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by: Elizabeth J. Van Allen, Elizabeth J. Van Allen
Amazon.com's Price: $14.95 Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.4
EAN: 9780253335913
ISBN: 0253335914
Label: Indiana University Press
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: 1999-09
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Sales Rank: 1235923
Studio: Indiana University Press
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Editorial Review:
Book Description:
Few literary figures have achieved the fame of James Whitcomb Riley, the most popular poet in America at the end of the 19th century--the height of his career. Legends and rumors either elevate Riley as a hero who gave Hoosiers pride of place, or denigrate him as a drunken author of Victorian doggerel. In this first serious modern biography of Riley, Van Allen sifts facts from fiction to paint the truest portrait of this controversial poet.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Hoosier Daddy
There was a time when I thought I was the last American still reading James Whitcomb Riley's poetry. Wrong, of course, and eventually I stumbled upon Elizabeth J. Van Allen's biography of the man. From knowing practically nothing of him, other than William Lyon Phelps' introductory remarks in one of Riley's anthologies, I've come to better understand him through Van Allen's detailed look at the poet.
Her biography is heavily footnoted in the modern way and is somewhat dry reading. ... Read More
Rating:  - An alternative
The Kirkus review of James Whitcomb Riley: A Life is hardly a fair one. It criticizes the book because of two opinions of the reviewer that clearly the author had no hope of changing:
1. The facts about Riley are not as interesting as the myths about his life.
2. He was not the author of great literature.
It is, of course, the duty of the serious biographer to present the truest picture possible of the life of the biography's subject. To this end, Elizabeth ... Read More
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