[44], In spite of the series' success, Alger was on financially uncertain ground and tutored the five sons of the international banker Joseph Seligman. These children were brought to cities and trained as pickpockets on the streets and had to serve masters. The main character was generally a poor boy in his late teens who was either an orphan or had to support his mother (family) as well as himself. Such images, Trachtenberg believes, may imply "a positive view of homoeroticism as an alternative way of life, of living by sympathy rather than aggression". The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is dedicated to the simple but powerful belief that hard work, honesty and determination can conquer all obstacles. The Protestant work ethic was less prevalent in the United States, and violence, murder, and other sensational themes entered Alger's works. Alger was born on January 13, 1832, in the New England coastal town of Chelsea, Massachusetts, the son of Horatio Alger Sr., a Unitarian minister, and Olive Augusta Fenno. That's it. Scharnhorst speculates this episode in Alger's childhood accounts for the recurrent theme in his boys' books of heroes threatened with eviction or foreclosure and may account for Alger's "consistent espousal of environmental reform proposals". Buckley, always adept at lacing his political/legal analysis with literary allusions, begins with a panegyric to Horatio Alger ’s character Ragged Dick, the plucky urchin of late 19th century fiction who rises from the streets of New York City to a position of respectability by dint of honesty, thrift, and hard work. Horatio Alger, born in 1832, was the oldest of five children born into a middle class family. The end of Silas Snobden's Office Boy says, "As for Frank, all goes smoothly with him. To install click the Add extension button. Scharnhorst writes that Alger "exercised a certain discretion in discussing his probable homosexuality" and was known to have mentioned his sexuality only once after the Brewster incident. There is reason to believe that Alger was homosexual, but his sexual orientation wasn't known to the general public so it probably didn't affect his fame at all. The "Alger hero [became a] synonym for spectacular rise to fame and wealth." You could also do it yourself at any point in time. [35][a] Alger denied nothing, admitted he had been imprudent, considered his association with the church dissolved, and left town. The books are jam packed with action and don't have much description. Enough detail is left out that the characters could change into those of the reader. Horatio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was an American writer. Allen. He never experienced any of the hardships that he portrayed in his stories. Virginia Allain from Central Florida on June 24, 2011: Well done page about this vintage author! He could have clear enemies from the beginning of the story. Alger continued to produce stories of honest boys outwitting evil, greedy squires and malicious youths. Trachtenberg concludes, "in Ragged Dick we see Alger plotting domestic romance, complete with a surrogate marriage of two homeless boys, as the setting for his formulaic metamorphosis of an outcast street boy into a self-respecting citizen". The lack of huge amounts of description makes the reading go quickly but there is enough description so you feel that you could know the characters. By 1926, he sold around 20 million copies in the United States. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" … He led a busy life with street boys, Harvard classmates, and the social elite. Church officials reported to the hierarchy in Boston that Alger had been charged with "the abominable and revolting crime of gross familiarity with boys". Profits suffered, and he headed West for new material at Loring's behest, arriving in California in February 1877. He tutored with never a whisper of scandal. Since 1947, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans has awarded scholarships and prizes to deserving individuals. Surveys in 1932 and 1947 revealed very few children had read or even heard of Alger. What is a phoenix? Each story has its clever hero, its "fairy godmother", and obstacles and hindrances to the hero's rise. Alger put an emphasis on the moral values of his heroes and a lack of morals in his villains. Many of his stories were published a chapter at a time in magazines. [46] In 1875 Alger produced the serial Shifting for Himself and Sam's Chance, a sequel to The Young Outlaw. Geck observes that Alger's themes have been transformed in modern America from their original meanings into a male Cinderella myth and are an Americanization of the traditional Jack tales. ## PDF Scare Quotes From Shakespeare Marx Keynes And The Language Of Reenchantment ## Uploaded By Horatio Alger, Jr., this book argues that moments of allusion to the supernatural in shakespeare are occasions where karl marx and john maynard keynes register the perseverance of haunted structures in modern culture this Scharnhorst believes Alger's desire to atone for his "secret sin" may have "spurred him to identify his own charitable acts of writing didactic books for boys with the acts of the charitable patrons in his books who wish to atone for a secret sin in their past by aiding the hero". [27] Alger initially wrote for adult magazines, including Harper's Magazine and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, but a friendship with William Taylor Adams, a boys' author, led him to write for the young. Alger knew that there was luck in his stories that the average person couldn't hope to obtain. He was the descendant of Pilgrim Fathers Robert Cushman, Thomas Cushman, and William Bassett. In 1896, he had what he called a "nervous breakdown"; he relocated permanently to his sister's home in South Natick, Massachusetts. Although Alger was willing to speak to James, his sexuality was a closely guarded secret. He attended a children's church service at Five Points, which led to "John Maynard", a ballad about an actual shipwreck on Lake Erie, which brought Alger not only the respect of the literati but a letter from Longfellow. [11] Horatio attended Gates Academy, a local preparatory school,[10] and completed his studies at age 15. Some of Alger's stories brought attention to important social needs of the late nineteenth century. Horatio Alger Jr. (/ ˈ æ l dʒ ər /; January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was an American writer of young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His many books that followed were essentially variations on Ragged Dick and featured stock characters: the valiant, hard-working, honest youth; the noble mysterious stranger; the snobbish youth; and the evil, greedy squire. [71][72], In 2015, many of Alger's books were published as illustrated paperbacks and ebooks under the title "Stories of Success" by Horatio Alger. One example of his fame comes from an award that bears his name, the Horatio Alger Award. In 1870 the elder Henry James wrote that Alger "talks freely about his own late insanity—which he in fact appears to enjoy as a subject of conversation". Born in 1832, Horatio Alger, Jr. grew up in a middle class Massachusetts family, attended Harvard, and worked briefly as a pastor before putting his pen to paper professionally in the early 1860s. [21][22], His first book, Bertha's Christmas Vision: An Autumn Sheaf, a collection of short pieces, was published in 1856, and his second book, Nothing to Do: A Tilt at Our Best Society, a lengthy satirical poem, was published in 1857. The stories give hope and comfort to those that read them because they are so uplifting, unlike reality. [16] He began reading Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, and other modern writers of fiction and cultivated a lifelong love for Longfellow, whose verse he sometimes employed as a model for his own. The Erie Train Boy. Alger was commissioned to write a biography of Abraham Lincoln, but again it was Alger the boys' novelist opting for thrills rather than facts. [39], In 1866, Alger relocated to New York City where he studied the condition of the street boys, and found in them an abundance of interesting material for stories. His work appeared in hardcover and paperback, and decades-old poems were published in anthologies. In The Train Boy, for example, a wealthy heiress chooses to marry a talented but struggling artist, and in The Erie Train Boy a poor woman wins her true love despite the machinations of a rich, depraved suitor. His literary work was bequeathed to his niece, to two boys he had casually adopted, and to his sister Olive Augusta, who destroyed his manuscripts and his letters, according to his wishes. [77] For example, the boy rescues a child from an overturned carriage or finds and returns the man's stolen watch. He died on July 18, 1899, at the home of his sister in Natick, Massachusetts. There were never full sentences of description, just clauses attached to the sentence identifying the character. Silas Snobden's Office Boy was a quick, fun read. "However", he writes, "the true Americanization of this fairy tale occurs in its subversion of this claiming of nobility; rather, the Alger hero achieves the American Dream in its nascent form, he gains a position of middle-class respectability that promises to lead wherever his motivation may take him". Mencken (6.2, 12.39) A.E.W. His readers ignored the moral qualities of his heroes and instead focused on their success. [25] Exempted from military service for health reasons in July 1863, he wrote in support of the Union cause and associated with New England intellectuals. Alger secured his literary niche in 1868 with the publication of his fourth book, Ragged Dick, the story of a poor bootblack's rise to middle-class respectability. The majority of his readers clung to the images of success, fortune, and wealth, but ignored the morals. Research the meaning of any allusions that are unfamiliar to you. The story itself was amusing because the whole situation relied heavily on luck, but then again most stories of this type do. I first learned about Alger in my 11th grade American History class. As the stories can lead you to believe, there weren't people looking to help others out everywhere, the work place could be very competitive because everyone hoped to succeed. Scharnhorst describes six major themes in Alger's boys' books. I was fascinated by the images that he portrayed, and spent some time reading his stories and thinking about how they impacted society. The villains are dirty and scary looking whereas the heroes are clean, honest, good people. He also wished to show the middle class the hardships faced by the poor children of the country. Horatio Alger's novels illustrated the nation's most popular myth in the late nineteenth century, that anyone could improve their social position through determination and hard work. [26], His first novel, Marie Bertrand: The Felon's Daughter, was serialized in New York Weekly in 1864, and his first boys' book, Frank's Campaign, was published by A. K. Loring in Boston the same year. After Alger's death, some of his stories were abridged to get rid of the good deeds of the hero to please the public. "Alger, Horatio" Encyclopedia Britannica Online [Accessed March 8, 2001], Alger, Horatio. 2. Scholar John Geck notes that Alger relied on "formulas for experience rather than shrewd analysis of human behavior", and that these formulas were "culturally centered" and "strongly didactic". [17], Alger had no job prospects following graduation and returned home. He is buried in Natick, Massachusetts. After the success of Ragged Dick, Alger became an active supporter of charitable institutions that supported runaway boys. According to Scharnhorst, Alger's father was "an impoverished man" who defaulted on his debts in 1844. 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