Harold Frederic

Harold Frederic

Harold Frederic (born Harold Henry Frederick; August 19, 1856 – October 19, 1898) was an American journalist and novelist.

Biography

Frederic was born in Utica, New York to Presbyterian parents. After his father was killed in a train accident when Frederic was 18 months old, the boy was raised primarily by his mother. He finished school at fifteen, and soon began work as a photographer. For four years he was a photographic touch-up artist in his hometown and in Boston. In 1875 he began work as a proofreader for the Utica Herald and then the Utica Daily Observer. Frederic later became a reporter, and by 1882 he was editor of the Albany Evening Journal.

Two years later he went to live in England as London correspondent of the New York Times. He retained this job for the rest of his life. He was soon recognized for his ability both as a writer and as a talker. He wrote several early stories, but it was not until he published Illumination (1896), better known by its American title, The Damnation of Theron Ware, followed by Gloria Mundi (1898), that his gifts as a novelist were fully realized. Jonathan Yardley called Damnation "a minor classic of realism".

Frederic married Grace Green Williams in 1877, and they had five children. Sometime between 1889 and 1890, he met Kate Lyon, who became his mistress. Frederic and Lyon established a second household, living openly together; they had three children. Lyon was a Christian Scientist who, when Frederic suffered a stroke in 1898, tried to cure him through faith healing. After his death, she was tried on charges of manslaughter and acquitted. Frederic was interred in Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica, New York.

Books

Novels

• Seth's Brother's Wife. New York, London 1887
• The Lawton Girl. New York, London 1890
• In the Valley, a story of 1777. New York, London 1890
• The Return of the O'Mahoney. New York 1892. London 1893.
• The Copperhead. New York 1893
• Marsena. London 1896
• The Damnation of Theron Ware. Chicago 1996. Also called Illumination. London, Leipzig 1896.
• March Hares. London 1896.
• Gloria Mundi. Chicago, New York, London 1898.
• The Market Place. New York, London 1899

Collections

• 'The Copperhead' and Other Stories of the North During the American War. London 1894.
• 'Marsena' and Other Stories of the Wartime. New York 1894
• Mrs. Albert Grundy: Observations in Philisia. London, New York 1896
• In the Sixties. 1897
• 'The Deserter' and Other Stories: A Book of Two Wars. 1898.
• Harold Frederic's Stories of York State. 1966.

Non-Fiction

• The Young Emperor William II of Germany: A Study in Character Development on a Throne New York, London 1891
• The New Exodus: A Study of Israel in Russia. New York, London 1892.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Frederic, Harold". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
•  "Frederic, Harold". New International Encyclopedia. 1906. 

External links

• Works by Harold Frederic at Internet Archive
• Works by Harold Frederic at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Harold Frederic in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Harold Frederic's The Damnation of Theron Ware (biography, bibliography etc.)