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BRET HARTE Opening the American Literary West
The Oklahoma Western Biographies Richard W. Etulain, General Editor
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BRET HARTE Opening the American Literary West By Gary Scharnhorst
University of Oklahoma Press : Norman
Also by Gary Scharnhorst The Lost Life of Horatio Alger (Bloomington, Ind., 1985) (editor) Bret Harte’s California: Letters to the Springfield Republican and Christian Register, 1866–67 (Albuquerque, 1990) Bret Harte (New York, 1992) (editor) Critical Essays on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (New York, 1993) (editor, with Tom Quirk) American Realism and the Canon (Newark, Del., 1994) Bret Harte: A Bibliography (Metuchen, N.J., 1995) (editor) American Literary Scholarship: An Annual (Durham, N.C., 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999) (editor) Selected Letters of Bret Harte (Norman, 1997)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scharnhorst, Gary. Bret Harte : opening the American literary West / by Gary Scharnhorst. p. cm. — (The Oklahoma western biographies ; v. 17) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–8061–3254–X (alk. paper) 1. Harte, Bret, 1836–1902. 2. Harte, Bret, 1836–1902—Knowledge —West (U.S.) 3. Authors, American—19th century—Biography. 4. Western stories—History and criticism. 5. West (U.S.)—In literature. I. Title. II. Series. PS1833 .S38 2000 813.4—dc21 [B} 00–022412 CIP Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West is Volume 17 in The Oklahoma Western Biographies. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources, Inc. ∞ Copyright © 2000 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the U.S.A. 1
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To Sandy, whose gift I accept every day with untold thanks I have been chosen to receive it.
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Contents
List of Illustrations Series Editor’s Preface Preface
ix xi xiii
1. “I am Fit for Nothing Else” 2. The Overland Monthly: From “The Luck” to “The Prodigal” 3. Mining the Slag Heap: The Commercialization of Local Color 4. Popularizing the West: Lecture, Novel, Play, Pulp Fiction 5. Crefeld, Glasgow, and the Literary Recuperation of the West 6. Tailings from the Claim 7. Epilogue: Played Out
141 180 217
Sources Index
235 243
vii
3 37 70 113
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Illustrations
Bret Harte, age seventeen Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, 1865 Bret Harte, ca. 1862 Anna Griswold Harte, 1892 Joseph Hull illustration for The Heathen Chinee Engraving of the Every Saturday cover Sol Eytinge illustration for The Heathen Chinee Bret Harte, 1872 C. T. Parsloe as Ah Sin, 1876 Bret Harte caricature by “Spy” in Vanity Fair Bret Harte, 1879 Bret Harte, 1885 Francis King Harte, ca. 1887 The Van de Velde mansion at 109 Lancaster Gate West, London, 1998 The cast of Sue on stage at Hoyt’s Theatre, New York, 1896 Bret Harte and Francis King Harte, ca. 1900 Sketch of Harte by A. S. Boyd, 1892 Bret Harte, ca. 1900 Ethel Harte, ca. 1902 Bret Harte’s grave
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Series Editor’s Preface
STORIES of heroes and heroines have intrigued many generations of listeners and readers. Americans, like people everywhere, have been captivated by the lives of military, political, and religious figures and of intrepid explorers, pioneers, and rebels. The Oklahoma Western Biographies endeavor to build on this fascination with biography and to link it with two other abiding inte