Anne Warner
Anne Warner (1869-1913) was an American author known for her humorous and insightful literary works, particularly her series featuring the character Susan Clegg. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, she was educated at home, fostering her passion for literature. Warner married Charles Eltinge French and had three children, experiencing the profound loss of her daughter shortly after birth, which spurred her to engage in genealogy work. She began her literary career in earnest while living in Europe, where she published her first novel, *His Story: Their Letters*, in 1902.
Warner gained significant recognition with her *Susan Clegg* stories, which humorously explored the life of a single woman navigating societal expectations and personal desires. Her keen observations on gender relations and marriage resonated with readers, leading to the publication of multiple collections from 1904 to 1916. In addition to the Clegg series, she contributed short stories to various magazines, published children's literature, and adapted her works for the stage. Warner's legacy remains as a notable figure in early 20th-century American literature, celebrated for her wit and perspective on women's experiences.
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Anne Warner
Writer
- Born: October 14, 1869
- Birthplace: St. Paul, Minnesota
- Died: February 1, 1913
Biography
Anne Warner was born to William Penn Warner and Anna Elizabeth Richmond Warner on October 14, 1869, in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was educated at home, where she developed her love of literature and humor. Warner married Charles Eltinge French on September 12, 1888, and the couple had three children. Her second child, a daughter, was born in 1892 and died in infancy. After her daughter’s death, she began to work on a genealogy for her son which was published as An American Ancestry in 1894.
In 1901, she and her two children went to Europe and settled in Tours, France, where she published her first novel, His Story: Their Letters, in 1902. She returned briefly to St. Paul before traveling to Europe once again and settling in Germany. In 1904, she published the novel A Woman’s Will, whose plot centers on the relationship between an American widow and a German musician.
In 1904 she also published the first in a series of short- story collections for which she would become famous and on which much of her current reputation is based. The book, Susan Clegg and Her Friend Mrs. Lathrop, describes the adventures of Clegg, a forty-something unmarried woman who schemes to find a husband. After assisting in her ailing father’s death, Clegg sets out to attain her goal, only to change her mind and wonder whether she really wants to get married. Witty, light-hearted, and astute in her observations about gender relations, the Clegg stories won Warner instant success.
Warner published three more Clegg compilations between 1906 and 1916: Susan Clegg and Her Neighbors’ Affairs (1906), concerning Clegg’s observations on the love lives of her neighbors; Susan Clegg and a Man in the House (1907), in which Clegg takes in a male boarder to see what it would be like to be married and have a man around all the time (she does not like it); and Susan Clegg: Her Friend and Her Neighbors (1910), a combined reprint of her first two Clegg books. Her last Clegg book, Susan Clegg and Her Love Affairs, in which Clegg finally lands a husband, was published posthumously in 1916. Warner died on February 1, 1913.
In addition to the Clegg books, Warner published her short stories in numerous magazines, and several of her novels were serialized in magazines before they were published as books. She wrote another short-story collection, An Original Gentleman (1908), and a book of children’s stories, Your Child and Mine (1919). She also adapted her novel The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary (1905) as a play, The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary: A Three-Act Comedy, which was produced in New York City in 1907 and published in 1916. Swiftly written and insubstantial in character development and plot, Warner’s stories about Susan Clegg are nonetheless delightful for their humorous observations about men.