Boston and major cities
Let's see who these great authors from Boston and other major cities are. Let us begin by briefly quoting Bostonian Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784) who is considered the first African-American poetess. In the 19th century, many American writers, but also foreign refugees, lived in Boston. This is the case of Henry James (1843-1916), an emblematic figure of 19th-century literary realism, whose work offers a meeting of American and European societies, but also of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), known above all for his tales and short stories and considered the inventor of the detective novel. Born in Boston in 1809, he quickly left Massachusetts for Virginia after the death of his parents. It is amusing to know that he once signed his first stories "The Bostonian". English on his mother's side, he made many trips to the Old Continent and it was in Europe and particularly in France that the quality of his writings first met with success. Extraordinary Stories, The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym and Double Murder in the Morgue
are works that are still studied all over the world today. Let's not forget The Four Daughters of Doctor March (1880) - the most famous novel by writer Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) - set in the town of Concord, northwest of Boston. It depicts in an almost autobiographical way the daily life of the Alcott family during and after the Civil War. In Salem, in the 1850s, all eyes were on Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), the child of the country. With The House of Seven Gables - which can be visited today - and The Scarlet Letter, he enthralled the crowds from the moment it was published. A contemporary of Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) achieved fame with his poems, notably The Song of Hiawatha and Evangeline. Let us now talk about a native of Providence, Rhode Island, H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), who became famous after his death for his novels mixing horror and fantasy. From his short story The Call of Cthulhu (1928) was born a whole universe, the Myth of Cthulhu, which has been taken up by many authors. Lovecraft was notably a source of inspiration for Stephen King.The towns of New England
But if the big cities on the coast are hotbeds of culture, the small towns from the Canadian border to southern Virginia have also fuelled the imaginations of writers who have left their mark on the world literary landscape. The famous American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) spent her life in Amherst, Massachusetts. The vast majority of her writings, just under 2,000 poems, were not known and published until after her death. Born into a relatively well-to-do New England family, she studied literature at the Amherst Academy, among other institutions. She later lived a secluded life.
There is of course Mark Twain (1835-1910), whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who wrote the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, considered one of the classics of children's literature. He spent much of his life in Connecticut. He moved with his family to Hartford in 1870. A few years after moving to Connecticut, he wrote the book that would make him famous. His severity, his sharp pen and his cynicism towards his fellow citizens made him one of the most famous American authors of his time. Harriet Beacher Stowe (1811-1896) also spent much of her life in Connecticut. At one point, she moved with her husband to Cincinnati, Ohio, but had to flee the state for Maine because her anti-slavery commitment earned her the wrath of the local intelligentsia. Her book Uncle Tom's Cabin
remains a reference throughout the world. Among the often-emphasized quotes from the work are: "Treat people like pigs and you'll get pigs' work. Treat people like men and you will get a man's job. "And New England and its almost deserted villages provide an ideal setting for crime novels. More recently, writer William G. Tapply (1940-2009), who was born in Massachusetts and lived all his life in New Hampshire, has located the 40 or so novels he wrote here. The state also inspired Swiss writer Joel Dicker (b. 1985), who set the setting for his bestseller The Truth about Harry Quebert. Although he does not place the action of his novels in New England, Dan Brown (b. 1964), the writer with millions of copies sold, including The Da Vinci Code, was born in the small town of Exeter, New Hampshire, where he still lives. Also worthy of mention is John Irving (b. 1942), whose novel The World According to Garp is a worldwide success and has been adapted for the cinema. He is one of the leading New England novelists, as in Last Night at Twisted River, a family saga between northern New Hampshire and Boston. Maine gives color to the horror novels of bestselling author Stephen King (b. 1947), who for his readers suggests that every tree or small house in the Maine countryside is home to a supernatural phenomenon. Maine also charmed Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1887), who moved to Desert Mountain Island in 1950 to spend the last 37 years of her life there. Finally, let us mention Jack Kerouac (1922-1969). The author of Sur la Route was born in Lowell, Massachusetts to a French-Canadian family. He quickly left Massachusetts to study in New York, then set out to discover the great outdoors, through long journeys on the roads of the American continent. In Lowell today, a commemorative plaque has been erected to commemorate the writer-traveller, whose writings marked a whole generation of Americans. On the road, The Celestial Tramps, Satori in Paris, are still today among the must-read in American literature.
