Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington was an American novelist born on July 29, 1869, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He pursued his education at prestigious institutions, including Princeton University, and initially aimed for a career in art before turning to writing due to financial pressures. Tarkington became a prolific author, recognized primarily for his novels rather than his short stories or plays. His early works included "Monsieur Beaucaire" and "The Gentleman from Indiana," with the latter helping to establish his reputation. He is best known for his captivating stories about youth, particularly the "Penrod" series, which resonate with themes of American boyhood and were among the first contemporary novels adapted for film. His novels "Alice Adams" and "The Magnificent Ambersons" earned him critical acclaim, with the former winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1922. Despite experiencing significant eyesight difficulties that led to total blindness in 1930, Tarkington continued writing and enjoyed a successful literary career until his death. He spent his later years in Indianapolis and Kennebunkport, Maine, maintaining a connection to his roots and the themes that defined his work.
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Booth Tarkington
Author
- Born: July 29, 1869
- Birthplace: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Died: May 19, 1946
- Place of death: Indianapolis, Indiana
American novelist
Biography
Newton Booth Tarkington was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 29, 1869. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Purdue University and graduated from Princeton University. Primarily interested in art, he had hoped to make drawing his career, but financial necessity turned him to writing. He was a prolific writer, with successful ventures in the short story and the drama, but it is chiefly as a novelist that he is remembered. After an inauspicious beginning he gradually achieved popularity among readers and considerable acclaim from critics. His first popular success in fiction was Monsieur Beaucaire, a romantic novella that helped call attention to his first novel, The Gentleman from Indiana, which had appeared a year before, in 1899. Today Tarkington is perhaps most widely known for his stories of youth and teenagers: Penrod, Penrod and Sam, Penrod Jashber, and Seventeen. These are “American boy” stories, comic but human and appealing. The Penrod books, extremely popular and financially rewarding for Tarkington, were among the first contemporary novels to be adapted to film. His most critically acclaimed novel, Alice Adams, appeared in 1921 and won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 1922. The Magnificent Ambersons had earlier won the same prize. In 1933 Tarkington was awarded the Gold Medal of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Tarkington was twice married, to Laurel Louisa Fletcher in 1902 and to Susannah Robinson in 1912.
Tarkington suffered difficulties with his eyesight for years and became totally blind in 1930, but his sight was partially restored by a series of operations. For the last thirty-five years of his life he divided his time between his family home in Indianapolis and the summer resort in Kennebunkport, Maine, that he called “the house that Penrod built.”
Bibliography
Fennimore, Keith J. Booth Tarkington. New York: Twayne, 1974. A volume in Twayne’s United States Authors series, this book is an excellent introduction to Tarkington’s life and works.
LeGates, Charlotte. “The Family in Booth Tarkington’s Growth Trilogy.” Midamerica: The Yearbook of the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature 6 (1979): 88-99. The family occupies the center of Tarkington’s world, and LeGates’s discussion of it is exemplary.
Mayberry, Susanah. My Amiable Uncle: Recollections About Booth Tarkington. West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, 1983. An important contribution to the biography of Tarkington.
Noverr, Douglass A. “Change, Growth, and the Human Dilemma in Booth Tarkington’s The Magnificent Ambersons.” Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature Newsletter 11 (1981): 14-32. This article treats primarily one novel, but it has value for anyone seeking to understand the major themes of Tarkington’s work.
Woodress, James. Booth Tarkington, Gentleman from Indiana. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1955. An important biography of Tarkington, this volume offers some analysis of the novels. Considered the standard biography by many critics.