Marchette Gaylord Chute (1909 – May 6, 1994) was an American writer. As a biographer, she specialized in English literary figures; she published biographies of

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

, and

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. As a children's writer, she specialized in tales written during the periods described in her biographies, and in rhyming verses for children.

Biography

Marchette Chute was born in

Wayzata, Minnesota Wayzata ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. A western suburb of the Twin Cities, Wayzata is situated along the northern shore of Lake Minnetonka about west of Minneapolis. Known for its small-town character and lakeside lo ...

, to an upper-middle-class family. Her father William Chute was a realtor, and her English mother Edith Mary Pickburn Chute had been a hospital nurse in London. She attended Central High School in Minneapolis, and was then a student at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. T ...

. After her father's death in 1939 her mother moved the family to New York City to pursue her daughters' literary careers. Her older sister Mary Grace (b. 1907) (writing as "M. G. Chute") published, among other work, at least twenty stories in a series about "Sheriff John Charles Olson" in the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'' from 1938 to 1953. Her younger sister Beatrice Joy Chute (1913–1987), writing as B. J. Chute, wrote many adventure stories for teenaged boys and also romance stories, but is best known for her 1956 novel ''Greenwillow'', the basis of the 1960

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser (; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', among others. He won a Tony ...

musical

Greenwillow ''Greenwillow'' is a musical with a book by Lesser Samuels and Frank Loesser and music and lyrics by Loesser. The musical is set in the magical town of Greenwillow. It ran on Broadway in 1960. Overview Based on the novel by B. J. Chute, the mus ...

. With her sister Mary Grace, Marchette Chute wrote "Sweet Genevieve", a Broadway comedy which closed after one performance on March 20, 1945. Over a seven-year period from 1946 through 1953, Marchette Chute published the trade biographies that established her reputation. '' Geoffrey Chaucer of England'' was published in 1946, '' Shakespeare of London'' in 1950, and '' Ben Jonson of Westminster'' in 1953. In each case, Chute attempted to write as an

independent scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher ...

with the ability to revisit and develop holistic portraits of her subjects based upon limited documentary evidence placed in a context of overall English

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

Honors and legacy

Chute was seen by her colleagues as a significant writer of her day. She was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

and was elected president of the

PEN American Center PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of liter ...

(a post her sister Beatrice Joy also held). She published a demicentennial history of the Center, '' PEN American Center: A History of the First 50 Years'', in 1972. She also published a dual biography of

George Herbert George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devo ...

and Robert Herrick, '' Two Gentle Men'', in 1959; it was a National Book Award finalist in 1960. She died in a Montclair, New Jersey nursing home on May 6, 1994. Her personal papers are now part of the

de Grummond Children's Literature Collection The McCain Library and Archives is the chief reserve library for The University of Southern Mississippi. It houses the items in Southern Mississippi's possession that are not available for checkout. Besides being the archives, the building also h ...

within the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

Published works (partial list)

*''An Introduction to Shakespeare'' *''Around and About'' *''Ben Jonson of Westminster'' *''Geoffrey Chaucer of England'' *''Green Tree Democracy'' *''Innocent Wayfaring'' *''Jesus of Israel'' *''Rhymes about Us'' *''Search for God'' *''Shakespeare of London'' *''Stories from Shakespeare'' *''The End of the Search'' *''The First Liberty: A History of the Right to Vote in America 1619-1850'' *''The Wonderful Winter'' *''Two Gentle Men: The Lives of George Herbert and Robert Herrick'' *''Two Gentlemen of Verona''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chute, Marchette 1909 births 1994 deaths Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters People from Wayzata, Minnesota Writers from Minnesota University of Minnesota alumni