From Ben-Hur to Sister Carrie
Guild Press of Indiana, 1995
DRAWING ON NEW MATERIAL and pulling together old, Barbara Olenyik Morrow tells the story of five famous Hoosier authors: Lew Wallace, James Whitcomb Riley, Gene Stratton-Porter, Booth Tarkington, and Theodore Dreiser. All of them were born in the nineteenth century and lived to see the twentieth. All of them produced best-selling books of fiction and/or poetry, and all achieved prominence far beyond the borders of their home state. Morrow’s approach is “popular” literary history; she highlights aspects of the writers’ lives and works that at times have been overlooked, such as Lew Wallace’s dealings with the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid. She also discusses their legacies - from the founding in 1924 of the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis to the efforts of Hoosier environmentalists to restore a section of Gene Stratton-Porter’s beloved Limberlost Swamp to its former wild state.
This volume is liberally illustrated with photographs, some of them never before published. It also contains a hitherto unpublished memoir by a relative of Theodore Dreiser. Each chapter concludes with excerpts from the writer’s well-known works, including Tarkington’s hilarious Penrod and Riley’s ever-popular “Little Orphant Annie.”
Online Reader Reviews
“From Ben-Hur to Sister Carrie is beautifully written and meticulously researched. I especially enjoyed the many black and white photographs that accompanied the text.”
“Very informative and well-written. Quite enjoyable.”
“This is a fun and interesting read, especially if you are a Hoosier.”
Fun Facts about Indiana’s Famous Five
Lew Wallace (1827-1905) was at various times in his life a lawyer, Civil War general, governor of the New Mexico Territory, and a diplomat who represented the United States in Turkey. He also wrote Ben-Hur (1880), one of the best-selling books of all time and twice made into a popular movie, including the 1959 film version starring actor Charlton Heston.
James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) was known as “The Hoosier Poet.” In an age before radio, television or motion pictures, he also was a superb stage entertainer, with the humorist Mark Twain calling him one of the funniest storytellers and best poetry readers in America.
Gene Stratton-Porter (1863-1924) went to great lengths to photograph birds and wild creatures. To photograph the life cycle of moths, she would bring cocoons from the woods to her Limberlost Cabin and pin them to her pillow at night, thus ensuring she would be awakened by the scraping of feet when the “fragile night wanderers” emerged. Her camera was always at the ready.
Booth Tarkington (1869-1946), who twice won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, was indebted to his sister for launching his career. Without his knowledge, she delivered to a New York publisher his manuscript The Gentleman for Indiana. Tarkington soon received a contract, with more of his books - and fame - to follow.
Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) was not beloved by Americans in the early 1900s because his fiction was viewed as raw, pessimistic and immoral. But literary critics would eventually recognize his genius, with the journalist H.L. Mencken declaring “no other American of his generation left so wide and handsome a mark upon the national letters.”
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