Ruth Suckow
Encyclopedia
Ruth Suckow was an American author born in Hawarden
, a small town in Sioux County
on the Big Sioux River
in far northwestern Iowa
, where her father was the pastor of the Congregational church. Suckow's book New Hope (1942) portrays Hawarden during the period from 1890 to 1910 and describes the two-year stay of a young minister in the life of a new town.
. She graduated from Grinnell High School in 1910 and entered the college that fall. While a student at Grinnell, she became involved in dramatics. Instead of graduating, she left home to study at the Curry School of Expression
in Boston
from 1913 to 1915. Her novel, The Odyssey of a Nice Girl (1925) reflects that experience. She left Boston to join her mother and sister who were living in Colorado
because of health. She enrolled at the University of Denver
and earned a B.A. in 1917 and an M.A. in English in 1918.
, a small town in eastern Iowa just west of Dubuque
. For six years in the 1920s she ran a small apiary at the edge of town near an orchard, and she began to write. She spent her winters in other places, chiefly, New York's Greenwich Village
. In 1921, her first published story, "Uprooted," appeared in Midland, edited by John T. Frederick
and published at the time in Iowa City. That story later appeared in the short story collection Iowa Interiors (1926). At Frederick's suggestion, she sent some stories to The Smart Set
, a magazine edited by H. L. Mencken
and George Jean Nathan
, who accepted her stories. Others were published in The American Mercury
, also edited by Mencken. Her first novel, Country People (1924), was followed by a remarkable number of novels published by Alfred A. Knopf
. Echoes of Hawarden appear in many of them. In 1934, Farrar & Rinehart
published Suckow's longest novel, The Folks, which followed the lives of a small-town Iowa family and was a Literary Guild selection.
, a man of many talents with an interest in the study of American literature. After their marriage, the couple lived in various parts of the United States, from Santa Fe, New Mexico
, to rural New England
. In the mid 1930s they spent two years in Washington, D.C.
, where Nuhn did various forms of editing and writing for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which was then under the direction of fellow Iowan Henry A. Wallace
. From 1937 to 1947 the couple lived in Cedar Falls, where Nuhn managed some family business interests.
In 1943 Suckow established contacts with the conscientious objectors to World War II
. She had found World War I profoundly disturbing and her relationship with her father had been damaged by his activities supporting the war. In 1944 she traveled to the West Coast to visit six Civilian Public Service
camps and one mental hospital. She spoke on writing and literature, read manuscripts, and encouraged young men. At the camp in Waldport, Oregon
, she met the poet William Everson
, and she continued to correspond with him for several years after the war.
, and Nuhn suffered from hay fever
. They first moved to Tucson, Arizona
, and later to their final home in Claremont, California
, where they were active in the Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers). Little came from Suckow's pen in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1952 Rinehart published Some Others and Myself, seven short stories and a remarkable spiritual memoir. In 1959 Viking Press
brought out The John Wood Case, her last novel, which concerned an embezzlement case in a church. She died in 1960 at her home in Claremont.
Hawarden, Iowa
Hawarden is a city in Sioux County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,478 at the 2000 census. It is located on the Big Sioux River.-Geography:Hawarden is located at , along the Big Sioux River....
, a small town in Sioux County
Sioux County, Iowa
-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 33,704 in the county, with a population density of . There were 12,279 housing units, of which 11,584 were occupied.-2000 census:...
on the Big Sioux River
Big Sioux River
The Big Sioux River is a tributary of the Missouri River, long, in eastern South Dakota and northwestern Iowa in the United States. The United States Board on Geographic Names settled on "Big Sioux River" as the stream's name in 1961....
in far northwestern Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, where her father was the pastor of the Congregational church. Suckow's book New Hope (1942) portrays Hawarden during the period from 1890 to 1910 and describes the two-year stay of a young minister in the life of a new town.
Early life
After leaving Hawarden in early 1898, the Suckow family lived in a number of towns in northern Iowa. In 1907, Suckow's father accepted a position at Grinnell CollegeGrinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
. She graduated from Grinnell High School in 1910 and entered the college that fall. While a student at Grinnell, she became involved in dramatics. Instead of graduating, she left home to study at the Curry School of Expression
Curry College
Curry College is a private liberal arts-based institution in Milton, Massachusetts that started as the School of Elocution in 1879.-History:...
in 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...
from 1913 to 1915. Her novel, The Odyssey of a Nice Girl (1925) reflects that experience. She left Boston to join her mother and sister who were living in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
because of health. She enrolled at the University of Denver
University of Denver
The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
and earned a B.A. in 1917 and an M.A. in English in 1918.
Early Literary Career
While in Denver, Suckow became interested in bee keeping, and she spent a summer as an apprentice in a bee yard. After her mother died, Suckow moved to EarlvilleEarlville, Iowa
Earlville is a city in Delaware County, Iowa, United States. The population was 900 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Earlville is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
, a small town in eastern Iowa just west of Dubuque
Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. In 2010 its population was 57,637, making it the ninth-largest city in the state and the county's population was 93,653....
. For six years in the 1920s she ran a small apiary at the edge of town near an orchard, and she began to write. She spent her winters in other places, chiefly, New York's Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. In 1921, her first published story, "Uprooted," appeared in Midland, edited by John T. Frederick
John T. Frederick
John Towner Frederick , born Corning, Iowa and only child of Oliver Roberts and Mary Elmira Frederick. He was a noted professor and literary editor, scholar, critic, and novelist.-Family:...
and published at the time in Iowa City. That story later appeared in the short story collection Iowa Interiors (1926). At Frederick's suggestion, she sent some stories to The Smart Set
The Smart Set
The Smart Set was a literary magazine founded in America in March 1900 by Colonel William d'Alton Mann.-History:Mann had previously published Town Topics, a gossip rag which he used for political and social gain among New York City's infamous elite known as "The Four Hundred." With The Smart Set,...
, a magazine edited by H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
and George Jean Nathan
George Jean Nathan
George Jean Nathan was an American drama critic and editor.-Early life:Nathan was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana...
, who accepted her stories. Others were published in The American Mercury
The American Mercury
The American Mercury was an American magazine published from 1924 to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured writing by some of the most important writers in the United States through the 1920s and 1930s...
, also edited by Mencken. Her first novel, Country People (1924), was followed by a remarkable number of novels published by Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
. Echoes of Hawarden appear in many of them. In 1934, Farrar & Rinehart
Farrar & Rinehart
Farrar & Rinehart was a United States book publishing company founded in New York. Farrar & Rinehart enjoyed success with both nonfiction and novels, notably, the landmark Rivers of America Series and the first ten books in the Nero Wolfe corpus of Rex Stout...
published Suckow's longest novel, The Folks, which followed the lives of a small-town Iowa family and was a Literary Guild selection.
Marriage and Travels
In 1929 Suckow had married Ferner Nuhn of Cedar Falls, IowaCedar Falls, Iowa
Cedar Falls is a city in Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States, and it is home to one of Iowa's three public universities, the University of Northern Iowa. The population was 39,260 in the 2010 census, an increase from the 36,145 population in the 2000 census...
, a man of many talents with an interest in the study of American literature. After their marriage, the couple lived in various parts of the United States, from Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, to rural 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...
. In the mid 1930s they spent two years in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where Nuhn did various forms of editing and writing for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which was then under the direction of fellow Iowan Henry A. Wallace
Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...
. From 1937 to 1947 the couple lived in Cedar Falls, where Nuhn managed some family business interests.
In 1943 Suckow established contacts with the conscientious objectors to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She had found World War I profoundly disturbing and her relationship with her father had been damaged by his activities supporting the war. In 1944 she traveled to the West Coast to visit six Civilian Public Service
Civilian Public Service
The Civilian Public Service provided conscientious objectors in the United States an alternative to military service during World War II...
camps and one mental hospital. She spoke on writing and literature, read manuscripts, and encouraged young men. At the camp in Waldport, Oregon
Waldport, Oregon
Waldport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,050 at the 2000 census. The city is located on the Alsea River and Alsea Bay, south of Newport and north of Yachats.-Geography:...
, she met the poet William Everson
William Everson
William Everson , also known as Brother Antoninus, was an American poet of the San Francisco Renaissance and was also a literary critic and small press printer.-Beginnings:Everson was born in Sacramento, California...
, and she continued to correspond with him for several years after the war.
Retirement to California and Death
In the late 1940s Suckow and Nuhn left Cedar Falls for health reasons: Suckow had arthritisArthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
, and Nuhn suffered from hay fever
Hay Fever
Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews played the role in New York...
. They first moved to Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, and later to their final home in Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
, where they were active in the Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
(Quakers). Little came from Suckow's pen in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1952 Rinehart published Some Others and Myself, seven short stories and a remarkable spiritual memoir. In 1959 Viking Press
Viking Press
Viking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...
brought out The John Wood Case, her last novel, which concerned an embezzlement case in a church. She died in 1960 at her home in Claremont.