Pennsylvania
Click an author to read a biographical essay prepared by a local student.
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By Cheryl A. Petersohn
Pennsylvania was founded by an author who got into trouble for his writings. No wonder this state has such a distinguished literary heritage. The Keystone State provides rich natural and intellectual resources, a varied but essentially moderate climate, and room to grow. Since its founding in 1682 by William Penn, himself the author of more than one hundred books and pamphlets supporting religious toleration, Pennsylvania has been home to countless writers. Penn's "Holy Experiment," planned to be an ideal commonwealth in America away from religious persecution, has a long history of authors whose works promote free expression of ideas and creative experimentation. This short overview of Pennsylvania authors can merely scratch the surface of a literary history that favorably follows in the footsteps of Penn's most famous work, The Great Cause of Liberty of Conscience.
Revolutionary Era (1763- 1861)
Pennsylvania was an early and vocal leader in the fight to win freedom from Great Britain. By January of 1776, Thomas Paine, then a resident of Philadelphia, was urging a prompt declaration of independence in his incendiary pamphlet Common Sense. During the "hot" political and meteorological summer of 1776, Virginian Thomas Jefferson, with the help of adopted Philadelphian Benjamin Franklin, wrote the Declaration of Independence, asserting the right of freedom for the thirteen colonies. Benjamin Franklin later played a significant part in hammering out the compromises that eventually became the United States Constitution. Franklin, colonial Pennsylvania's most notable man of letters, distinguished himself as an inventor, statesman, journalist, and author. We still quote Poor Richard's Almanac, "a penny saved is a penny earned," and read his autobiography.
Pennsylvania during the period from the Revolutionary War until the 1840'sled the country in the number of local newspapers, indicating a great support for the written word. Although he grew up in Virginia and died in Baltimore, Maryland, Philadelphia lays a claim to
Edgar Allan Poe, as tourists to the "Poe House" will attest. Living in Philadelphia from 1838 -1844, Poe wrote some of his best known works including "The Raven," "The Gold Bug," and "Murders in the Rue Morgue."In the early 1800's Philadelphia was a publishing mecca with scores of literary magazines that eagerly published the works of poets such as Philip Freneau, William Clifton, and Thomas Dunn English. Playwright George Henry Boker, whose "Francesca de Rimini" was judged the best American play in 1860,is representative of the dramatic output of the region.
The Gilded Age (1861 - 1900)
The latter part of the nineteenth century was a low-point for Pennsylvania literary history. Overshadowed by nearby New York City's rise to dominance as the literary capital of the United States, Pennsylvania's authors took little note of the realism and naturalism movements in American Literature after the Civil War. A few achieved prominence in related fields such as Bayard Taylor, travel books; Rebecca Harding Davis, realistic fiction; her son Richard Harding Davis, war correspondent; and Frank Stockton, humorist.
John Luther Long's play "Madam Butterfly," set to Puccini's music, became a popular opera. However, the most eminent poet of the age, Walt Whitman, lived in poverty across the Delaware River in Camden, New Jersey and was not even recognized by the organizers of the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876.
The Twentieth Century and Beyond
Pennsylvania's literary reputation revived in the twentieth century and looks more than promising for the future. Three literary giants claim Pennsylvania birthplaces and important influences from the state.
Conrad Richter, from the central part of Pennsylvania, wrote novels that teach the importance of the land and nature in overcoming life's adversities. Lighting the Forest explores Indian - white relations. The Ohio trilogy- The Trees, The Fields, The Town - portrays life for pioneers on the Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio border. John O'Hara, from Pottsville, describes the more sophisticated "O'Hara Country," a triangle formed by Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pottsville, in such works as Ten North Frederick and From the Terrace. James A. Michener grew up poor in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, won a scholarship to Swathmore College, and went on to write such best sellers as Hawaii and Centennial. He remained loyal to his Bucks County roots and Quaker upbringing hearkening back to William Penn's message of religious and racial tolerance through his novels and philanthropic gifts to area institutions.Twentieth century Pennsylvania authors excelled in creativity and activism. Dr. William E.B. DuBoise was teaching at the University of Pennsylvania when he wrote the first sociological study of its kind, The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study in 1899. He later went on to found the NAACP. Philadelphia native Jessie Redmond Fauset, novelist and civil rights activist, edited the Crisis, the journal of the NAACP.
Mary Roberts Rinehart's domestic novels exposed the plight of women in her Pennsylvania German community. Poet Hilda "H. D." Doolittle was a leader in the "Imagist" movement, which tried to convey direct impressions to the reader through choice of words. Nobel Prize winner Pearl Buck, the daughter of missionaries to China, contributed to a greater understanding of Asian culture through her novel The Good Earth and worked unceasingly through the Pearl S. Buck Foundation to fight the prejudice suffered by Amerasian children who are not accepted in the Asian culture. Scientist and author Rachel Carson alerted us to the dangers of pollution in two groundbreaking works, The Sea Around Us and Silent Spring.The Pennsylvania literary tradition is alive and well into the twenty-first century with a diverse crop of contemporary authors.
John Updike, from Shillington, continues to write novels that examine life and death in modern society. His best-known works are the Rabbit novels including Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, and Rabbit is Rich. His most recent novel, Gertrude and Claudius , reworks "Hamlet" from Gertrude's point of view, giving the reader a totally new perspective on Shakespeare's tragedy. Historian David McCullough and Annie Dillard (An American Childhood and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek) grew up within a few blocks from each other in Pittsburgh. PEN/Faulkner award winners for fiction David Bradley and John Wideman both live, teach, and write in Philadelphia. Following the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe, Philadelphia lawyer Lisa Scottoline's detective novels are becoming increasingly popular. In "Fences" and "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," Pulitzer Prize winning playwright August Wilson portrays African – American history with humor and wisdom. Bill Cosby , still loyal to Temple University, has become an American icon through his television shows, stand-up comedy, and best selling books Parenthood and Childhood .William Penn's literary legacy remains vibrant in Pennsylvania. After three hundred years, the state that essentially started with a book, Penn's experiment for tolerance and acceptance has continued to support a diverse and exciting group of writers.
Sources:
Alderfer, E. Gordon. The Montgomery County Story. Norristown, Pennsylvania: Commissioners of Montgomery county, 1951.
Brown, Ira. V. The Negro in Pennsylvania History. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical Association, 1970.
Gutkind, Lee, ed. Our Roots Grow Deeper Than We Know. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1985.
Klein, Philip. S., and Ari Hoogenboom. A History of Pennsylvania. 2nd ed. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1980.
McElroy, Janice H. Our Hidden Heritage: Pennsylvania Women in History. Washington, D.C.: Pennsylvania division, American Association of University Women, 1983.
Cheryl Petersohn is an English teacher at Harriton High School, Lower Merion School District, Pennsylvania.