Elizabeth J. Van Allen. James Whitcomb Riley, A Life. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. xii + 271 pp. $29.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-253-33591-3. Reviewed by George T. Blakey Published on H-Indiana (May, 2000) On the sesquicentennial of his birth, Hoosier maintains that Riley achieved this level of celebri‐ poet James Whitcomb Riley seemed to merit a ty by dogged determination and skill. He sought fresh assessment. Historian Van Allen undertook both celebrity and wealth and attained them with that task and has produced a thorough biography a genius for writing poems that his audience that should supplant all previous attempts to un‐ wanted, and marketing himself with an equal derstand the man. She contends that Riley has amount of genius. He and his work symbolized long been shrouded in legends that place him the shift in America from a bucolic rural life to an somewhere between sainthood and caricature, industrial urban one. and that this book is an attempt to "describe the This was an awkward shift, burdened with real man and to dispel the many myths." (p.xi) nostalgia for an earlier more innocent time. Riley The man who emerges from her diligent research captured and manipulated that nostalgia with and analysis is a gifted and fawed person whose such poems as "The Old Swimmin' Hole" and "Lit‐ ambitions exceeded his talents and whose popu‐ tle Orphant Annie." His audience remembered larity brought him more acclaim than happiness. and romanticized that golden past and made him At the time of his death in 1916, Riley had the champion of those memories, no matter how reached several pinnacles seldom achieved by selective and artificial they might have been. writers. His fame and wealth had come from his Van Allen makes a good case that many of Ri‐ craft, that of a wordsmith. Public schools in Indi‐ ley's strengths and weaknesses came from family ana honored his birthday with readings from his influences. His reverence for his mother who died poetry; flm and recordings preserved his image while he was still young led to an idealization of and voice; products from cigars to canned foods womanhood, a situation that was partly responsi‐ bore his endorsement. His body now rests in the ble for his lifelong bachelorhood. Riley had sever‐ highest point in Indianapolis, and a hospital and al serious relationships and at least two f‐ summer camp perpetuate his memory. Van Allen anc=E9es, but no female could fll his unrealistic H-Net Reviews expectations. His father also shaped much of Ri‐ juxtaposition of portraits by T. C. Steele, John ley's adult behavior. He had been a lawyer and Singer Sargent and Kin Hubbard is inspired. Van state representative but a distant and demanding Allen also traces the lineage of Riley's favorite parent. The younger Riley emulated his father's publisher, the Indianapolis frm that ultimately oratorical skills, but felt he could never win became Bobbs-Merrill Company. By illuminating parental approval for his career choices. From the context for his life with such skill, the author this might have sprung his continuing self-doubts, gives us better insights to his significance and depression and serious drinking problems. His legacy. unrequited search for a family was manifested in There is so much that is meritorious about the emotional and fnancial support he lavished this book, it seems almost petty to call attention to on relatives and the home he rented from the Hol‐ a few areas of weakness. Reviewers, however, are steins on Lockerbie Street in Indianapolis. obliged to offer suggestions for improvement. The Literary critics have traditionally questioned prose is generally clear and understandable, but the merits of Riley's work, regardless of its popu‐ on occasion academic jargon intrudes. For exam‐ larity. Riley often agreed that his poems lacked se‐ ple, "artisanal" relationships, "commodified" iden‐ riousness and depth, but he argued that the public tities, and Jeffersonian "polity" are a bit rarified would not permit him to ruminate on the dark or for a general audience. Citations, likewise, are complex side of life. Van Allen is more of an histo‐ clear and understandable. On occasion, Van Allen rian than a literary critic, but she, too, concludes includes needless material in her footnotes, and that his work did not aspire to great substance or on other occasions places information there that originality. "None of his works penetrate below would be helpful in the narrative. For example, the surface of any issues of social gravity, and the background biography on Mark Twain is redun‐ emotional range of his poetry is relatively nar‐ dant in Chapter Five; the material on Bell's palsy, row." (p. 268) Critics also debated about the au‐ on the other hand, clarifies Riley's medical condi‐ thenticity of dialect in Riley's verse, some com‐ tion in 1887, and should be in the text rather than plaining that it did not replicate nineteenth centu‐ in the footnote. Factual errors are few and minor. ry Indiana speech patterns. This has ceased to be Henry Clay was the Whig presidential candidate a relevant debate to most Hoosiers today, and Van in 1844, not John Tyler; the building that Riley vis‐ Allen does not get involved in the old controversy. ited in Boston was the Old North Church, not the Historians are obliged to create context for Old South. Footnotes and the bibliography indi‐ their readers, to put people and events into per‐ cate that Van Allen consulted the logical spective. Van Allen does this very well indeed. She manuscripts, books and newspapers. One collec‐ shows how Riley's early work with traveling tion not listed is the Federal Writers Project at In‐ medicine shows honed his acting abilities for later diana State University. It contains correspondence poetry recitals. She discusses other writers of the and reminiscences related to Riley compiled in time whom Riley admired, such as Bret Harte, the 1930s but never published. Longfellow and Paul Lawrence Dunbar. When These minor reservations excepted, the book such topics as alcoholism or the lecture circuit are is solid, coherent and convincing. Its arguments central to Riley's life, she shares current scholar‐ are logical and well documented. Van Allen inte‐ ship on the subject. As Riley's public persona grates new and old material gracefully. The book changed over the years from scruffy bohemian to is physically attractive although the footnotes are dapper aristocrat Van Allen supplies good illustra‐ located in the back rather than at the bottom of tions to document this transformation; and the the pages. Illustrations are numerous, helpful, 2 H-Net Reviews and well reproduced. Because of its subject and its quality, this work should enjoy a long shelf life. Copyright (c) 2000 by H-Net, all rights re‐ served. This work may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ tact [email protected]. If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-indiana Citation: George T. Blakey. Review of Allen, Elizabeth J. Van. James Whitcomb Riley, A Life. H-Indiana, H- Net Reviews. May, 2000. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=4153 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.