Eleanor H. Porter

Eleanor H. Porter

Porter circa 1890-1900
Born Eleanor Emily Hodgman
December 19, 1868
Littleton, New Hampshire
Died May 21, 1920 (aged 51)
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Eleanor Emily Hodgman Porter (December 19, 1868 – May 21, 1920) was an American novelist.

Biography

She was born as Eleanor Emily Hodgman in Littleton, New Hampshire on December 19, 1868, the daughter of Llewella French (née Woolson) and Francis Fletcher Hodgman.[1][2] She was trained as a singer, attending New England Conservatory for several years. In 1892, she married John Lyman Porter and relocated to Massachusetts, after which she began writing and publishing her short stories and later novels. She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 21, 1920 and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery.[3]

Grave of Eleanor H. Porter, Mount Auburn Cemetery

Works

Porter mainly wrote children's literature, adventure stories and romance fiction. Her most famous novel is Pollyanna (1913), later followed by a sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up (1915). Her adult novels include The Turn of the Tide (1908), The Road to Understanding (1917), Oh Money! Money! (1918), Dawn (1919), Keith's Dark Tower (1919), Mary Marie (1920), and Sister Sue (1921); her short story collections include Across the Years (c. 1923), Money, Love and Kate (1923), Little Pardner (1926).

Porter achieved considerable commercial success: during 1913, Pollyanna ranked eighth among bestselling novels in the United States, second during 1914, and fourth during 1915 (it had forty-seven printings between 1915 and 1920); during 1916, Just David ranked third; during 1917, The Road to Understanding ranked fourth; during 1918, Oh Money! Money! ranked fifth.[4]

Bibliography

Short stories

  • A Delayed Heritage
  • A Four-Footed Faith and a Two
  • A Matter of System
  • A Mushroom of Collingsville
  • A Patron of Art
  • Angelus
  • Crumbs
  • Millionaire Mike's Thanksgiving
  • That Angel Boy
  • The Apple of Her Eye
  • The Daltons and the Legacy
  • The Elephant's Board and Keep
  • The Folly of Wisdom
  • The Glory and the Sacrifice
  • The Indivisible Five
  • The Lady in Black
  • The Letter
  • The Saving of Dad
  • When Mother Fell Ill
  • When Polly Ann Played Santa Claus
  • Women in Black

Novels

References

  1. ↑ http://www.online-literature.com/eleanor-porter/
  2. ↑ http://www.wargs.com/political/richardson.html
  3. ↑ "Funeral Tuesday Of Eleanor H. Porter". Boston Globe. May 23, 1920. Retrieved 2011-05-11. The funeral of Mrs. Eleanor H. Porter, famous as the author of stories of happy children, of which the "Pollyanna" stories are the best known, will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2.30 from her home, 33 Washington ave, Cambridge.
  4. ↑ Burt, Daniel S. (2004). The chronology of American literature: America's literary achievements from the colonial era to modern times. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 321, 328, 339. ISBN 978-0-618-16821-7.

External links

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