Mary Tappan Wright (1851–1916) was an American novelist"Wright, Mary Tappan" in ''The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge''. New York, The Encyclopedia American Corporation, v. 29, 1920, p. 570.Wallace, W. Stewart. ''A Dictionary of North American Authors Deceased before 1950. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1951, p. 520. and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

writer best known for her acute characterizations and depictions of academic life. She was the wife of classical scholar

John Henry Wright John Henry Wright (February 4, 1852 – November 25, 1908) was an American classical scholar born at Urumiah (Rezaieh), Persia. He earned his Bachelors (1873) and Masters (1876) at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. After junior appointment ...

''Who's Who in America, a Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States, 1903–1905''. Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company, 1903, p. 1658. Adams, Oscar Fay. ''A Dictionary of American Authors''. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1904, p. 438.Leonard, John William, ed. ''Woman's Who's Who of America, 1914–1915'', New York, The American Commonwealth Company, c1914, p. 907. Herringshaw, Thomas William, ed. ''Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography''. Chicago, American Publishers' Association, 1914, p. 784.''Who Was Who in America. Volume 1, 1897–1942''. Chicago: A. N. Marquis Company, 1943, p. 1386. and the mother of legal scholar and utopian novelist Austin Tappan Wright and geographer

John Kirtland Wright John Kirtland Wright (1891–1969) was an American geographer, notable for his cartography, geosophy, and study of the history of geographical thought. He was the son of classical scholar John Henry Wright and novelist Mary Tappan Wright, and the ...

Life and family

Wright was born Mary Tappan December 14, 1851, in

Steubenville, Ohio Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a ...

, Warner, Charles Dudley, ed. ''Biographical Dictionary and Synopsis of Books Ancient and Modern''. Akron, Ohio: Werner Co., 1902, p. 619.Motter, H. L., ed. ''The International Who's Who; Who's Who in the World, 1912'', New York, The International Who's Who Publishing Company, c1911, p. 1121''Who's Who in New England''. 2nd ed. Chicago : A. N. Marquis & Company, 1916. p. 1186.'' American Authors and Books. 1640 to the present day''. Third revised edition. By W.J. Burke and Will D. Howe. Revised by Irving Weiss and Anne Weiss. New York: Crown Publishers, 1972, p. 712. or December 18 of the same year, the daughter of Eli Todd Tappan, president of

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is ...

, and Lydia (McDowell) Tappan. She was educated at Auburn Young Ladies' Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio. She married, April 2, 1878,

, then an associate professor of Greek at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

and later professor of classical philology and dean of the Collegiate Board of

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

, professor of Greek at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, and dean of Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The couple had three children, Elizabeth Tappan Wright (who died young), Austin Tappan Wright, and John Kirtland Wright. They lived successively in

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of En ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

, aside from one period during which John was a professor at the

American School of Classical Studies at Athens , native_name_lang = Greek , image = American School of Classical Studies at Athens.jpg , image_size = , image_alt = , caption = The ASCSA main building as seen from Mount Lykavittos , latin_name = , other_name = , former_name = , m ...

, when they resided in Greece. Wright was a founding member of the Boston Authors Club in 1900.Flagg, Mildred Buchanan. ''Boston Authors Now and Then; More Members of the Boston Authors Club, 1900–1966''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dresser, Chapman & Grimes, 1966, p. 255. Her husband died November 25, 1908, and she herself died August 25, 1916 in Cambridge. She was survived by her two sons.

Career

Works

Wright and her husband are said to have "worked together on their literary activities." Wright's first known published story was "How They Cured Him", which appeared in ''

The Youth's Companion ''The Youth's Companion'' (1827–1929), known in later years as simply ''The Companion—For All the Family'', was an American children's magazine that existed for over one hundred years until it finally merged with '' The American Boy'' in 1929 ...

'' (March 24, 1887), one of several written for that periodical. Some of the ''Youth's Companion'' tales form a loose series centering on holidays and featuring recurring characters; some of the early Dulwich tales were also published in that magazine. However, Wright's tales for ''

Scribner's Magazine ''Scribner's Magazine'' was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. ''Scribner's Magazine'' was the second magazine out of the Scribner's firm, after the publication of ' ...

'', beginning with "As Haggards of the Rock" (May 1890), attracted more notice, and the initial six of them, including also "A Truce", "A Portion of the Tempest", "From Macedonia", "Deep as First Love", and "A Fragment of a Play, With a Chorus", were collected in her first book, '' A Truce, and Other Stories'' (1895).Wright, Mary Tappan. ''A Truce, and Other Stories''. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895. None of her other short stories were gathered into book form in her lifetime. Much of her fiction dealt with American university life, often set in the fictional college town she called Dulwich in her short stories and ''The Test'', and Great Dulwich in her other novels, which combines elements of both Kenyon College and Harvard University. Her novels are all set in college towns, the third and fourth in Dulwich itself (the first and second also mention it peripherally). Her first novel, ''

Aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

'' (1902), attracted much attention when it appeared for its portrait of contemporary northerners in the racially tense Southern town of Tallawara. The next, ''The Test'' (1904), the story of a wronged young woman, received mixed reviews for what some perceived as its unpleasant subject matter and unsympathetic characters, though it was generally praised as well written. ''The Tower'' (1906) was described as "a love story placed against the life of a college community taken from the faculty side and told with deep understanding and the most delicate art" and ''The Charioteers'' (1912) as "a story of the social life and environment of college professors and their families." Wright's first four books were published by

Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan R ...

, the fifth being issued by D. Appleton & Company after having been rejected by the Houghton Mifflin Company.Houghton Mifflin Company. Houghton Mifflin Company reader reports on manuscripts submitted for publication: Guide. (MS Am 2516, Harvard University Library). Close to half of her short pieces appeared in ''Scribner's Magazine''; others appeared in ''The Youth's Companion'', '' Christian Union'' and its successor '' The Outlook'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', '' Harper's Magazine'', ''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...

'', and an anthology of works by various authors. She also contributed a book review to the ''

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived at ...

''. All of Wright's novels are currently available in e-editions o
Book Search
''Aliens'' was reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, LLC, in June, 2007; ''The Tower'' was reprinted by Kessinger in December, 2008. Wright's previously uncollected short stories were issued in new collections by Fleabonnet Press from December, 2007-November 2008.

Critical reception

In her writing Wright was praised as having "a keen sense of humor, good descriptive powers, a good working knowledge of human nature, an effective style" and the ability to "tell a story well." Her skill at characterization was also noted.

Papers

Wright's papers, including correspondence and original manuscripts and fragments, are found in various archival collections at the Harvard University Library and the Houghton Library at Harvard College.Wright, Mary Tappan, 1851–1916. Correspondence and compositions: Guide to papers at the Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
/ref> An early

commonplace book Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are simi ...

from 1870–77, containing mostly poetry, is in the Stone-Wright family papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Bibliography

Novels

*''

'' (1902)
Google e-text
*'' The Test'' (1904)
Google e-text
*''The Tower'' (1906) (Dulwich series)
Google e-text
*''The Charioteers'' (1912) (Dulwich series)
Google e-text

Collections

*'' A Truce, and Other Stories'' (1895)
e-text
*''Pro Tempore, and Other Stories'' (2007)

*''Dead Letters, and Other Pieces'' (2008)

*''Beginning Alone, and Other Stories'' (2008)

*''Uncollected Works'' (2008)

Short stories

*"How They Cured Him" (Mar. 1887) (Holiday series)
Google e-text

*"Alice's Christmas" (Dec. 1889) (Holiday series)

*"Numbered With Thy Saints" (Apr. 1890) (Dulwich series)

*"As Haggards of the Rock" (May 1890)
''Making of America'' e-text

*"Beginning Alone" (Sep.-Oct. 1890) (Dulwich series)

*"A Truce" (Jan. 1891)
''Making of America'' e-text

*"A Fragment of a Play, With a Chorus" (May 1891)
''Making of America'' e-text

*"Divided Allegiances" (Feb. 1892)

*"A Lad—Dismissed" (Jul.-Aug. 1893)

*"The Gray Fur Rug" (Nov. 1893) (Holiday series)

*"Deep as First Love" (Feb. 1894)
''Making of America'' e-text

*"A Portion of the Tempest" (Jun. 1894) (Jackson series)
''Making of America'' e-text

*"His Last" (Jun. 1894; reprinted as "His Last Offence, A Story of College Life", 1900) (Dulwich series)

*"From Macedonia" (Oct. 1894) (Jackson series)
''Making of America'' e-text

*"Three Fires at Redmont" (Jun. 1895)

*"Cunliffe" (Sep. 1896)
Google e-text

*"The Key of the Fields" (Feb. 1898)
''Making of America'' e-text

*"An Exception" (Jan. 1899)
Google e-text

*"Ethel's Christmas Brother" (Jan. 20 1900)
Google e-text

*"The Best Laid Plans" (ca.1901) *"A Day Together" (Jan. 1901)
Google e-text

*"Dead Letters" (Sep. 1901) (Dulwich series)

*"A Sacred Concert" (Jul. 1903) (Dulwich series)
Google e-text

*"Vox" (Oct. 1903)
Google e-text

*"Pro Tempore" (Jun. 1906) (Dulwich series)
Google e-text

*"The Mountain" (Feb. 1907)

*"Asphodel" (Oct. 1909)
Google e-text

Non-fiction

*"Children and Books" (article) (Mar. 3 1900)
Google e-text

*"''The Iron Woman''" (review of the novel by Margaret Deland) (Dec. 1911)
e-text

Footnotes

General references

*Coyle, William, ed. ''Ohio Authors and Their Books. Biographical data and selective bibliographies for Ohio authors, native and resident, 1796–1950''. Cleveland: World Publishing Co., 1962.

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Mary Tappan 20th-century American novelists 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers American women novelists American women short story writers Novelists from Ohio Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts People from Steubenville, Ohio 1851 births 1916 deaths 19th-century American short story writers 20th-century American short story writers Novelists from Massachusetts