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The Savage Gentleman
The Savage Gentleman (1932) centers on the infant Henry Stone, whose father, betrayed by the child's mother, spirits him away to a tropical island. Assisted by two male companions, the senior Stone raises his son to fear, hate, and above all never to trust, any woman. When Henry, now a young man, returns, Tarzan-like, to civilization, the plot takes a number of fascinating turns.
Book description from the Dell edition:
"The Savage Gentleman was a full six feet two inches tall, and weighed a hundred and ninety pounds. His hair was bronze, his eyes turquoise, his skin mahogany. He was a magnificent man. When he laughed his voice poured from deep and resonant lungs. This young man came to New York never having seen a woman: he came to New York finding himself the owner of a great string of American papers, although he had never read a newspaper through. This was the young man who was told by his father: 'Never, never, never believe a woman. Women are ruin. Love is a myth. Marry when you are over forty-five and marry someone you don't love.' This is the story of what happened to a man who had been trained on an island remote from civilization to be a perfect physical specimen and a perfect gentleman, when he encountered the mad world of today and the modern girl — and did he pack a wallop!"
Book description from the Dell edition:
"The Savage Gentleman was a full six feet two inches tall, and weighed a hundred and ninety pounds. His hair was bronze, his eyes turquoise, his skin mahogany. He was a magnificent man. When he laughed his voice poured from deep and resonant lungs. This young man came to New York never having seen a woman: he came to New York finding himself the owner of a great string of American papers, although he had never read a newspaper through. This was the young man who was told by his father: 'Never, never, never believe a woman. Women are ruin. Love is a myth. Marry when you are over forty-five and marry someone you don't love.' This is the story of what happened to a man who had been trained on an island remote from civilization to be a perfect physical specimen and a perfect gentleman, when he encountered the mad world of today and the modern girl — and did he pack a wallop!"
- GenresFiction
237 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
34 people want to read
About the author
Philip Wylie
122 books54 followersBorn in Beverly, Massachusetts, Philip Gordon Wylie was the son of Presbyterian minister Edmund Melville Wylie and the former Edna Edwards, a novelist, who died when Philip was five years old. His family moved to Montclair, New Jersey and he later attended Princeton University from 1920–1923. He married Sally Ondek, and had one child, Karen, an author who became the inventor of animal "clicker" training. After a divorcing his first wife, Philip Wylie married Frederica Ballard who was born and raised in Rushford, New York; they are both buried in Rushford.
A writer of fiction and nonfiction, his output included hundreds of short stories, articles, serials, syndicated newspaper columns, novels, and works of social criticism. He also wrote screenplays while in Hollywood, was an editor for Farrar & Rinehart, served on the Dade County, Florida Defense Council, was a director of the Lerner Marine Laboratory, and at one time was an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee for Atomic Energy which led to the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission. Most of his major writings contain critical, though often philosophical, views on man and society as a result of his studies and interest in psychology, biology, ethnology, and physics. Over nine movies were made from novels or stories by Wylie. He sold the rights for two others that were never produced.
A writer of fiction and nonfiction, his output included hundreds of short stories, articles, serials, syndicated newspaper columns, novels, and works of social criticism. He also wrote screenplays while in Hollywood, was an editor for Farrar & Rinehart, served on the Dade County, Florida Defense Council, was a director of the Lerner Marine Laboratory, and at one time was an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee for Atomic Energy which led to the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission. Most of his major writings contain critical, though often philosophical, views on man and society as a result of his studies and interest in psychology, biology, ethnology, and physics. Over nine movies were made from novels or stories by Wylie. He sold the rights for two others that were never produced.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 10, 2025
GR Credits Philip Wylie with over 100 books and major personal achievements including screenplays on Broadway, Director of the Lerner Marine Laboratory, and an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee for Atomic Energy. Plus several of his books became movies or inspired other novels. The other of his books I read was Gladiator. Said to be an inspiration of the Superman Comics. It was most interesting in that it is focused on the inner man, superman, living in a world where he is, however well intentioned seen as a monster.
This book, The Savage Gentleman is said to be the inspiration for Doc Savage. Knowing that is about the most you are going to get by reading it. The Savage Gentleman is mostly well written, and mostly not worth the effort. The plot is something like a steampunk version of Rip Van Winkle meets Robinson Caruso
Our hero is Henry Stone. He is the ultimate in home schooling. Raised by his father a close friend and black servant/friend on a remote island far from anybody and especially women. His father a man of much money planned this shipwreck, isolation and made provisions for all the comforts of a late 1800’s rich man’s home, except for women.
We spend way too much time on this island, where the author tries to invent reasons for us to keep reading, until, in the last 1/3 of the book, the island is found by the outside world. Then the outside world brings our now 30 year old boy into the bosom of civilization.
As we all know the past was a near perfect place. Manners and honesty could be assumed. The modern world, in this case the late 1920.s is a horrible place. People have discovered how to be corrupt, and lies and women to be brazen. Pretty much the same thing we are saying about the year 2026 as opposed to those perfect, non-corrupt and far more polite years when , guess what people were complaining about them compared with before then , and so forth in an unbroken chain since pick a number BC.
It may be of interest to count how many things the Senior Stone was so sure was true of the world of his youth, only for his son to fail to find those same values in the 1920’s and then see how many of those same tricks of memory are still in play.
I believe that Wylie is a better writer than he is in The Savage Gentleman. I may get around to reading some of his other titles. I barely recommend The Savage Gentleman, but if you skip it, that may be for the best. At least it is a fast read.
This book, The Savage Gentleman is said to be the inspiration for Doc Savage. Knowing that is about the most you are going to get by reading it. The Savage Gentleman is mostly well written, and mostly not worth the effort. The plot is something like a steampunk version of Rip Van Winkle meets Robinson Caruso
Our hero is Henry Stone. He is the ultimate in home schooling. Raised by his father a close friend and black servant/friend on a remote island far from anybody and especially women. His father a man of much money planned this shipwreck, isolation and made provisions for all the comforts of a late 1800’s rich man’s home, except for women.
We spend way too much time on this island, where the author tries to invent reasons for us to keep reading, until, in the last 1/3 of the book, the island is found by the outside world. Then the outside world brings our now 30 year old boy into the bosom of civilization.
As we all know the past was a near perfect place. Manners and honesty could be assumed. The modern world, in this case the late 1920.s is a horrible place. People have discovered how to be corrupt, and lies and women to be brazen. Pretty much the same thing we are saying about the year 2026 as opposed to those perfect, non-corrupt and far more polite years when , guess what people were complaining about them compared with before then , and so forth in an unbroken chain since pick a number BC.
It may be of interest to count how many things the Senior Stone was so sure was true of the world of his youth, only for his son to fail to find those same values in the 1920’s and then see how many of those same tricks of memory are still in play.
I believe that Wylie is a better writer than he is in The Savage Gentleman. I may get around to reading some of his other titles. I barely recommend The Savage Gentleman, but if you skip it, that may be for the best. At least it is a fast read.
February 23, 2011
The Savage Gentleman by Philip Wylie
Published by Bison Books, March 2011. Originally published 1932.
If known at all these days, Philip Wylie (1902-1971) is perhaps best known for his disaster novel written with Edwin Balmer, When Worlds Collide (1933), or even the George Pal produced film version (1953).
However, outside the SF world he wrote hundreds of short novels, screenplays, reviews, serials, and social comment, much of which has now become rather obscure.
Well done then to Bison Books, who have re-released a lesser-known work by this author.
First published in 1932, it is at first glance less SF and more an extension of social comment. More akin to Stranger in a Strange Land than Armageddon, it has been claimed, like his earlier novel Gladiator (1930), that it is a precursor, if not an influence on the development of the pulp hero. Whereas The Savage Gentleman is seen as perhaps an influence on The Man of Bronze, Doc Savage, Gladiator is also seen as one of the main inspirations for Superman.
According to Gary Westfahl, ‘it remains the case that Wylie succeeded in, and then abandoned, three separate writing careers. He worked as a Hollywood screenwriter; he wrote a number of well-regarded science fiction novels, and he wrote some books for a mainstream audience. But he never established himself as a leading figure in any of these fields, explaining why he is not well remembered—he was a talented visitor to several worlds, an inhabitant of none of them.’
The story starts fairly straightforwardly. At the end of the 19th century Stephen Stone, millionaire, is betrayed by his wife and as a result takes their son, Henry, to a remote and isolated island where he is brought up by Stone and two male companions, a Scotsman named McCobb and a Negro servant named Jack, without the influence of women. The first half of the book reads like a boys-own adventure idyll, with the men hunting, fishing and educating Henry. Thirty years or so pass. Henry’s father dies on the island. Then Stone Island is discovered by a small Scandinavian freighter and the remaining men are brought back to New York of the 1930’s: a place very different from the New York they left when Henry was an infant. We now have telephones, electricity, aeroplanes, airships. Henry also finds himself the owner of a huge news conglomerate set up by his father and run in their absence by the magnate Voorhees.
His island education has created a handsome and well built young man (a point frequently emphasised in the book) who is a great conversationalist and excellent company, well versed in etiquette, and extraordinarily nice, though one who cannot remember ever seeing a woman. Indeed his father has taught him never to trust a female and that love itself is a myth.
With such a setup, much of the remainder of this tale is how Henry adjusts to the contemporary world and the complexities of the modern woman, an issue exacerbated when he meets Marian Whitney, the granddaughter of corporate lawyer and family friend Elihu Whitney.
In summary, we have here a social commentary and a book which questions the roles of gender in society in what seems to be a common theme of Wylie’s. In his introduction to this edition of Savage Gentleman, Richard A. Lupoff states that Wylie is ‘railing against womankind’, and the idea of ‘momism’. It must be said that there is a highlighting of the value of ‘men doing manly things’ here. The first thing the men do, once having deliberately beached their yacht, is clear land, and build a house, and create a farm with hunting and fishing in a manner that would make a survivalist proud.
Alternatively, thinking about the target audience of the 1930’s, this may be what the reader wants. Following such an idea, there is also great store placed on the consequential male bonding here too. It is a very male-orientated environment, albeit with a Negro male slave. (This is a point that Lupoff makes, that although Black slavery is an issue that sits uncomfortably with the readership of today, Jack is a character more subtle and respected than at first suggested.) This can be seen further reflected in the pulp fiction of the time, with the lead hero and his (typically male) buddies supporting each other through difficulties, whether it be fighting crime or even relationships with women. The gentleman, for all his social graces and suave gentility, is nevertheless still a savage when needs be, as is shown in the ending of the novel.
This is an old-fashioned view, and one which would be controversial even today. Whilst the world has moved on, this book is rather stuck in its historical context. However, rather than being the male sexist rant that the above summary may suggest, the female character, in the guise of Marian Whitney, actually suggests that Henry will only live happily ever after in a fuller, better informed life with a witty, honest, and vivacious woman.
However, for all of the book’s male posturing, it can be quite engaging. It highlights the concerns of the US of the 1930’s – gangsters, media conglomeration, loose morals, prohibition – and makes us question whether such a life is better than the isolated island lifestyle that Henry Stone, McCobb and Jack at one point wish to return to.
A book that is meant to provoke a response, though this felt like an early prototype of Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (a point further emphasised when we find that one of the business moguls here is called Harriman!)
If you can read the book in its original context, allowing for the stereotyping and racism of its day, it is and at times even funny. If nothing else, it shows us how far the genre has moved since the 1930’s. Moreover by the end Wylie seems to suggest not a separation of the sexes but that each gender has its defined role/place and in fact each needs each other to enable people to reach their full potential.
Published by Bison Books, March 2011. Originally published 1932.
If known at all these days, Philip Wylie (1902-1971) is perhaps best known for his disaster novel written with Edwin Balmer, When Worlds Collide (1933), or even the George Pal produced film version (1953).
However, outside the SF world he wrote hundreds of short novels, screenplays, reviews, serials, and social comment, much of which has now become rather obscure.
Well done then to Bison Books, who have re-released a lesser-known work by this author.
First published in 1932, it is at first glance less SF and more an extension of social comment. More akin to Stranger in a Strange Land than Armageddon, it has been claimed, like his earlier novel Gladiator (1930), that it is a precursor, if not an influence on the development of the pulp hero. Whereas The Savage Gentleman is seen as perhaps an influence on The Man of Bronze, Doc Savage, Gladiator is also seen as one of the main inspirations for Superman.
According to Gary Westfahl, ‘it remains the case that Wylie succeeded in, and then abandoned, three separate writing careers. He worked as a Hollywood screenwriter; he wrote a number of well-regarded science fiction novels, and he wrote some books for a mainstream audience. But he never established himself as a leading figure in any of these fields, explaining why he is not well remembered—he was a talented visitor to several worlds, an inhabitant of none of them.’
The story starts fairly straightforwardly. At the end of the 19th century Stephen Stone, millionaire, is betrayed by his wife and as a result takes their son, Henry, to a remote and isolated island where he is brought up by Stone and two male companions, a Scotsman named McCobb and a Negro servant named Jack, without the influence of women. The first half of the book reads like a boys-own adventure idyll, with the men hunting, fishing and educating Henry. Thirty years or so pass. Henry’s father dies on the island. Then Stone Island is discovered by a small Scandinavian freighter and the remaining men are brought back to New York of the 1930’s: a place very different from the New York they left when Henry was an infant. We now have telephones, electricity, aeroplanes, airships. Henry also finds himself the owner of a huge news conglomerate set up by his father and run in their absence by the magnate Voorhees.
His island education has created a handsome and well built young man (a point frequently emphasised in the book) who is a great conversationalist and excellent company, well versed in etiquette, and extraordinarily nice, though one who cannot remember ever seeing a woman. Indeed his father has taught him never to trust a female and that love itself is a myth.
With such a setup, much of the remainder of this tale is how Henry adjusts to the contemporary world and the complexities of the modern woman, an issue exacerbated when he meets Marian Whitney, the granddaughter of corporate lawyer and family friend Elihu Whitney.
In summary, we have here a social commentary and a book which questions the roles of gender in society in what seems to be a common theme of Wylie’s. In his introduction to this edition of Savage Gentleman, Richard A. Lupoff states that Wylie is ‘railing against womankind’, and the idea of ‘momism’. It must be said that there is a highlighting of the value of ‘men doing manly things’ here. The first thing the men do, once having deliberately beached their yacht, is clear land, and build a house, and create a farm with hunting and fishing in a manner that would make a survivalist proud.
Alternatively, thinking about the target audience of the 1930’s, this may be what the reader wants. Following such an idea, there is also great store placed on the consequential male bonding here too. It is a very male-orientated environment, albeit with a Negro male slave. (This is a point that Lupoff makes, that although Black slavery is an issue that sits uncomfortably with the readership of today, Jack is a character more subtle and respected than at first suggested.) This can be seen further reflected in the pulp fiction of the time, with the lead hero and his (typically male) buddies supporting each other through difficulties, whether it be fighting crime or even relationships with women. The gentleman, for all his social graces and suave gentility, is nevertheless still a savage when needs be, as is shown in the ending of the novel.
This is an old-fashioned view, and one which would be controversial even today. Whilst the world has moved on, this book is rather stuck in its historical context. However, rather than being the male sexist rant that the above summary may suggest, the female character, in the guise of Marian Whitney, actually suggests that Henry will only live happily ever after in a fuller, better informed life with a witty, honest, and vivacious woman.
However, for all of the book’s male posturing, it can be quite engaging. It highlights the concerns of the US of the 1930’s – gangsters, media conglomeration, loose morals, prohibition – and makes us question whether such a life is better than the isolated island lifestyle that Henry Stone, McCobb and Jack at one point wish to return to.
A book that is meant to provoke a response, though this felt like an early prototype of Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (a point further emphasised when we find that one of the business moguls here is called Harriman!)
If you can read the book in its original context, allowing for the stereotyping and racism of its day, it is and at times even funny. If nothing else, it shows us how far the genre has moved since the 1930’s. Moreover by the end Wylie seems to suggest not a separation of the sexes but that each gender has its defined role/place and in fact each needs each other to enable people to reach their full potential.
November 10, 2021
I might give it a 3+ rating if I were feeling generous. It's the worst thing I've read yet from Wylie, though. He airs his prejudices wo concern, the pacing is poor, and it's hard to like the protagonist. Still, the little glimmers of connections to other adventure fiction heroes keep it from being a bore.
September 18, 2019
Immensely stupid. Not too bad if you read it with sarcasm in mind.
January 27, 2024
Excellent book.
October 23, 2015
Interesting book by Philip Wylie, who was a great writer of both pulp and non-fiction think pieces, most notably When Worlds Collide.
The Savage Gentleman is about the return--and adjustment--to civilization of Henry Stone, who was marooned as a baby on an uncharted island in the Indian Ocean and raised by his father and two other men.
Don't let the lurid cover deter you, this is a quick and interesting read.
The Savage Gentleman is about the return--and adjustment--to civilization of Henry Stone, who was marooned as a baby on an uncharted island in the Indian Ocean and raised by his father and two other men.
Don't let the lurid cover deter you, this is a quick and interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews