Vance Thompson (April 17, 1863 - June 5, 1925) was an American

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

, novelist, poet and low-carbohydrate diet writer.

Biography

The son of a Pittsburgh pastor and brother of Maud Thompson, he was educated at Princeton University and graduated in 1883. He later studied in Germany, and worked as a dramatic critic in New York City from 1890 to 1897.In 1890, he was married to stage actress and novelist Lillian Spencer. Like fellow-aesthete and good friend

James Huneker James Gibbons Huneker (January 31, 1857 – February 9, 1921) was an American art, book, music, and theater critic. A colorful individual and an ambitious writer, he was "an American with a great mission," in the words of his friend, the critic Be ...

, he helped bring fin-de-siècle French authors to the attention of the American public. He also wrote a study on the ego entitled ''the Ego Book: a Book of Selfish Ideals'' (1914). A study of French authors with ties to the

Symbolist movement Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

was published in 1913, entitled ''French Portraits: Being Appreciations of the Writers of Young France''. From 1895 to 1899, he co-edited the periodical ''M'lle New York'' with Huneker. Described as "a highly idiosyncratic blend of serious analyses and presentations of European Symbolist literature and thought with buffoonery and incessant anti-philistinism", it quickly became a manifesto for their cultural ideals.

Dieting

Thompson authored several books on healthy living, such as 1914's ''Eat and Grow Thin'' and 1916's ''Drink and Be Sober''. His diet book ''Eat and Grow Thin'' was popular, by 1931 it was in its 112th printing. It advocates a low-carbohydrate diet and contains a list of "forbidden foods".Elias, Megan J. (2009). ''Food in the United States, 1890-1945''. ABC-CLIO. pp. 129-130. Thompson believed that

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

, pork, ham,

bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

cereal A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

, rice, potatoes,

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

, and all alcoholic drinks should be avoided. He recommended eating all kinds of meat (except pig),

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

, sea-food, eggs, fruit and green vegetables. The book was criticized for misrepresenting nutritional science. Physician B. B. Vincent Lyon criticized ''Eat and Grow Thin'' for promoting a fad diet. Lyon noted that the high-protein content of the diet is dangerous for obese patients or those with cardiovascular or renal insufficiencies. Physiologist Graham Lusk commented that the advice from the book "made so many of my friends so utterly miserable that I am sure that in the end it will counteract its own message."Lusk, Graham. (1917)
''Food In War Time''
''The Scientific Monthly'' 5: 307.

Publications

''French Portraits: Being Appreciations of the Writers of Young France''
(1900) *''Spinners of Life'' (1904) *''Diplomatic Mysteries'' (1905)
''The Life of Ethelbert Nevin''
(1913)
''The Ego Book: A Book of Selfish Ideals''
(1914) *''The Night Watchman and Other Poems'' (1914)
''Eat and Grow Thin: The Mahdah Menus''
(1914)
''Drink and Be Sober''
(1915)
''Verse''
(1915)
''The Carnival of Destiny''
(1916) *''The Peace Girl'' (1916)
''Woman''
(1917)
''Live and Be Young''
(1920) *''The Pointed Tower'' (1923) *''The Green Ray'' (1924) *''The Scarlet Iris'' (1924) *''Mr. Guelpa'' (1925)

References

External links

Scans of ''M'lle Yew York'' at the ''American Decadence'' website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Vance 1863 births 1925 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American poets American literary critics American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American male poets Low-carbohydrate diet advocates Princeton University alumni Pseudoscientific diet advocates