKaye
James Morrison Steele MacKaye was an American playwright, actor, theater manager and inventor. Having acted, written, directed and produced numerous and popular plays and theatrical spectaculars of the day, he became one of the most famous actors and theater producers of his...
.
He is the grandson of Letitia Neill of Belfast, Ireland
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and Charles Loring Brace
Charles Loring Brace
Charles Loring Brace was a contributing philanthropist in the field of social reform...
, Yale College 1846, who was a contributing philanthropist in the field of social reform. He is considered a father of the modern foster care movement and was most renowned for starting the Orphan Train movement of the mid-19th century, and for founding The Children's Aid Society
Children's Aid Society
__notoc__The Children’s Aid Society is a private charitable organization based in New York City. It serves 150,000 children per year, providing foster care, medical and mental health services, and a wide range of educational, recreational and advocacy services through dozens of community centers,...
in 1853.
He is a great-grandson of John Pierce Brace, an 1812 graduate of Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
who was head teacher at Litchfield Female Academy
Litchfield Female Academy
The Litchfield Female Academy, founded in 1792 by Sarah Pierce, was one of the most important institutions of female education in the United States. During the 30 years after its opening the school enrolled more than 2,000 students from 17 states and territories of the new republic, as well as...
. The Academy was founded in 1792 by his aunt, Sarah Pierce
Sarah Pierce
Sarah Pierce was a teacher, educator and founder of one the earliest schools for girls in the United States, the Litchfield Female Academy in Litchfield, Connecticut. The school having been established in her house in 1792 became known as the Litchfield Female Academy in 1827...
(1767–1852) and was one the earliest schools for girls in the United States.
He left Litchfield Female Academy in 1833 and moved on to a position at Catharine Beecher
Catharine Beecher
Catharine Esther Beecher was an American educator known for her forthright opinions on women's education as well as her vehement support of the many benefits of the incorporation of kindergarten into children's education....
's Hartford Female Seminary. He was also editor of the Hartford Courant. His wife was Lucy Porter, the sister-in-law of Lyman Beecher
Lyman Beecher
Lyman Beecher was a Presbyterian minister, American Temperance Society co-founder and leader, and the father of 13 children, many of whom were noted leaders, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Beecher, Edward Beecher, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Catharine Beecher, and Thomas...
, Yale College, 1797 and a descendant of Senator Rufus King
Rufus King
Rufus King was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. He also attended the Constitutional Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, who was one of the List of signatories of the United States Constitution
He had a typical upper-middle class Victorian upbringing. He always looked back with nostalgia on the moral certainties and romantic visions of that age. Though he lived in a century of industrialization and technology, and rapid social change, he dreamt of sailing ships, lonely country farms, and romantic adventures.
Although Brace spent his youth in New York, he became a quintessential New Englander. From the beginning of the 20th century, the Brace family summered in Maine, especially at Deer Isle. Sailing was a way of life. He wrote about it in both his fiction and non-fiction.
Education
When he turned 8, he began attending a private school for boys called the Allen-Stevenson SchoolAllen-Stevenson School
Allen-Stevenson is a private boys elementary school located at 132 East 78th Street in New York City, New York.- History :The Allen School was founded in 1883 by Francis Bellows Allen at a home on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. Its first class enrolled only three boys. In 1885, the school moved to...
on Fifty-sixth Street, between Park Avenue
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
and Madison Avenue in New York City. In 1913, he began attending The Gunnery
The Gunnery
The Gunnery is a coeducational boarding and day Prep school for 295 students in grades nine through twelve. The campus borders the village green of Washington, Connecticut, U.S., a small, historic town in the Litchfield Hills. The Gunnery has no religious or military affiliations.The Gunnery was...
and graduated from Loomis Chaffee School in 1918. He received his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
from Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
in 1922. He received both his Master of Arts (postgraduate)
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
and Ph.D degrees from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
When he entered Amherst College he first became acquainted with and studied under the poet Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
. In later years, when both he and Frost lived in the Boston area, Frost would often join them for dinner and fascinated Brace's children by his speculative nonstop monologue.
It was also during his college years that he began taking long hikes in The Berkshires
The Berkshires
The Berkshires , is a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut.Also referred to as the Berkshire Hills, Berkshire Mountains, and Berkshire Plateau, the region enjoys a vibrant tourism industry based on music, arts, and recreation.-Definition:The term...
and then into the mountains of Vermont.
He became acquainted with the harsh life of the rural people who lived on the back country roads, subconsciously gathering subject matter for his novels. Many of his books dealt with a way of life that was already disappearing, however, his plots and writing style continued to evolve.
Hoping to learn more about boat design, Gerald entered a graduate program in Architecture at Harvard, but he soon realized that he was in the wrong field. He really wanted to write, and he was allowed to transfer to English and take a seminar in Creative Writing.
After he received his Master’s Degree, he was offered a teaching position at Williams College where he added a passion for skiing to his enjoyment of long mountain hikes. He found that he got along well with students and enjoyed teaching.
Family
He married on December 3, 1927 at the Community Unitarian Church in White Plains, New YorkWhite Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
by the Rev. James Alexander Fairley, (Rev. Fairley's son, Lincoln Fairley, was Brace's roommate at Harvard) Huldah Potter Laird, born on November 12, 1902 at Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Suffolk County has no land border with Plymouth County to its southeast, but the two counties share a water boundary in the middle of Massachusetts Bay.-National protected areas:*Boston African American National Historic Site...
and died in August 1986 in Belmont, Massachusetts
Belmont, Massachusetts
Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census.- History :Belmont was founded on March 18, 1859 by former citizens of, and land from the bordering towns of Watertown, to the south; Waltham, to the west; and Arlington, then...
. She was the daughter of Raymond Gilchrist Laird and Huldah Blanche Potter. She taught biology at Lasell College
Lasell College
Lasell College is a private, non-sectarian, coeducational college located in the Newton, Massachusetts village of Auburndale. Lasell offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the liberal arts and professional fields of study.-History:...
(formerly known as Lasell Seminary) prior to her marriage to Brace.
Gerald and Huldah were the parents of three children:
- C. Loring BraceC. Loring BraceC. Loring Brace is an anthropologist at the University of Michigan. He considers the attempt "to introduce a Darwinian outlook into biological anthropology" to be his greatest contribution to the field of anthropology.-Life and work:...
, (1930 -) is an anthropologist at the University of MichiganUniversity of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
.http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/brace_c_loring.html - Gerald Warner Brace, Jr. (1931–2003)
- Barbara Brace Seeley (1934–2003)
Career
He began his career as an instructor and professor of English and of creative writing teaching briefly at Williams CollegeWilliams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, and later at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
and Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...
. He has spent most of his teaching career at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
where the creative writing program still awards a prize in his name.
It was said of him that as a sailor he as skilled as any lobsterman who shared Penobscot Bay
Penobscot Bay
Penobscot Bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River. There are many islands in this bay, and on them, some of the country's most well-known summer colonies. The bay served as portal for the one time "lumber capital of the world," namely; the city of Bangor...
. Laconic in his ways, he woke early to write, to shape words that spoke his sense of what Maine stood for against the ebbing of old New England.
His college years at Amherst served to confirm his strong and romantic attachment to the traditions of New England. He always looked for the old ways, the remnants of the past in action ... and though he knew life and the world were harsh and often tragic, he had a conviction that old New England had once discovered a classic serenity that could still be perceived.
Reputation
Brace, like C.P. Snow, greatly admired Anthony TrollopeAnthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
above all of the English novelists and wrote an introduction to The Last Chronicle of Barset
The Last Chronicle of Barset
The Last Chronicle of Barset is the final novel in Anthony Trollope's series known as the "Chronicles of Barsetshire", first published in 1867.-Plot summary:...
. Reviewers of his novel, The Department, inevitably compared him to Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
. One reviewer called his novel The Department the American equivalent of The Masters, which was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
in 1954, in its witty and basically good-humored anatomy of every English Department there ever was.
He was referred to by The New England Quarterly
The New England Quarterly
The New England Quarterly is a peer-reviewed academic journal consisting of articles on New England's cultural, literary, political, and social history. The journal contains essays, interpretations of traditional texts, essay reviews and book reviews...
as "the forgotten New England novelist," and he was renowned in his time for his beautifully illustrated chronicles of life along and near the New England coast. A writer, sailor, boat designer, and teacher, he introduced readers to seafaring folk and farmers, townspeople and "summer people," and has made us see them, their lives, and their background.
From his first book through of his succeeding books, it is dominated by scene. He has few equals in New England landscapes and perhaps none in describing her coastline, especially the jagged rock and spruce covered coast of Maine. It was also said of all of his novels that the quality of his "prose style so perfected and shaped that it is difficult to find anywhere a poorly written sentence."
What follows is a brief description of his works.
The Garretson Chronicle
In his novel, The Garretson Chronicle, depicting three generations of a Massachusetts family, he deals with satirizing the decline of Emersonain New England, and the battle with the mountain (a modern version of Moby Dick). The narrator-hero of the novel is a young boy who has never been content with his job as the village carpenter and is always searching for roots and a sense of accomplishment. This novel was promoted for the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
in 1948.
The Wayward Pilgrims
The Wayward Pilgrims is a novel about a young university instructor, traveling around the state of Vermont, who meets an older woman, at a train depot, who teaches him about her experiences in life.The Department
The narrator of the novel is Robert "Sandy" Sanderling, a professor of American literature with a degree from Harvard, who is planning his retirement speech. Looking back over his life, he feels that he has accomplished very little and his one novel, Aftermath was not the book he had hoped it would be; his marriage was a disaster; he has no real friends in his department, and the profession of teaching and the field of scholarship have changed and left him behind.It is also one of the first novels portraying the institutional and personal responses to political influences on college campuses during the 1960s.
List of works
He wrote eleven novels and, in addition, literary works such as The Age of the Novel (1957) and The Stuff of Fiction (1969). In 1976 he published his autobiography, Days That Were, which included his own illustrations.Most of Brace's novels are set in New England. They include:
- The Islands (1936), set in Maine
- The Wayward Pilgrims (1938), set in a Vermont train depot
- Light on a Mountain (1941)
- The Garretson Chronicle (1947)
- A Summer's Tale (1949)
- The Spire (1952)
- The World of Carrick's Cove (1947), a nominee for the 1958 National Book Award for Fiction
- Bell's Landing (1955)
- Winter Solstice (1960)
- The Wind's Will (1964)
- The Department (1968/1983), which was translated and published in Bengali in 1970
Students
- Philip R. Craig (1933–2007) was a writer known for his Martha's VineyardMartha's VineyardMartha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
mysteries.
Awards
He was a 1958 National Book AwardNational Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
nominee for fiction. In 1967 he won the Shell Award for Distinguished Writing from Boston University.