Henry Blake Fuller
Encyclopedia
Henry Blake Fuller was a United States novelist and short story writer, born in Chicago, Illinois.
, whose primary interest was in the contrast between American and European ways of life. Fuller's first two books appealed to the genteel tastes of cultivated New Englanders such as Charles Eliot Norton, who took Fuller's work as a promising sign of a burgeoning literary culture in what was then still largely the frontier city of Chicago.
When the public taste for such romantic literature faded, Fuller turned to literary realism, writing what is perhaps the first novel set among the skyscrapers and frenetic business culture of modern-day Chicago. The novel shocked and outraged Chicago readers, who found its unflattering portrait of the city jarring. The novel won the praise of the influential critic and novelist William Dean Howells
, whose positive review did much to secure Fuller's position as an important regional realist. Novels like The Cliff-Dwellers (1893) and With the Procession (1895) were influenced by the social realism of Howells
, who described American institutions being transformed by the economic and demographic changes of the late nineteenth century, although the scenes of violence in The Cliff-Dwellers feature elements of naturalism not to be found in Howells' novels. Fuller's preference for Howells over James is the subject of one of Fuller's important unpublished essays entitled "Howells or James?"
Fuller also wrote twelve one-act plays, collected in The Puppet Booth (1896). He wrote for various journals, including The Dial, and he provided some editorial assistance to Poetry in its early years.
While he is considered one of the important novelists of Chicago's early years, his own relation to the city was often strained. The scion of one of Chicago's early settler families, he found the increasingly industrial and multicultural nature of the city offputting. His ambivalence is expressed in The Cliff-Dwellers and With the Procession, both of which are set in Chicago. The Cliff-Dwellers is one of the first novels to treat at length social life in the new, skyscraper environment that was pioneered in Chicago.
Perhaps his finest achievement is the controversial Bertram Cope's Year
(1919), a subtle novel about homosexuals. Fuller self-published the novel in Chicago after unsuccessfully making the rounds of several New York publishing houses. Set on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois
, it featured an attractive young English instructor who becomes the elusive object of desire for several young women and at least two men of different ages. Cope's primary emotional attachment is to his effeminate college chum Arthur Lemoyne, who comes to Evanston to live with Cope until Lemoyne is expelled from the campus for making a backstage pass at another male student while dressed as a woman. The novel ends on an ambiguous note concerning the issue of Cope's sexuality. It received less than enthusiastic reviews from critics who did not understand the book's satirical intentions. It puzzled critics and embarrassed his friends. Upon its republication in 1998, it received enthusiastic reviews.
In 1898, Fuller was also one of the founding members of the Eagle's Nest Art Colony
in Illinois.
He wrote a column of art criticism for the New York Evening Post.
His journals from his teenage days make it clear he was in love with some dormitory roommates at Allison Classical Academy. At the age of nineteen, he wrote in an imaginary personal advertisement: "I would pass by twenty beautiful women to look upon a handsome man".
At the age of 34 he wrote that he was in love with an adolescent boy who had blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair. Five years later, Fuller wrote and published a short play, At Saint Judas's, about a homosexual who commits suicide at the wedding of his former lover. It is credited with being the first American play dealing explicitly with homosexuality
. In 1924 Fuller embarked upon the last of his many European tours with William Emery Shepherd, a 24-year-old college student. Their letters do not indicate their relationship was anything but a friendship. The trip exhausted Fuller, who continued writing literary reviews for a variety of newspapers and magazines upon his return to Chicago, as well as two novels that were published posthumously.
Fuller died in Chicago on July 28, 1929, "at the home of Wakeman T. Ryan, with whom he had lived for the last three years." His death was ascribed to "heart disease, aggravated by the heat."
Career
Fuller's earliest works were travel romances set in Italy that featured allegorical characters. Both The Chevalier of Pensieri–Vani (1890) and The Chatelaine of La Trinité (1892) bear some thematic resemblance to the works of Henry JamesHenry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
, whose primary interest was in the contrast between American and European ways of life. Fuller's first two books appealed to the genteel tastes of cultivated New Englanders such as Charles Eliot Norton, who took Fuller's work as a promising sign of a burgeoning literary culture in what was then still largely the frontier city of Chicago.
When the public taste for such romantic literature faded, Fuller turned to literary realism, writing what is perhaps the first novel set among the skyscrapers and frenetic business culture of modern-day Chicago. The novel shocked and outraged Chicago readers, who found its unflattering portrait of the city jarring. The novel won the praise of the influential critic and novelist William Dean Howells
William Dean Howells
William Dean Howells was an American realist author and literary critic. Nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters", he was particularly known for his tenure as editor of the Atlantic Monthly as well as his own writings, including the Christmas story "Christmas Every Day" and the novel The Rise of...
, whose positive review did much to secure Fuller's position as an important regional realist. Novels like The Cliff-Dwellers (1893) and With the Procession (1895) were influenced by the social realism of Howells
Howells
-People:*Adele C. Howells , fourth general president of the Primary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .*Danny Howells , English record producer and disc jockey*David Howells -People:*Adele C. Howells (1886–1951), fourth general president of the Primary (children's organization) of...
, who described American institutions being transformed by the economic and demographic changes of the late nineteenth century, although the scenes of violence in The Cliff-Dwellers feature elements of naturalism not to be found in Howells' novels. Fuller's preference for Howells over James is the subject of one of Fuller's important unpublished essays entitled "Howells or James?"
Fuller also wrote twelve one-act plays, collected in The Puppet Booth (1896). He wrote for various journals, including The Dial, and he provided some editorial assistance to Poetry in its early years.
While he is considered one of the important novelists of Chicago's early years, his own relation to the city was often strained. The scion of one of Chicago's early settler families, he found the increasingly industrial and multicultural nature of the city offputting. His ambivalence is expressed in The Cliff-Dwellers and With the Procession, both of which are set in Chicago. The Cliff-Dwellers is one of the first novels to treat at length social life in the new, skyscraper environment that was pioneered in Chicago.
Perhaps his finest achievement is the controversial Bertram Cope's Year
Bertram Cope's Year
Bertram Cope's Year is a 1919 novel by Henry Blake Fuller, sometimes called the first American homosexual novel.-Publication and reception:Fuller completed work on the novel in May 1918...
(1919), a subtle novel about homosexuals. Fuller self-published the novel in Chicago after unsuccessfully making the rounds of several New York publishing houses. Set on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
, it featured an attractive young English instructor who becomes the elusive object of desire for several young women and at least two men of different ages. Cope's primary emotional attachment is to his effeminate college chum Arthur Lemoyne, who comes to Evanston to live with Cope until Lemoyne is expelled from the campus for making a backstage pass at another male student while dressed as a woman. The novel ends on an ambiguous note concerning the issue of Cope's sexuality. It received less than enthusiastic reviews from critics who did not understand the book's satirical intentions. It puzzled critics and embarrassed his friends. Upon its republication in 1998, it received enthusiastic reviews.
In 1898, Fuller was also one of the founding members of the Eagle's Nest Art Colony
Eagle's Nest Art Colony
The Eagle's Nest Art Colony, the site known in more modern times as the Lorado Taft Field Campus, was founded in 1898 by American sculptor Lorado Taft on the bluffs flanking the east bank of the Rock River, overlooking Oregon, Illinois...
in Illinois.
He wrote a column of art criticism for the New York Evening Post.
Personal life
Fuller was born in Chicago on January 9, 1857. He never married.His journals from his teenage days make it clear he was in love with some dormitory roommates at Allison Classical Academy. At the age of nineteen, he wrote in an imaginary personal advertisement: "I would pass by twenty beautiful women to look upon a handsome man".
At the age of 34 he wrote that he was in love with an adolescent boy who had blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair. Five years later, Fuller wrote and published a short play, At Saint Judas's, about a homosexual who commits suicide at the wedding of his former lover. It is credited with being the first American play dealing explicitly with homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. In 1924 Fuller embarked upon the last of his many European tours with William Emery Shepherd, a 24-year-old college student. Their letters do not indicate their relationship was anything but a friendship. The trip exhausted Fuller, who continued writing literary reviews for a variety of newspapers and magazines upon his return to Chicago, as well as two novels that were published posthumously.
Fuller died in Chicago on July 28, 1929, "at the home of Wakeman T. Ryan, with whom he had lived for the last three years." His death was ascribed to "heart disease, aggravated by the heat."
Reputation
In 2000, Fuller was posthumously inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame for his contributions to gay literature.Works
- The Chevalier of Pensieri–Vani (NY: The Century Co., 1899; Boston: J. G. Cupples Co., 1890, under pseudonym Stanton Page)
- The Chatelaine of La Trinité (NY: The Century Co., 1892)
- The Cliff-Dwellers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1893)
- With the Procession (1895)
- The Puppet-Booth: Twelve Plays (NY: The Century Co., 1896)
- From the Other Side (1898)
- The Last Refuge (1900)
- Under the Skylights (1901)
- Waldo Trench and Others: Stories of Americans in Italy (NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908)
- Lines Long and Short: Biographical Sketches in Various Rhythms (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1917)
- Bertram Cope's YearBertram Cope's YearBertram Cope's Year is a 1919 novel by Henry Blake Fuller, sometimes called the first American homosexual novel.-Publication and reception:Fuller completed work on the novel in May 1918...
(Chicago: Alderbrink Press, 1919) - Gardens of this World (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929)
- With the Procession (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965)
Further reading
- Bowron, Bernard R., Jr. Henry B. Fuller of Chicago: The Ordeal of a Genteel Realist in Ungenteel America (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1974)
- Griffin, Constance M. Henry Blake Fuller: A Critical Biography (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1939)
- Scambray, Kenneth. A Varied Harvest: The Life and Works of Henry Blake Fuller (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987)
- Silet, Charles L. P. Henry Blake Fuller and Hamlin Garland: A Reference Guide (Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1977)