Contemporary American Literature Part 39

+Charles Rann Kennedy+--dramatist.

Born at Derby, England, 1871. Largely self-educated. Office boy and clerk, thirteen to sixteen. Lecturer and writer to twenty-six. Actor, press-agent, and miscellaneous writer and theatrical business manager to thirty-four. His play, _The Servant in the House_, established his reputation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

*The Servant in the House. 1908.

The Winterfeast. 1908.

The Terrible Meek. 1911.

The Necessary Evil. 1913.

The Idol-Breaker. 1914.

The Rib of the Man. 1917.

The Army With Banners; A Divine Comedy of this Very Day. 1917.

The Fool from the Hills. 1919.

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Boynton.

Arena, 40 ('08): 18 (portrait), 20.

Atlan. 103 ('09): 73.

Dial, 45 ('08): 36.

Ind. 72 ('12): 725.

R. of Rs. 37 ('08): 757; 45 ('12): 633; 49 ('14): 501. (Portraits.)

+(Alfred) Joyce Kilmer+--poet, essayist.

Born at New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1886. Of mixed ancestry, Irish, German, English, Scotch. A.B., Rutgers, 1904; Columbia, 1906. Married Miss Aline Murray, step-daughter of Henry Mills Alden, editor of _Harper's Magazine_ (cf. Aline Kilmer). Taught a short time, then held various editorial positions on _The Churchman_, the _Literary Digest_, _Current Literature_, the _New York Times Sunday Magazine_, among others.

In 1913, he and his wife were converted to Catholicism. In 1916, he was called to the faculty of the School of Journalism, New York University, succeeding Arthur Guiterman (q.v.). Enlisted as a private in the War and was killed in action, 1918.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

1. Kilmer wished to be judged by poetry written after October, 1913, and to discard all earlier work. Why?

2. The following influences are traceable in his poetry: (1) Francis Thompson, Coventry Patmore, and earlier Catholic poets; (2) his mother's musical talent; (3) his journalistic work; (4) the War.

3. Kilmer's letters ill.u.s.trate and explain the qualities of his work.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Trees and Other Poems. 1915.

Main Street and Other Poems. 1917.

Joyce Kilmer, edited by Robert Cortes Holliday. 1918. (Poems, essays, and letters.) Circus, and Other Essays and Fugitive Pieces. 1921.

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Holliday, R.C. Memoir in _Joyce Kilmer_ (listed in bibliography).

Kilmer, Mrs. Annie Kilburn. Memories of my Son, Sergeant Joyce Kilmer, 1920.

Ath. 1919, 2: 1220.

Bookm. 48 ('18): 133 (portrait).

Bookm. (Lond.) 56 ('19): 122; 57 ('19): 118.

Cath. World, 100 ('14): 301; 108 ('18): 224.

Lit. Digest, 58 ('18): Aug. 31, p. 36 (portrait); Sept. 7, pp. 32 (portrait), 42.

Outlook, 120 ('18): 12, 16; 122 ('19): 467.

Poetry, 11 ('18): 281; 13 ('18): 31. 149.

R. of Rs. 58 ('18): 431 (portrait).

+Aline Murray Kilmer+--poet.

Step-daughter of Henry Mills Alden. Married in 1909 to Joyce Kilmer (q.v.).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Candles that Burn. 1919.

Vigils. 1921.

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Bookm. 54 ('21): 384.

Nation, 109 ('19): 116.

New Repub. 29 ('21): 133.

See also _Book Review Digest_, 1919, 1921.

+Grace Elizabeth King+--novelist.

Born at New Orleans, 1852, and educated there and in France. Her stories and novels furnish material for an interesting comparison with the work of G.W. Cable (q.v.). Her writing grew out of the desire to present from the inside the Creole Society in which she had grown up, to which she felt that Mr. Cable, as an outsider, had not done justice.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Monsieur Motte. 1888.

Balcony Stories. 1893.

The Pleasant Ways of St. Medard. 1916.

For reviews, see _Pattee_; also _Book Review Digest_, 1916.