Thomas Boyd: Lost Author of The "Lost Generation"

by Brian Bruce

Mentored by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis and published under the renowned Scribner editor Maxwell Perkins, Thomas Boyd attained only modest success as a novelist and biographer. He is known most widely for his World War I novel Through the Wheat, which critics, praising its realistic depiction of war and battle, compared to the Red Badge of Courage. How does a writer like Boyd, with his prominent literary friends, political ideals, professional aspirations, complicated personal life, and early death, fall so easily into obscurity? In this first full biography of Thomas Boyd, Brian Bruce explores the events of Boyd's life and rescues him from the realm of insignificance. The 1920s were a magical and very attractive time for critics and historians of American literature. Hollywood and the radio would soon end the careers enjoyed by many writers, like Boyd, and the nature of the book market would change forever in ways that mark the novel's descent from a privileged position of cultural importance or influence. Richly based on correspondence, this book not only illuminates a forgotten writer, but also captures the publishing world at a mercurial peak.

Genres: Biography

188 pages, Hardcover

First published May 30, 2006

Reviews

[archive ☄ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i had no choice but to fly through this, it was so well-written.... impeccable research + silky-smooth prose made it a complete joy to read. my only complaint is that no pictures were included – so very very few photographs of boyd are available (outside of the archives of course) that i'd like to have seen a few here and there, at least the ones that bruce describes in the book.

anyway, i'm so glad this book was written! boyd, like his work, has been completely overshadowed by his pal fitzgerald and by hemingway, dos passos, etc. and very little scholarship exists to tell the story of his life, just bits and pieces here and there (that bruce so faithfully collects in this volume). i knew from my own scraps of research that through the wheat was autobiographical, but i didn't realize the enormous extent to which it was so.... and how extremely autobiographical all of his work was. he really took the old dictum "write what you know" to heart, it seems!

[The University of Akron Press]

Thomas Boyd (Series on Ohio History and Culture) by Brian Bruce (2006)