Henry Blake Fuller
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Henry Blake Fuller (January 9, 1857 – July 28, 1929) was an American
novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
and
short story writer 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 t ...
. He was born and worked in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
. He is perhaps the earliest novelist from Chicago to gain a national reputation. His exploration of city life was seen as revelatory, and later in his life he was perhaps the earliest established American author to explore homosexuality in fiction.


Career

Fuller's earliest works were travel romances set in Italy that featured allegorical characters. Both ''The Chevalier of Pensieri–Vani'' (1890) and ''The Châtelaine of La Trinité'' (1892) bear some thematic resemblance to the works of
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
, 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 Charles Eliot Norton (November 16, 1827 – October 21, 1908) was an American author, social critic, and Harvard professor of art based in New England. He was a progressive social reformer and a liberal activist whom many of his contemporaries c ...
and
James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that ri ...
, 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. Fuller then turned to literary realism, writing ''The Cliff-Dwellers'' (1893), 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 (; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ...
, whose positive review did much to secure Fuller's position as an important regional realist. Novels like ''The Cliff-Dwellers'' and ''With the Procession'' (1895) were influenced by the social realism of
Howells Howells may refer to: People *Howells (surname) Places in the United States * Howells, Colorado, a place in Colorado *Howells, Nebraska *Howells, New York *Howells Junction, New York, a place in New York Business establishments * Howells (depa ...
, 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. ''With the Procession'', though realistic, was kindlier in touch, with humor playing over its seriousness, unlike the relentless realism of ''The Cliff-Dwellers''. 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 Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
'' 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'' 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. After failing to interest several New York publishin ...
'' (1919), a subtle novel about
homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
s. 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 ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...
, 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 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. The colon ...
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 is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
. 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 a novel that was 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."''New York Times''
"Henry Blake Fuller Dies," July 29, 1929
accessed September 3, 2011


Reputation

In 2000, Fuller was posthumously inducted into the
Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame The Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame (formerly Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame) is an institution founded in 1991 to honor persons and entities who have made significant contributions to the quality of life or well-being of the LGBT community in Chic ...
for his contributions to gay literature. He was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame in 2017, which also created the "Fuller Award", honoring "lifetime contributions to literature".


Works

* ''The Chevalier of Pensieri–Vani'' (Boston: J. G. Cupples Co., 1890, under pseudonym Stanton Page) * ''The Châtelaine 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: Stories of Transatlantic Travel'' (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) *''On the Stairs'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1918) * ''
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. After failing to interest several New York publishin ...
'' (Chicago: Alderbrink Press, 1919) * ''Gardens of this World'' (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929)


References


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) *Kellogg, Jean. ''Henry Blake Fuller''. Special honors Smith College, Northampton, Mass. 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)


External links

* * *
Henry Blake Fuller Papers
at
the Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities and located on Washington Square in Chicago, Illinois. It has been free and open to the public since 1887. Its collections encompass a variety of topics rela ...
*
Article on Henry Blake Fuller in August-September edition of ''The Bookman'' (New York)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Henry Blake 1857 births 1929 deaths 19th-century American novelists 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Writers from Chicago American gay writers LGBT dramatists and playwrights American LGBT novelists LGBT people from Illinois 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male essayists American male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century American male writers 19th-century essayists 20th-century American essayists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Illinois Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters