What’s New?
- Biographies: Jamaica Kincaid, Marilyn Nelson, Clifford Ashley, Sylvia Earle, and Phillis Wheatley
- Audio: Harriet Beecher Stowe's The Pearl of Orr’s Island
- Video: Derek Walcott reads "Sea Grapes"
- Featured Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Tag Archives: 20th Century
Ogilvie, Elisabeth
by Brian Anderson (2000) OGILVIE, ELISABETH [MAY] (1917-2006). Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and soon thereafter uprooted to Maine, Elisabeth Ogilvie gained critical and popular attention for her first novel, High Tide at Noon (1944). The novel and its sequels, Storm Tide Continue reading text links
O’Neill, Eugene
by Margaret Loftus Ranald (2000) O’NEILL, EUGENE [GLADSTONE] (1888-1953). Eugene O’Neill, America’s preeminent playwright, winner of the Nobel Prize (1936) and four Pulitzer Prizes (1920, 1922, 1928, 1957), was born in the Barrett Hotel, New York City, son of the actor Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, audio, Class/Labor and the Sea, Merchant Marine, Plays, War, Whaling/Sealing, Women Protagonists
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Norris, Frank
by Donald Yannella (2000) NORRIS, [BENJAMIN] FRANKLIN] (1870-1902). Although his short life was adventurous enough, including trips to Africa’s Transvaal and Cuba during the Spanish-American War, Frank Norris’ disposition to set two of his less successful novels partly at sea probably Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Arctic, Exploration, Fiction, Fishing, Pacific Ocean, Passenger Travel, Whaling/Sealing
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Nordhoff, Charles, the younger AND James Norman Hall
by Grove Koger (2000) NORDHOFF, CHARLES [BERNARD] the younger (1887-1947) AND JAMES NORMAN HALL (1887-1951). Writers Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall were born the same year but worlds apart, Nordhoff in London of American parents and Hall in Colfax, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Maritime History, Multimedia/Multimodal, Navy/Coast Guard, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, War
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Nemerov, Howard
by William E. Tanner (2000) NEMEROV, HOWARD [STANLEY] (1920-1991). Howard Nemerov was born in New York City and died in University City, Missouri. He served as a pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force before joining the U.S. Air Force Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Journalism, Poetry, Short Story, War
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Nelson, Marilyn
by Kelly Bushnell and Christian Loriel Lucas (2022) NELSON (WANIEK), MARILYN (1946—). Poet and translator Marilyn Nelson (Waniek) was born in Cleveland in 1946. She received her BA from the University of California, Davis, her MA from the University of Continue reading text links
Nelson, James L.
by John F. Hussey (2000, revised 2014, by Eleanore MacLean) NELSON, JAMES L. (1962- ). Born in Lewiston, Maine, James L. Nelson, a former professional square-rig sailor, traces his love of the sea to his earliest memories when he chose Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Maritime History, Merchant Marine, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, Pacific Ocean, Piracy, War
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Morrison, Toni
by Christian Loriel Lucas (2020) MORRISON, TONI (1931-2019). Toni Morrison was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorrain, Ohio. She was given the baptismal name of Chloe Anthony, and chose “Toni” as her nickname when a college student. She earned her BA Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, 21st Century, Caribbean, Children's Writing, Fiction, Race/Ethnicity and the Sea, Short Story, Women Protagonists
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Moore, Ruth
by Tina M. Aronis (2000) MOORE, RUTH (1903-1989). Ruth Moore was born on Gott’s Island, Maine, where she lived for thirteen years before moving to the mainland to continue her education. She graduated from New York State College for Teachers in Continue reading text links
Moore, Marianne
by Thomas R. Brooks (2000) MOORE, MARIANNE [CRAIG] (1887-1972). A member of the generation of poets that included T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore was highly regarded by her contemporaries for poetry that was metrically unique Continue reading text links
Moore, Christopher
by Mira Dock (2000) MOORE, CHRISTOPHER K. (1957- ). Christopher Moore has lived on the California coast for over twenty years, using his experiences on diving and fishing boats around the world in two offbeat novels. Island of the Sequined Love Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Fishing, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean
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Mitchell, Joseph
by Eleanore MacLean (2014) MITCHELL, JOSEPH (1908-1996). Joseph Mitchell grew up in Fairmont, North Carolina, a farming town in the state’s coastal plains. In 1929 Mitchell moved to New York City and began his career working as a crime reporter and Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Fishing, Multimedia/Multimodal, Nonfiction, Short Story, video
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Michener, James A.
by Grove Koger (2000) MICHENER, JAMES A[LBERT]. (1907-1997). Prolific novelist James A. Michener was rescued as a foundling by a widow living in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Years later, having taught high school and college, Michener found his nascent career as a textbook Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Caribbean, Fiction, Navy/Coast Guard, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, War
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Metcalf, Paul
by Donald Yannella (2000) METCALF, PAUL [CUTHBERT] (1917-1999). Since his three-volume Collected Works was published (1996-1998), Paul Metcalf’s writings are widely available. He is probably best understood as a member of the Black Mountain group; although he never attended that experimental Continue reading text links
Merwin, W.S.
by Michael P. Branch (2000) MERWIN, W[ILLIAM]. S[TANLEY]. (1927-2019). Born in New York City and educated at Princeton University, W. S. Merwin has lived and worked in France, Portugal, Majorca, New York, and, in later years, Hawai’i. The author of four Continue reading text links
Merwin, Samuel
by Robert Beasecker (2000) MERWIN, SAMUEL (1874-1936). Born in Evanston, Illinois, Samuel Merwin attended Northwestern University but did not graduate. His literary career began with the publication of two popularly acclaimed novels, The Short Line War (1899) and Calumet “K” (1901), Continue reading text links
Meredith, William
by Daniel W. Lane (2000) MEREDITH, WILLIAM [MORRIS] (1919-2007). With nine volumes of poetry to his credit, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Partial Accounts: New and Selected Poems (1987) and the National Book Award-winning Effort at Speech: New and Selected Poems (1997), Continue reading text links
McPhee, John
by Robert C. Foulke (2000) McPHEE, JOHN [ANGUS] (1931- ). John McPhee, master craftsman of nonfiction prose in more than twenty books and New Yorker articles beyond count, turned his attention to the sea in Looking for a Ship (1990). The Continue reading text links
McNally, Terrence
by David R. Pellegrini (1999) McNALLY, TERRENCE (1938-2020). Terrence McNally’s seriocomic dramas have won him acclaim as one of the most prolific playwrights of the 1990s, one particularly interested in the representation of gay men. Along with other dramatists who Continue reading text links
McKenna, Richard
by Robert Shenk (2000) McKENNA, RICHARD [MILTON] (1913-1964). Richard McKenna was a career naval enlisted man whose 1962 novel The Sand Pebbles is a classic of naval fiction. McKenna’s childhood in Mountain Home, Idaho, was enriched by his great habit of Continue reading text links
McCormick, Jay W.
by Robert Beasecker (2000) McCORMICK, JAY W. (1919- ). Jay W. McCormick was born and grew up in the small Lake Huron port town of Harbor Beach, Michigan. His father was a Great Lakes ship captain, and the younger McCormick spent Continue reading text links
Matthiessen, Peter
by Eric G. Waggoner (2000) MATTHIESSEN, PETER (1927-2014). New York-born Peter Matthiessen has borne the double titles of author and naturalist since the beginning of his professional writing career. Son of an architect father who was also a trustee of the Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Fishing, Multimedia/Multimodal, Nonfiction, Science/Nature, Short Story
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Mason, F. Van Wyck
by Boyd Childress (2000) MASON, F[RANCIS]. VAN WYCK (1901-1978). World War I and II veteran, importer, and ultimately writer, F. Van Wyck Mason was born in Boston on 11 November 1901. He was awarded a B.S. from Harvard University in 1924 Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Navy/Coast Guard, War, Whaling/Sealing
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Mason, Arthur
by Bert Bender (2000) MASON, ARTHUR (1876-1955). Born in Ireland, Mason went to sea at age seventeen to embark on a career that would last twenty-four years. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1899. For much of Continue reading text links
Martin, William
by Susan Raidy Klein MARTIN, WILLIAM (1950- ). History and the sea are the subjects of the fiction of William Martin, contemporary novelist and screenwriter. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and earning a B.A. from Harvard University (1972) and an M.F.A. Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Coastal Life, Fiction, Navy/Coast Guard
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Lowell, Robert, Jr.
by Sally C. Hoople (2000) LOWELL, ROBERT, JR [TRAILL SPENCE]. (1917-1977). Robert Lowell, the son of a naval officer, recalled in the poem, “Commander Lowell: 1887-1950” (Life Studies, 1959) how his father, in his postnaval life, would boom “Anchors Aweigh” in Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Coastal Life, Fishing, Poetry
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Lovecraft, Howard Phillips
by Grove Koger (2000) LOVECRAFT, H[OWARD]. P[HILLIPS]. (1890-1937). Born in Providence, Rhode Island, H. P. Lovecraft subsequently used that seaport and such Massachusetts ports as Salem, Marblehead, and Newburyport (which he refashioned into “Arkham,” “Kingsport,” and “Innsmouth,” respectively) in much of Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, audio, Fiction, Science Fiction
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London, Jack
by Susan Irvin Gatti (2000) LONDON, JACK (1876-1916). Born John Griffith Chaney in San Francisco in 1876, Jack London was deserted by his father and raised in Oakland by his mother and his stepfather, whose surname he adopted. London worked Continue reading text links
Lodge, George Cabot
by Dana L. Peterson (2000) LODGE, GEORGE CABOT (1873-1909). Son of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and acquaintance of Edith Wharton, Henry James, and his own biographer, Henry Adams, the poet and verse dramatist George Cabot Lodge was well acquainted with the Continue reading text links
Lindbergh, Anne Morrow
by Peter H. McCracken (2000) LINDBERGH, ANNE MORROW (1906-2001). Anne Morrow Lindbergh was born in 1906 in Englewood, New Jersey. Her father, Dwight Whitney Morrow, was ambassador to Mexico when Charles Lindbergh visited Mexico City in 1928, soon after he had Continue reading text links
Lincoln, Joseph Crosby
by Susan Raidy Klein (2000) LINCOLN, JOSEPH C[ROSBY]. (1870-1944). Joseph C. Lincoln, the descendant of a long line of a seafarers, was a prolific author of best-selling verses, stories, and novels that portrayed life along the shore of Cape Cod with Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Coastal Life, Fiction, Fishing, Poetry, Short Story
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Lieberman, Laurence
by Erika J. Waters (2000) LIEBERMAN, LAURENCE [JAMES] (1935- ). Four years at the College of the Virgin Islands in the 1960s were critical years for poet Laurence Lieberman, for it was then that he discovered the Caribbean. Since those formative Continue reading text links
Le Guin, Ursula K.
by Dennis Berthold (2000) LE GUIN, URSULA K[ROEBER]. (1929-2018). Born in Berkeley, California, Ursula K. Le Guin earned her B.A. at Radcliffe College in 1951 and her M.A. in French and Renaissance literature at Columbia University in 1952. Author of over Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, 21st Century, Atlantic Ocean, Children's Writing, Coastal Life, Fiction, Gender/Sexuality and the Sea, Pacific Ocean, Science Fiction, Short Story, video, Women Protagonists
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Lane, Carl
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) LANE, CARL [DANIEL] (1899-1995). Carl Lane, a nautical writer and illustrator born in New York City, developed his love for the sea while vacationing in Maine, where he eventually settled. Lane wrote The Fleet in the Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Children's Writing, Fiction, Great Lakes, War
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Laing, Alexander
by Peter H. McCracken (2000) LAING, ALEXANDER [KINNAN] (1903-1976). Alexander Laing was the author of over twenty books of nautical fiction and history and a longtime librarian at Dartmouth College. Laing grew up in Great Neck, Long Island, New York, entered Continue reading text links
Köepf, Michael
by Mira Dock (2000) KÖEPF, MICHAEL (1940- ). Born in San Mateo, California, Michael Köepf is the son of a commercial fisherman. He grew up fishing and draws on his experiences as a commercial fishing-vessel captain for his novel The Fisherman’s Continue reading text links
King, Stephen
by Richard J. King (2000) KING, STEPHEN [EDWIN] (1947- ). Although Stephen King sets much of his best-selling fiction in Maine, the New England coastal state of his birth and residence, he rarely writes about the sea. King has written dozens Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Coastal Life, Fiction, Multimedia/Multimodal, Science Fiction, Short Story
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Kincaid, Jamaica
by Olivia Raymond (2022) KINCAID, JAMAICA (1949 – ). Jamaica Kincaid is an award-winning author and essayist of Caribbean descent. Born Elaine Potter Richardson in St. John’s on the island of Antigua, she moved to the United States in 1965 at Continue reading text links
Kesey, Ken
by Christopher Lee (2000) KESEY, KEN [ELTON] (1935-2001). Ken Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado, and soon moved to Oregon, where he now lives. He developed a love of hunting and fishing as a child, and much of his writing Continue reading text links
Kent, Rockwell
by Doug Capra (2000) KENT, ROCKWELL (1882-1971). Rockwell Kent, painter, writer, adventurer, graphic artist, and political activist, was born in Tarrytown Heights, New Jersey. He trained as an architect at Columbia University and studied painting under William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Multimedia/Multimodal, Nonfiction, Pacific Ocean
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Kenney, Susan
by Mira Dock (2000) KENNEY, SUSAN [McILVAINE] (1941- ). Born in Summit, New Jersey, Susan Kenney teaches at Colby College and has written two works with nautical themes: Sailing (1989) and One Fell Sloop (1990). Both are based on her experiences Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Coastal Life, cruise ships, Recreation (beaches, small boat sailing
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Jones, John Paul
by Kay Seymour House (2000) JONES, JOHN PAUL (1747-1792). Born in Scotland, John Paul went to sea as an apprentice at age twelve. After inheriting property in Virginia, he added “Jones” to his name and became a lieutenant in the Continental Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, War
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Johnson, Irving
by Mary K. Bercaw Edwards (2000) JOHNSON, IRVING [McCLURE] (1905-1991). Irving Johnson grew up on a farm in the Connecticut River valley of Massachusetts. Inspired by Jack London’s novels, he had an unswerving desire to go to sea and work with Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Multimedia/Multimodal, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, video
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Johnson, Electa [Exy] Search
by Eleanore MacLean (2014) JOHNSON, ELECTA [EXY] SEARCH (1909-2004). Exy Johnson was born in Rochester, New York, in 1909. She attended Smith College, graduating after three years in 1929, and went on to the University of California, Berkeley, for a Continue reading text links
Jewett, Sarah Orne
by John F. Hussey (2000) JEWETT, SARAH ORNE (1849-1909). Sarah Orne Jewett was born and raised in South Berwick, Maine, a dwindling shipping and manufacturing center. As a girl she listened to her paternal grandfather’s tales of life as a Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Children's Writing, Fiction, Fishing, Poetry, Short Story, War
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Jennings Jr., John Edward (“Bates Baldwin”)
by Debra Glabeau (2000) [JENNINGS, JOHN EDWARD, JR], “BATES BALDWIN” (1906-1973). John Edward Jennings Jr., historical novelist, was born in Brooklyn, New York. The son of a surgeon, he began his seafaring in 1925 as a foremast hand aboard a Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Maritime History, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, Short Story
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Jeffers, Robinson
by Gregg Allen Walker (2000) JEFFERS, [JOHN] ROBINSON (1887-1962). Robinson Jeffers, best known for his verse narratives set on California’s rugged northern coast, was born in Pennsylvania. In 1903 he moved with his family to Los Angeles and entered Occidental College, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fishing, Pacific Ocean, Poetry, Science/Nature, War
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James, Henry
by Greg W. Zacharias (2000) JAMES, HENRY (1843-1916). Henry James made nineteen Atlantic crossings and lived for much of his life in seacoast cities and villages. In his longer fiction, scenes near the English Channel in What Maisie Knew (1897) and Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Multimedia/Multimodal, Nonfiction
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Hughes, Langston
by Christopher C. De Santis (2000) HUGHES, [JAMES MERCER] LANGSTON (1902-1967). Langston Hughes, the prolific African American writer whose work in multiple genres endeared him early in his career to the black American community and later to a broad, international readership, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, audio, First-person narrative, Poetry, Short Story
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Howells, William Dean
by Udo Nattermann (2000) HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN (1837-1920). A native of Ohio, William Dean Howells began to work in his father’s printing shop at age nine. A self-taught student of languages and literature, he early entered a career in journalism. After Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Journalism, Plays, Poetry
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