John Kendrick Bangs and the Transition from Nineteenth to Twentieth-Century American Humor
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I I 71-7426 COX, Virginia Lee, 1932- JOHN KENDRICK BANGS AND THE TRANSITION FROM NINETEENTH TO TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN HUMOR. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1970 Language and Literature, modern University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan (JOSit: iUiALMICK HAKG5 AND THIS TRANSITION FiiOii NINETEENTH 10 TtfKNTIEIH-CEN i'URY AMERICAS HUMOR DISSERTATION L\:ntod in i-artial Fuli'illiaont of the Requirements for the Deyree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Lee y Virginia'Cox, '-.A., !'.A, * * * * ^ * i'he Ohio State University 1970 Approved by ' Adviser Sartmeut of English PLEASE NOTE: Not original copy. Several pages have blurred, light and indistinct type. Filmed as received, UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS. PREFACE There Is scarcely an aspect of the American character to which humor is not related, few which in some sense it has not governed. It has moved into literature, not merely as an occasional touch, but as a force determin ing large patterns and intentions.1 Like much of the literature produced in this country during the decade from 1890 to 1900, humorous writing was undistinguished. The popular wits of the day, people like Guy Wetmore Carryl, Hayden Caruth, Oliver Herford, H. C. Bunner, Carolyn Wells, and Golett Burgess, thought so clover and amusing by their cam generation, would be recog nized today only by the specialist in the period. Their work, polite and dainty in comparison with the gusto of the er.rlier tradition of nineteenth-century humor, is not likely to appeal to contemporary audiences. It is not surprising, therefore, that while Walter Blair and others have investigated pro-Civil War humor, and more recently Norris Yates has directed attention to twentieth-century developments,^ the humor of the nineties has remained largely unexplored. However, as a transitional phase in an important type of American writing it can lay claim to historical significance. Although the "work of the genteel authors who supplied this humor has long since faded into oblivion, it -Constance Rourke, American Humort A Study of the National Character (New York, 1953) 1 p. 9; first published in 1930L. ^The American Humorist: Conscience of the Twentieth Century. (Ames, Iowa, 19^7 •) nonetheless established the precedents, introduced the changes, and reflected the trends that ultimately became the new "Little Man" humor that has prevailed since 1920. As a stop toward understanding this neglectod phase in the evolution of American humor, this study -will analyse the works of the most popular and representative genteel humor ist of the 1890's, John Kendrick Bangs* Of the nearly sixty-five volumes Bangs published in his life time, forty-five were intended to provide light entertainment for adult readers. Most of this humorous writing appeared first in magazines be fore being published in book form, (Such instances will bo noted either in the text or in footnotes} if not otherwise specified the reader may assume a given work was originally issued in book form,) A vast amount of his writing, especially that produced during the first four years of his career, remains unaompiled. The research comprising this project lias been based on that part which was collected In books because it was his best and most representative work* Bangs's non-humorous works, his juvenile stories, serious political books, and volumes of sentimental verse, will not be considered except insofar as they serve to Illuminate relevant aspects of his humor. The introductory chapter gives a brief summary of the major developments in American humor up to the sdd-1880's when Bangs began his career, of certain social trends in the last quarter of the nineteenth century which bore directly on the changes taking place in humorous writing, and of pertinent biographical information* The summary of major developments in our native tradition of humor has been organized around the characteristics which serve to define it: character-types, iii subjects, techniques, and forms. The four following chapters are de voted to an analysis of Bangs’s humorous works, grouped according to their general subject matter— sooial, political, literary, and super natural. The classifying of certain selections has of necessity been arbitrary} a work like Katharine, for example, could be regarded as either social or literary satire* In such oases, I have made ny deci sion on the basis of what seemed to me to have been Bangs’s main satiric target. Each of these four chapters has in turn been organised according to more specific topics within the general category of subject matter it concerns. Chapter VI takes up the major innovations in American humor since 1920, for convenience designated collectively as that of the ’’Now Yorker school," pointing out the most significant differenoos between this humor, the major strain of the nineteenth century, and Bangs’s genteel style. The oonduding chapter summarizes how Bangs’ s work both continues and departs from these earlier and later schools of humor. Hyphenation in direct quotations from Bangs’s work has been altered to oonform to current practice. iv VITA May 231 1932 • * • • • B o m - Greenfield, Ohio 1950 *•»•••••• B.A# in Psychology, magna cum l&ude, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio 1960-6I ....... .. • Teaching Assistant in Englidi, U.C.L.A., Los Angeles, California 1 9 6 1 ............... M.A* in English and Junior College Teaching Credential, U.C.L.A., Los Angeles, California 1961-68 ........... Assistant Instructor in English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1968-71 ............ Instructor in English, Wisconsin State University, Oshkosh, Wisconsin FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: ilineteenth-century American Literature Studies in American Humor v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE ............................................... ii VITA .................................................... v Chapter I, INTRODUCTION ................................... 1 II. SOCIAL S A T I R E ................................. 27 III. LITERARY SATIRE AND BURLESQUE .................. 75 IV. POLITICAL SATIRE ............................... Ill V. THE SUPERNATURAL................. 1^9 VI, TWENTIETH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS................... 167 VII. CONCLUSION..................................... 209 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................ 215 vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Few students today know of John Kendrick Bangs, but in the eighteen nineties he was "one of the most conspicuous eminences in American letters."-*' His Houseboat on the Styx was the first American book to lead Bookman* s best-seller lists, and from 1895 to 1899 the Bookman lists indicate that his works outsold those of all other American humorists. Punch invited him to contribute to its pages, an honor it extended to only two other nineteenth-century American humor ists, Artemus Ward and Mark Twain. Bangs's friends and associates included not only such famous literary and publishing figures as J. Henry Harper, Edward Bok, Charles Dana Gibson, Rudyard Kipling, Richard Harding Davis, A. Conan Doyle, William Dean Howells, and Twain, but other notables like Theodore Roosevelt, whose supporter and oonfidant he was both before and after Roosevelt became president. In his capacity as editor of two successful humor magazines, Life (from 1884 to 1888) and Puck (from 1904- to 1905), and as humor editor of four Harper publications, the Weekly, the Magazine, the Bazaar, and the Round Wilson Follett, The Atlantic Monthly, CLXVII (July, 1941), 142. 1 2 Table (from 1888 to 1899), Bangs exerted a singular influence on comic journalism during the nineties.^ As the most popular and representative genteel humorist of this period, moreover, Bangs epitomizes the changes that were taking place in our national humor as it shifted from the rougher native strain that predominated for most of the nineteenth century to the sophisti cated humor that has prevailed since 1920. Bangs's work reflects a carry-over from the older tradition, belongs to nineteenth-century k genteel culture, and foreshadows new trends. In order to show his relationship to both older and later humorous writing, this chapter will summarize the identifying characteristics of the native strain of American humor and supply relevant historical and biographical informa tion. The following description of our old school of humor will rely principally on the Introduction to Walter Blair's anthology, Native 2 The Weekly, not to be confused with the Magazine, was founded in 1857! Harper's New Monthly Magazine, founded in 16,50, became Harper's Magazine in 192-5* the title used throughout this study; Harper' s Bazar, a weekly magazine for women founded in 1867, became a monthly in 1901 and changed the spelling of its title to Bazaar in 192 9; Harper's Young People, begun in 1879, changed its name to Harper' s Round Ta b l e in ^L895. and became a monthly in 1897. ^Thomas L. Masson, Our -American Humorists (New York, 1931), p. 26, ^Whon applied to culture and society in this study, the term "genteel” will be used in a broad, general sense to mean polite society, consisting of well-bred, educated people and of manness appropriate to such a class. When applied to literature— humor in particular— "genteel” will refer to techniques and style, rather than to social attitudes or moral values. 3 American Humor.^ Although It will adhere to Blair's threefold classi fication, into Down East Humor (I83O-I867), humor of the Old Southwest (1830~1867), and humor of the literary comedians (1855-1900),