Three Children's Novels by Christopher Pearse Cranch
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In his day, Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813–1892) was a...)
In his day, Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813–1892) was a well-known figure in American arts and letters, with close ties to the New England Transcendentalists. His most enduring achievements are his novels for children. Collected here for the first time in one volume, these three works―The Last of the Huggermuggers, Kobboltozo: A Sequel to the Last of the Huggermuggers, and The Legend of Dr. Theophilus; or, The Enchanted Clothes―establish Cranch as a pioneer in American fantasy fiction.
Huggermuggers (1856) and Kobboltozo (1857) went through several printings during the last half of the nineteenth century but were not reissued until the initial publication of this volume in 1993. These novels relate the escapades of a shipwrecked American boy, Jacky Cable, and the gentle giants and evil dwarfs who inhabit the island on which he is marooned. The manuscript of Cranch’s last unpublished novel, The Legend of Dr. Theophilus, disappeared around 1870 and did not resurface until the early 1980s. The story revolves around a faraway place where the sun cannot penetrate the fog and where a suit of enchanted clothes can cause mayhem and grief.
As the editors explain in their introduction, Cranch was the first American author to write novel-length works solely for children, and to fuse elements of fantasy and adventure. In an era when most juvenile books emphasized moral rectitude and acquiescence to adult authority, Cranch put a higher premium on humor and the imaginative aspects of storytelling. Written during an important transition in the history of American children’s literature, these three novels are of special interest to scholars of American Romanticism. Perhaps most important of all, they have not lost their attraction for young readers.
Ariel and Caliban: With Other Poems (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Ariel and Caliban: With Other Poems
The ful...)
Excerpt from Ariel and Caliban: With Other Poems
The full heart of a rose; and now at last Free from the foot of Prospero, all the more Slave to himself, crawls feeding where he lists.
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(4 works of Christopher Pearse Cranch
American writer and ...)
4 works of Christopher Pearse Cranch
American writer and artist (1813-1892)
This ebook presents a collection of 4 works of Christopher Pearse Cranch. A dynamic table of contents allows you to jump directly to the work selected.
Table of Contents:
Cornucopia
J.R.L.
Ode to the Wind
Spirits in Prison
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(Satan a libretto. This book, "Satan a libretto", by Chris...)
Satan a libretto. This book, "Satan a libretto", by Christopher Pearse Cranch, is a replication of a book originally published before 1874. It has been restored by human beings, page by page, so that you may enjoy it in a form as close to the original as possible.
(The aeneid (1872). This book, "The aeneid", by Christophe...)
The aeneid (1872). This book, "The aeneid", by Christopher Pearse Cranch, is a replication of a book originally published before 1872. It has been restored by human beings, page by page, so that you may enjoy it in a form as close to the original as possible.
Christopher Pearse Cranch was an American author, artist, and clergyman. During his lifetime, he pursued various occupations: a magazine editor, caricaturist, children's fantasy writer, poet, translator, and landscape painter.
Background
Christopher Pearse Cranch was born on March 08, 1813 in the District of Columbia, United States. He was the youngest of the thirteen children of William Cranch and Anna (Grecnleaf) Cranch. His father, a Massachusetts man, had been appointed by President John Adams to a judgeship in the circuit court of the District of Columbia.
Education
Christopher had early training in drawing from his brother Edward, a topographical draftsman. Later he attended Columbian College, Washington, from which, after graduation in 1831, he entered the Divinity School of Harvard College.
Career
Cranch preached as a Unitarian minister at Andover, Bangor, and Portland, Maine, and at Richmond, Washington, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Louisville. In the last-named city he took James Freeman Clarke’s pulpit, and edited the Western Messenger. Cranch here illustrated Emerson’s Essays with comic drawings which caused merriment among literati.
The year 1840 found him preaching at South Boston. He wrote poetry and Emerson became interested in his poems, several of which he published in the Dial. Cranch was in sympathy with the experiment at Brook Farm, and a frequent welcome visitor there. While spending the summer at Washington, he tried landscape painting and about 1843 he started to practise his new profession as a painter. In 1846 in the congenial company of George William Curtis, Cranch and his wife went to Italy for study and observation of art. At Rome and Florence they formed many friendships. In August 1849 they returned to New York where they spent several winters. Cranch wrote her “Farewell to America” for Jenny Lind in 1853. In that year he took his family to Paris for a ten years’ residence. He painted diligently, studied, and cultivated friendships. In 1856 he recorded his delight at discovering Barbizon and its painters.
In 1863 he returned to America, his son George, aged eighteen, having enlisted in the Union army for service which resulted in his death. The family lived for a time on Staten Island but in 1873 they removed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the rest of Cranch’s life was spent as, so he wrote, “an ignoramus trespassing in the dominion of scholars. ” Life near Harvard he found stimulating, but he deplored a prevalent indifference to art.
As a member of the Boston Radical Club he was associated with many New England liberals. In 1880 he made his third visit to Europe, at Rome meeting Francis Duveneck whose work he admired, and who painted his portrait. Cranch’s health began to fail in 1889.
Cranch was an early member of the Transcendental Club.
Personality
Cranch was a social favorite in Boston. He was picturesquely attractive, with dark, curly hair and delicately beautiful features, he had a fine baritone voice, and he played several instruments.
Quotes from others about the person
George William Curtis: "Cranch followed the leading of his temperament and talent in becoming an artist, .. . He was poet, painter, musician, student, with a supplement of amusing social gifts, and chief of all was the freshness of spirit which kept him always young. . .. It was a long and lovely life, and if great fame be denied, not less a beautiful memory remains. ”
Connections
On October 10, 1843 Cranch married Elizabeth De Windt of Fishkill, New York, a cousin, who encouraged him to paint.