Charles Macomb Flandrau

Charles Macomb Flandrau (1871-1938), author and essayist, was born on December 9, 1871 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the son of Judge Charles Eugene Flandrau and Rebecca Blair Flandrau. He attended school in St. Paul and graduated from Harvard University (1895), where he was a student of Charles Townsend Copeland. He was editor of the Harvard's Monthly and the Advocate and a member of the Hasty Pudding Club and The Delphic Club. He taught English Literature at Harvard College (1895-1896), tutored overseas (1896), and was an editor for The Youth’s Companion in New York City (1897).

Flandrau established himself as an author with Harvard Episodes (1897), a book about contemporary college life whose success led to a second book about college, The Diary of a Freshman(1901). After an extended visit to his brother's Mexican coffee plantation, he wrote Viva Mexico! (1908), a travel book critically acclaimed for its observations of social customs and political life under Mexican president Porfirio Díaz.[1] Flandrau’s other books include Prejudices (1911), Loquacities (1931) and Sophomores Abroad (1935).[2]

George Horace Lorimer commissioned several stories which were published in Saturday Evening Post, Bellman, and other magazines. From 1915 to 1920, Flandrau was drama and music critic for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and he contributed articles to the Pioneer Press and the St. Paul Dispatch . In 1924, he divided his time between Majorca, Spain, and the Flandrau family home in St. Paul. He also lived for a time in Bizy-Vernon, France.

A book about Charles M. Flandrau was written by Larry Haeg entitled In Gatsby's Shadow (2004). In his book Haeg describes Flandrau as being among the greatest writers of his generation, alongside other Minnesotans F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis.

Charles Macomb Flandrau was a bachelor. He died in St. Paul on March 29, 1938.

Works

References

  1. ↑ Eland Books
  2. ↑ Amazon Listing for books by Charles Flandrau

External links