Boston and major cities
Let's take a look at these great writers from Boston and other major cities. Let's start with a brief mention of Bostonian Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784), considered the first African-American poet. In the 19th century, many American writers, as well as foreign refugees, settled in Boston. These included Henry James (1843-1916), the emblematic figure of 19th-century literary realism, whose work offers an encounter between American and European society, as well as Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), best known for his short stories and tales, and considered the inventor of the detective story. Born in Boston in 1809, he soon left Massachusetts for Virginia after the death of his parents. Funnily enough, he once signed his first stories "The Bostonian". English on his mother's side, he traveled extensively on the Old Continent, and it was in Europe, and particularly in France, that the quality of his writing first met with success. Extraordinary Stories, The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym and Double Murder in the Morgue are all works that are still studied the world over.
And let's not forget The Four Daughters of Doctor March (1880) - the most famous novel by author Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) - set in the town of Concord, northwest of Boston. Almost autobiographically, it depicts the daily life of the Alcott family during and after the American Civil War. In Salem in the 1850s, all eyes were on local boy Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864). With The House of the Seven Gables - which can be visited today - and The Scarlet Letter, he captivated the crowds as soon as he was published. A contemporary of Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) became famous for his poems, notably The Song of Hiawatha and Evangeline. Now let's talk about a native of Providence, Rhode Island, H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), who achieved fame after his death for his novels mixing horror and fantasy. His short story The Call of Cthulhu (1928) gave rise to an entire universe, the Cthulhu Mythos, which has been taken up by numerous authors. In particular, Lovecraft was a source of inspiration for Stephen King.
The towns of New England
But if the great cities of the coast are hotbeds of culture, the small towns from the Canadian border to southern Virginia have also fed the imaginations of writers who have left their mark on the world's 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-off New England family, she studied literature at Amherst Academy. She later became a recluse.
Then, of course, there's Mark Twain (1835-1910), whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, considered one of the classics of children's literature. He spent a large part of his life in Connecticut. He moved with his family to Hartford in 1870. A few years after settling in Connecticut, he wrote the book that would make him famous. His severity, acerbic writing and cynicism about 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. For a time, she settled with her husband in Cincinnati, Ohio, but had to flee the state for Maine, as her anti-slavery stance earned her the wrath of the local intelligentsia. His book Uncle Tom's Cabin remains a reference worldwide. Among the quotations from the work that are often highlighted are: "Treat people like pigs and you'll get a pig's job. Treat people like men and you'll get men's work."
And New England, with its almost deserted villages, is an ideal setting for detective stories. More recently, writer William G. Tapply (1940-2009), who was born in Massachusetts and lived all his life in New Hampshire, set the forty or so novels he wrote here. The state also inspired Swiss writer Joël Dicker (b. 1985), who set the scene for his bestseller The Truth About Harry Quebert. Although he doesn't set his novels in New England, Dan Brown (b. 1964), the million-selling author of The Da Vinci Code and other works, was born in the small town of Exeter, New Hampshire, where he still lives. John Irving (b. 1942), whose novel The World According to Garp is a worldwide success and has been adapted for the screen. He is one of the leading New England novelists, as in Last Night at Twisted River, a family saga set between northern New Hampshire and Boston. Maine lends its color to the horror novels of best-selling author Stephen King (b. 1947), who suggests to his readers that every tree and cottage in the region's countryside is home to a supernatural phenomenon. Maine also charmed Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1887), who settled on the island of Monts Déserts in 1950 to spend the last 37 years of her life. Finally, there's Jack Kerouac (1922-1969). The author of Sur la Route was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, into a French-Canadian family. He soon left Massachusetts to study in New York, then set off to discover the great outdoors on long road trips across the American continent. In Lowell today, a commemorative plaque has been erected in honor of the writer-traveler, whose texts left their mark on a whole generation of Americans. Sur la route, Les clochards célestes and Satori à Paris are still among the must-have works of American literature.
