Garland in His Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of His Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates (Writers in Their Own Time)

In his heyday, Hamlin Garland had a considerable reputation as a radical writer whose realistic stories and polemical essays agitating for a literature that accurately represented American life riled the nation's press. Born in poverty and raised on a series of frontier farms, Garland fled the rural Midwest in 1881 at age twenty-one. When his stories combining the radical economic theories of Henry George with realistic depictions of farm life appeared as Main-Travelled Roads in 1891, reviewers praised his method but were disturbed by the bleak subject matter. Four years (and eight books) later, his frank depiction of sexuality in his novel of the New Woman, Rose of Dutcher's Coolly (1895), made Garland even more controversial. After realizing he couldn't make a living from such realistic works, Garland turned first to biography, then to critically panned but commercially popular romances set in the mountain west, and eventually to autobiography. In 1917 he published A Son of the Middle Border, a remarkable autobiography in which he combined the story of his life to 1893 with the story of U.S. westward expansion, to considerable critical acclaim and large sales. Its 1921 sequel, A Daughter of the Middle Border, received the Pulitzer Prize for biography. Although the author eventually wrote no fewer than eight autobiographies, he showed little awareness of the effect of his strong personality upon others. The sixty-six reminiscences in Garland in His Own Time offer an essential complement to his self-portrait by giving the perspectives of family, friends, fellow writers, and critics. The book offers the contemporary reader new reasons to return to this fascinating writer's work. In His Heyday, Hamlin Garland Had A Considerable Reputation As A Radical Writer Whose Realistic Stories And Polemical Essays Agitating For A Literature That Accurately Represented American Life Riled The Nation's Press. The Sixty-six Reminiscences In Garland In His Own Time Offer An Essential Complement To His Self-portrait By Giving The Perspectives Of Family, Friends, Fellow Writers, And Critics. The Book Offers The Contemporary Reader New Reasons To Return To This Fascinating Writer's Work. Introduction -- Chronology -- Garland's Iowa, Dakota, And Boston Years, 1874-1890 / Franklin Garland -- Garland In Dakota In 1883 / Edwin C. Torrey -- Discussing Garland With Walt Whitman, 1888-1889 / Horace Traubel -- Garland As A Teacher In 1889 / Mary E. Strout -- Garland As A Teacher In 1890 / Harriet E. Halliman, Et Al. -- Garland In Boston, 1889-1890 / Julie Herne -- Garland And 'the Arena, ' 1890 / B.o. Flower -- Garland At The Populist Convention In 1892 / Elia Peattie And Robert Burns Peattie -- Garland As A Radical In 1892 / William Allen White -- Journal Comments On Garland In 1893 / Edwin Markham -- The Battle Of The Realists And Romanticists In 1893 / Eugene Field -- Garland In West Salem, 1893-1915 / Ida E. Tilson -- Garland As A West Salem Resident, 1893-1915 / Mary Jane Ewing -- An Alternate View Of Garland In West Salem, 1893-1915 / Mary Jane Ewing -- Letters About Garland, 1894 / Theodore Roosevelt -- Satiric Commentary On Garland, 1895-1899 / Elbert Hubbard --^ From I State My Views On Taxation / Eugene Field (1896) -- Satiric Commentary On Garland In 1896 / Charles Fletcher Lummis -- Garland In London In 1899 / Grant Richards -- Garland's Marriage, 1899-1906 / Isabel Garland Lord -- From On The Trail With Hamlin Garland / C. Watt Brandon (1907) -- From Mr. Garland's Books / William Dean Howells (1912) -- Letter About Interviewing Garland In 1915 / Fred Lewis Pattee -- Garland At The Cliff Dwellers In 1915 / Ralph Fletcher Seymour -- Life In The Garland Home, 1916 / Isabel Garland Lord -- An Appreciation Of Hamlin Garland / Theodore Roosevelt (1917) -- Garland And The Automobile In 1920 / Isabel Garland Lord -- Letter About Garland In New York In 1921 / Oscar Cargill -- From Hamlin Garland: The Hardy Of The West / Joseph E. Chamberlin (1926) -- Journal Comments On Garland In 1929 / Eldon Hill -- From Text Of Sinclair Lewis's Nobel Prize Address At Stockholm / Sinclair Lewis (1930) --^ Journal Comments On Garland In 1931 / Eldon Hill -- Garland In California, 1931-1933 / Isabel Garland Lord -- Garland's Work Habits, 1932 / Lee Shippey -- Letter Commenting On Garland In California In 1933 / Paul Jordan-smith -- Garland's Seventy-third Birthday, 1933 / Isabel Garland Lord -- Diary Impressions Of Garland In 1933 / Gladys Hasty Carroll -- Letter About Garland In Wisconsin, 1935 / William Ellery Leonard -- Journal Comments On Garland In 1936 / Eldon Hill -- The Hamlin Garland Memorial, 1936 / M. Lisle Reese -- Garland And Psychic Investigation, 1937 / Isabel Garland Lord -- Hamlin Garland, Active At 77, Enjoys Life In California Home / Floyd Logan (1938) -- Letter About A Visit With Garland In 1938 / W.d. Addison -- Garland's Final Days In 1940 / Isabel Garland Lord -- Letters About The Death Of Garland, 1940 / Edgar Lee Masters And Theodore Dreiser -- Hamlin Garland As I Knew Him / Bailey Millard (1940) -- My Friend Hamlin Garland / Lee Meriwether (1940) --^ A Little Story Of Friendship / Irving Bacheller (1940) -- Hamlin Garland: Delightful Host / Carroll Sibley (1940) -- Hamlin Garland / Booth Tarkington (1942) -- Letter About Garland And His Brother, 1950 / Alice Field Garland -- From 'dome Of Many-coloured Glass' / Post Wheeler And Hallie Erminie Rives (1955) -- A Literary Tribute, 1960 / August Derleth -- A Tribute From A Mcclure's Apprentice, 1960 / Witter Bynner -- A Tribute From Garland's Macmillan Editor, 1960 / Harold S. Latham -- On Garland And His Fans, 1960 / Vilhjalmur Stefansson -- Hamlin Garland And The University Of Southern California / Garland Greever (1960) -- On Garland's Early Praise, 1960 / Kathleen Norris -- Like The Postman, Fame Rang His Doorbell Twice / Hermann Hagedorn (1960) -- A Tribute From The Editor Of 'rotarian, ' 1960 / Leland D. Case -- Garland As A Father, 1960 / Constance Garland Doyle -- On Garland's Later Years, 1960 / Van Wyck Brooks --^ A Tribute From The Editor Of 'bookman, ' 1960 / John Farrar -- From 'my Life In Publishing' / Harold S. Latham (1965) -- From 'an Autobiography' / Van Wyck Brooks (1965) -- From A Memoir: Hamlin Garland / Floyd Logan (1968). Edited By Keith Newlin. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 233-238) And Index.