James Lane Allen
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". James Lane Allen (December 21, 1849 – February 18, 1925) was an American novelist and short story writer whose work, including the novel A Kentucky Cardinal, often depicted the culture and dialects of his native Kentucky. His work is characteristic of the late 19th-century local color era, when writers sought to capture the vernacular in their fiction. Allen has been described as "Kentucky's first important novelist".
Early life and education
James Lane Allen was born near Lexington, Kentucky, to Richard and Helen Jane (Foster) Allen on December 21, 1849. Allen, the youngest child in the family, had four sisters Lydia, May, Sally, and Annie, and two brothers, John and Henry.[1] Allen lived at the Scarlet Gate estate in Lexington in the late 1800s until age 22 years.[2]
In 1872, Allen graduated from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, taught at Fort Spring, Kentucky, at Richmond and at Lexington, Missouri, and from 1877 to 1879 at the academy of the University of Kentucky, where he was principal and taught modern languages. In 1880, he was professor of Latin and English at Bethany College (West Virginia); and then became head of a private school at Lexington, Kentucky.[3] Allen spent his youth in Lexington during the Antebellum era, the American Civil War, and the Reconstruction periods.[1] His childhood heavily influenced his writing. He described living at Scarlet Gate in the introduction to A Kentucky Cardinal.[2]
Career in New York
In 1893, Allen moved to New York City, where he lived until his death. He was a contributor to Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and other popular magazines of the time. His novels include The Choir Invisible, which was a popular best seller in 1897.[4][5]
Death and legacy
Allen died "from insomnia" in 1925,[5] and is buried in Lexington Cemetery. At the northern edge of Gratz Park in Lexington is the "Fountain of Youth", built in memory of Allen using proceeds willed to the city by him.[6]
James Lane Allen School, an elementary school off Alexandria Drive in Lexington, Kentucky is named in his honor.
Bibliography
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Works published by Allen include:[7]
- Flute and Violin (1891) (compilation of previously published stories)
- The Blue-Grass Region of Kentucky (1892) (second compilation)
- Sister Dolorosa, and Posthumous Fame (1892)
- John Gray (1893)
- A Kentucky Cardinal (1894)
- Aftermath (1895) (sequel to A Kentucky Cardinal)
- Summer in Arcady (1896)
- The Choir Invisible (1897)
- Two Gentlemen of Kentucky (1899)
- Out from the heart (1900)
- The Increasing Purpose (1900)
- The Reign of Law (1900)
- The Mettle of the Pasture (1903)
- The Bride of the Mistletoe (1909)
- The Doctor's Christmas Eve (1910)
- The Heroine in Bronze (1912)
- The Last Christmas Tree (1914)
- The Sword of Youth (1915)
- A Cathedral Singer (1916)
- The Kentucky Warbler (1918)
- The Emblems of Fidelity (1919)
- The Alabaster Box (1923)
- The Landmark (1925)
Notes
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- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
- ↑ (6 October 1946). Fifty Years of Best Sellers, compiled in Popular Culture
- ↑ a b (19 February 1925). James Lane Allen, Author, Dies at 76: Creator of "The Choir Invisible" Collapses In Roosevelt Hospital From Chronic Insommnia, The New York Times
- ↑ Gratz Park Historic District, Lexington, Kentucky -- National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary Template:Webarchive at www.cr.nps.gov
- ↑ Template:Cite BDA1906
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Further reading
- Bennett, Enoch Arnold (1901). "Mr. James Lane Allen." In: Fame and Fiction. London: Grant Richards, pp. 171–180.
- Bottorff, William K. (1964). James Lane Allen. New York: Twayne Publishers.
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- Knight, Grant C. (1935). James Lane Allen and the Genteel Tradition. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
- Townsend, John Wilson (1928). James Lane Allen: A Personal Note. Louisville, KY: Courier-journal Job Printing Company.
External links
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- James Lane Allen, by George Brosi
- Works by James Lane Allen available online, wsu.edu
- James Lane Allen: A Sketch of his Life and Work Template:Webarchive, kdl.kyvl.org
- Pages with script errors
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- Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
- Articles with Project Gutenberg links
- 1849 births
- 1925 deaths
- 19th-century American male writers
- 19th-century American novelists
- 19th-century American short story writers
- American male novelists
- American male short story writers
- Culture of Kentucky
- Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
- Novelists from Kentucky
- Transylvania University alumni
- Writers from Lexington, Kentucky
- Burials at Lexington Cemetery