Mary Heaton Vorse
Mary Heaton Vorse was an American writer and labor activist born in New York to a wealthy family. She began her education early, studying languages in various European cities, and pursued art in New York and Paris. Vorse married reporter Albert Vorse in 1898, and while her literary career took off with publications in popular magazines, her marriage faced challenges leading to their separation in 1909. Her experiences in Europe, particularly witnessing the plight of coal miners and the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, ignited her passion for labor rights and leftist politics.
After marrying socialist writer Joe O'Brien in 1912, Vorse became deeply involved in radical activism, contributing to the founding of the Provincetown Players theater group. She authored several novels that intertwined themes of feminism and socialism, such as "The Heart's Country" and "I've Come to Stay: A Love Comedy of Bohemia." Throughout her career, she wrote extensively on labor issues, covering significant events like the steel and textile strikes, and documented global crises, including World War I and the rise of Hitler. Even as her literary output waned post-World War II, Vorse's commitment to social justice and political activism remained unwavering.
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Subject Terms
Mary Heaton Vorse
Journalist
- Born: October 11, 1874
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: June 14, 1966
- Place of death: Provincetown, Massachusetts
Biography
Mary Heaton was born in New York to a wealthy mother and a father who was a retired innkeeper. She began spending winters in Vienna, Paris, and other European cities at the age of ten. Extensively tutored, Heaton learned French, German, and Italian. At nineteen, she attended art school in New York and Paris. In 1898, she married reporter Albert Vorse. After having two children, they decided to move to Paris in 1903, where they could live cheaply, Vorse could work on his writing, and the two could salvage their stressed marriage.
Although literary success eluded Albert Vorse, Mary Heaton Vorse published the comedic “The Breaking-in of a Yachtman’s Wife” in The Atlantic Monthly in 1905. The article was later combined with other pieces into a book of the same title in 1908. She quickly found success in writing for popular magazines. However, Europe also sparked her political interests; after observing the brutal treatment of Italian coal miners in 1904, Vorse became interested in labor rights and left-wing politics. The Vorses returned to the United States in 1906, where Albert gave up on writing and Mary’s career flourished. Her marriage began to deteriorate, at least partly due to her husband’s jealousy, and they separated in 1909; he died in 1910.
Vorse initially wrote on family life in the modern world in such books as Autobiography of an Elderly Woman and The Very Little Person in 1911, The Prestons in 1918, and Growing Up in 1920. Vorse became increasingly aware of the unfair conditions for New York’s impoverished; her contempt for political corruption and societal neglect was cemented when she personally witnessed the famous Triangle Shirt Company fire, which resulted in the deaths of more than 150 workers.
Marrying the socialist writer Joe O’Brien in 1912, Vorse (who retained the name professionally) became more involved in radical politics. Their homes in New York and Provincetown, Massachusetts, became centers for left-wing activism, and in 1915 Vorse helped found the Provincetown Players theater group. During this time she also befriended novelist Sinclair Lewis, who would have a lasting effect on her. Her politics are reflected in novels such as The Heart’s Country, which blended romance with feminism and socialism.
Her second husband died in 1915; Vorse dealt with the tragedy through work, focusing on the Players and writing a novel about the artist scene in Greenwich Village, I’ve Come to Stay: A Love Comedy of Bohemia, published in 1918. She was sent as a journalist to Italy during this period and also observed an international conference on women’s suffrage in Hungary. In addition to her articles about the trip, she wrote The Ninth Man in 1920, which discussed, in part, the dangerousness of mob mentality. She would continue to examine labor and social concerns, covering the steel strike in 1919, the textile strikes of 1926, and a variety of other actions; this focus resulted in books such as Men and Steel, Labor’s New Millions, and Strike!.
As a journalist, she would later cover World War I, the Russian famine of the early 1920’s, and the earliest days of Hitler’s rise to power. Her travels and political impulses would result in A Footnote to Folly: Reminiscences of Mary Heaton Vorse. Her literary output would slow in the years following World War II, although her political commitments and activism remained strong.