Joseph Hergesheimer

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Joseph Hergesheimer

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Joseph Hergesheimer , 1880-1954, American novelist, b. Philadelphia. He first achieved literary distinction with the publication of The Three Black Pennys (1917). This novel, set against the background of the Pennsylvania iron industry, portrays the changing fortunes of a family of ironmasters. His other important works include Java Head (1919), dealing with miscegenation in a New England sea-trading family, and Linda Condon (1919), a character study of an emotionally repressed girl. Among his later colorful novels, generally considered less artistic, are Balisand (1924) and Tampico (1926). Hergesheimer, who has been called a naturalist writing of the romantic past, is also the author of short stories, essays, biographies, and the autobiography, From an Old House (1925).

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Hergesheimer, Joseph

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | | © The Oxford Companion to American Literature 1995, originally published by Oxford University Press 1995. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Hergesheimer, Joseph (1880–1954), born in Philadelphia, began his career as a novelist with The Lay Anthony (1914), an idealistic romance, followed by Mountain Blood (1915), contrasting the newly rich with the old Virginians of Highland stock. The Three Black Pennys (1917) is a portrait of the rise and decline of a family, with a background of the Pennsylvania iron industry. Gold and Iron (1918) contains three novelettes, each a character study of a powerful person whose aggression wins him what he desires. In Java Head (1919), Hergesheimer turned to historic New England, writing an atmospheric novel concerned with the tragic results of miscegenation, while Linda Condon (1919), a romantic character study, marked the end of this period of conscientious work and artistic sincerity. His earlier writing had not always been on the highest level, but now his novels tended to move progressively further toward the artistic shallows of cheap popular fiction. They follow two main lines: that of highly decorated, weak portraits of a futile society, as in Cytherea (1922) and The Party Dress (1930); and that of romances depending on picturesque settings for their vigor, as in The Bright Shawl (1922), set in the West Indies and recalling an incident in Cuba during the Spanish‐American War, Balisand (1924), dealing with post‐Revolutionary Virginia, Tampico (1926), a romance set in Mexico, The Limestone Tree (1931), concerned with Kentucky pioneers and their descendants, and The Foolscap Rose (1934), describing the rise to power of a Pennsylvania family. The Happy End (1919) is a book of short stories, of which the best known is “Tol'able David.” Hergesheimer also wrote San Cristóbal de la Habaña (1920), sketches of the Cuban city; Quiet Cities (1928), stories set in the past of nine American cities; Sheridan (1931), a biography; Swords and Roses (1929), essays on the Civil War; From an Old House (1925), an autobiographical narrative; and other fiction, travel accounts, and biography.

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Hergesheimer, Joseph." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 17 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Hergesheimer, Joseph." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (November 17, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-HergesheimerJoseph.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Hergesheimer, Joseph." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Retrieved November 17, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-HergesheimerJoseph.html

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