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: Short Story
Poe, Edgar Allan
by Joan Tyler Mead (2000) POE, EDGAR ALLAN (1809-1849). Edgar Allan Poe, best known for his tales of Gothic horror, was a writer of poetry, short and long fiction, an unfinished drama, criticism, literary theory, essays, and a “cosmological prose poem.” Continue reading text links
Posted in P
Tagged 19th Century, Antarctic, Atlantic Ocean, audio, Fiction, Merchant Marine, Passenger Travel, Poetry, Science Fiction, Short Story, Whaling/Sealing
Comments Off on Poe, Edgar Allan
Vukelich, George
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) VUKELICH, GEORGE (1927-1995). “[I]t was good to be on the Great Lakes,” wrote George Vukelich in 1955 to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal, after a spell as an ore boat deckhand. This sentiment pervades Continue reading text links
Posted in V
Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Fishing, Great Lakes, Journalism, Merchant Marine, Multimedia/Multimodal, Poetry, Science/Nature, Short Story
Comments Off on Vukelich, George
Vollmann, William T.
by Dana L. Peterson (2000) VOLLMANN, WILLIAM T[ANNER]. (1959- ). William T. Vollmann’s very ambitious project is a seven-novel series entitled Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes, which interweaves history, myth and legend, imagination, illustrations, and personal travel Continue reading text links
Posted in V
Tagged 20th Century, 21st Century, Arctic, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Great Lakes, Nonfiction, Science/Nature, Short Story
Comments Off on Vollmann, William T.
Updike, John
by Thomas R. Brooks (2000) UPDIKE, JOHN [HOYER] (1932-2009). John Updike is the author of over fifteen novels and an impressive body of shorter fiction, poetry, and criticism, much of which has been published in The New Yorker. Born in Pennsylvania, Continue reading text links
Posted in U
Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story
Comments Off on Updike, John
Theroux, Paul
by Boyd Childress (2000) THEROUX, PAUL [EDWARD] (1941- ). Paul Theroux was born in Medford, Massachusetts, and received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts in 1963. Having taught in Malawi, Uganda, and Singapore, he is a prolific novelist and travel Continue reading text links
Posted in T
Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Children's Writing, Multimedia/Multimodal, Nonfiction, Pacific Islands, Short Story
Comments Off on Theroux, Paul
Stoddard, Elizabeth
by Elizabeth Schultz (2000) STODDARD, ELIZABETH [DREW BARSTOW] (1823-1902). Iconoclastic novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet, Elizabeth Stoddard was born in the coastal town of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, the daughter of its foremost shipbuilder and maritime merchant. Both the fluctuations of Continue reading text links
Steinbeck, John
by Susan F. Beegel (2000) STEINBECK, JOHN [ERNST] (1902-1968). John Steinbeck, winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in literature, was born in Salinas, California. As a child, he divided his time between his family’s home in the rich agricultural land of Continue reading text links
Posted in S
Tagged 20th Century, Class/Labor and the Sea, Fiction, Nonfiction, Pacific Ocean, Science/Nature, Short Story, Whaling/Sealing
Comments Off on Steinbeck, John
Searls, Hank
by C. Herbert Gilliland (2000) SEARLS, HENRY HUNT “HANK,” JR. (1922-2017). Novelist and author of nonfiction and short fiction, Hank Searls was born in San Francisco 10 August 1922. Graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1944 with the wartime-accelerated Continue reading text links
Posted in S
Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, Short Story
Comments Off on Searls, Hank
Richard, Mark
by Hugh Egan (2000) RICHARD, MARK (1955- ). Author of the sea novel Fishboy (1993), Mark Richard (pronounced ree-SHARD) has been, at different times in his life, disc jockey, newspaperman, photographer, and private investigator. As a young man, Richard took time Continue reading text links
Posted in R
Tagged 20th Century, Coastal Life, Fiction, Fishing, Short Story
Comments Off on Richard, Mark
Optic, Oliver (William T. Adams)
by Frank Rotsaert (2000) [ADAMS, WILLIAM TAYLOR], “OLIVER OPTIC” (1822-1897). Using the pen name “Oliver Optic,” William Taylor Adams spent twenty years as a teacher in Boston schools and wrote popular children’s fiction in the nineteenth century. The publication of The Continue reading text links
Posted in O
Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Children's Writing, Fiction, Short Story
Comments Off on Optic, Oliver (William T. Adams)
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
Posted in N
Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Journalism, Poetry, Short Story, War
Comments Off on Nemerov, Howard
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
Posted in M
Tagged 20th Century, 21st Century, Caribbean, Children's Writing, Fiction, Race/Ethnicity and the Sea, Short Story, Women Protagonists
Leave a comment
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
Posted in M
Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Fishing, Multimedia/Multimodal, Nonfiction, Short Story, video
Leave a comment
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
Posted in M
Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Fishing, Multimedia/Multimodal, Nonfiction, Science/Nature, Short Story
Comments Off on Matthiessen, Peter
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
Posted in L
Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Coastal Life, Fiction, Fishing, Poetry, Short Story
Comments Off on Lincoln, Joseph Crosby
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
Posted in L
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
Comments Off on Le Guin, Ursula K.
Larcom, Lucy
by Thomas R. Brooks (2000) LARCOM, LUCY (1824-1893). Lucy Larcom was a prolific and highly regarded writer of descriptive and religious verse, short fiction, and inspirational prose in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born on the Massachusetts North Shore Continue reading text links
Posted in L
Tagged 19th Century, Coastal Life, Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Short Story
Comments Off on Larcom, Lucy
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
Posted in K
Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Coastal Life, Fiction, Multimedia/Multimodal, Science Fiction, Short Story
Comments Off on King, Stephen
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
Jones, Justin (“Harry Hazel”)
by Boyd Childress (2000) [JONES, JUSTIN] “HARRY HAZEL” (1814-1889). Justin Jones, who wrote under the pseudonym Harry Hazel, authored more than forty dime novels about Boston, war, life at sea, and other adventure. His career as a fiction writer covered Continue reading text links
Posted in J
Tagged 19th Century, Arctic, Atlantic Ocean, Navy/Coast Guard, Piracy, Short Story, War
Comments Off on Jones, Justin (“Harry Hazel”)
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
Posted in J
Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Children's Writing, Fiction, Fishing, Poetry, Short Story, War
Comments Off on Jewett, Sarah Orne
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
Posted in J
Tagged 20th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Maritime History, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, Short Story
Comments Off on Jennings Jr., John Edward (“Bates Baldwin”)
Irving, Washington
by James J. Schramer (2000) IRVING, WASHINGTON (1783-1859). The first American to succeed as a professional author, Washington Irving was born in New York City in the last year of the American Revolution. Although he is best known today as the Continue reading text links
Posted in I
Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Island Life, Nonfiction, Short Story
Comments Off on Irving, Washington
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
Posted in H
Tagged 20th Century, audio, First-person narrative, Poetry, Short Story
Comments Off on Hughes, Langston
Hine, Ephraim Curtiss
by Thomas Farel Heffernan (2000) HINE, EPHRAIM CURTISS (1818?-1853). Sailor and author raised in Genoa, New York, Ephraim Curtiss Hine is best known today as the model for the nautical poet Lemsford in Herman Melville’s novel White-Jacket (1850). Melville, who was Continue reading text links
Posted in H
Tagged 19th Century, Fiction, Navy/Coast Guard, Poetry, Short Story
Comments Off on Hine, Ephraim Curtiss
Hersey, John
by James F. Millinger and Jill B. Gidmark (2000) HERSEY, JOHN [RICHARD] (1914-1993). The prolific author John Hersey was born in China and moved to the United States in 1925, when his family decided to return. He was educated at Yale Continue reading text links
Posted in H
Tagged 20th Century, cruise ships, Fiction, Journalism, Recreation (beaches, Short Story, small boat sailing
Comments Off on Hersey, John
Hemingway, Ernest Miller
by Bickford Sylvester (2000) HEMINGWAY, ERNEST MILLER (1899-1961). Ernest Hemingway, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in fiction (1952) and the Nobel Prize in literature (1954), grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. Except when rough water forced them to go by Continue reading text links
Posted in H
Tagged 20th Century, Caribbean, Exploration, Fiction, Fishing, Great Lakes, Nonfiction, Short Story, video
Comments Off on Hemingway, Ernest Miller
de Hartog, Jan
by James F. Millinger (2000) DE HARTOG, JAN (1914-2002). Born in Holland, Jan de Hartog ran off to sea when he was ten years old. Six years later he enrolled in Amsterdam Naval College and became a junior mate in Continue reading text links
Posted in H
Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Maritime History, Plays, Short Story, War
Comments Off on de Hartog, Jan
Hall, Lawrence Sargent
by Joseph Flibbert HALL, LAWRENCE SARGENT (1915-1993). Lawrence Sargent Hall was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Following completion of his Ph.D. at Yale University in 1941, he served for four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy, including three years Continue reading text links
Posted in H
Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Navy/Coast Guard, Short Story, War
Comments Off on Hall, Lawrence Sargent
Hale, Edward Everett
by Norman E. Stafford HALE, EDWARD EVERETT (1822-1909). Born in Boston, Edward Everett Hale belonged to an old New England family. His great-uncle, Captain Nathan Hale, uttered the memorable cry, “I only regret that I have but one life to Continue reading text links
Posted in H
Tagged 19th Century, Fiction, Nonfiction, Short Story
Comments Off on Hale, Edward Everett
Hains, Thornton Jenkins (“Captain Mayn Clew Garnett”)
by Bert Bender (2000) [HAINS, THORNTON JENKINS], “CAPTAIN MAYN CLEW GARNETT” (1866-1953). Named for his maternal grandfather, Admiral Thornton Jenkins, U.S.N., Thornton Jenkins Hains had a career of indefinite length as a working seaman and was licensed in both England Continue reading text links
Posted in H
Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Short Story
Comments Off on Hains, Thornton Jenkins (“Captain Mayn Clew Garnett”)
Guterson, David S.
by Jeffrey Cass (2000) GUTERSON, DAVID S. (1956- ). Born in Seattle, and residing on Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound, David S. Guterson is well aware of the nuanced lives of his fellow islanders. His haunting novel Snow Falling on Continue reading text links
Galloway, Les
by Haskell Springer (2000) GALLOWAY, LES [EDWARD WILLIAM] (1919-1990). A commercial fisherman for most of his life, Les Galloway also wrote fiction, publishing short sea stories in several periodicals. Of Great Spaces (1987), shared with Jerome Gold, collects and reprints Continue reading text links
Gallery, Daniel V.
by Robert Shenk (2000) GALLERY, DANIEL V[INCENT]. (1901-1977). Admiral Daniel V. Gallery, termed a “true original” by his friend Herman Wouk, was a brilliant career naval officer who published widely both during and after his naval duty. A 1920 Naval Continue reading text links
Posted in G
Tagged 20th Century, First-person narrative, Navy/Coast Guard, Short Story
Comments Off on Gallery, Daniel V.
Dunbar, Paul Laurence
by Fred M. Fetrow (2000) DUNBAR, PAUL LAURENCE (1872-1906). Best known for the dialect poetry suggested by the titles of his four published volumes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, the son of former slaves, also wrote a number of short stories and Continue reading text links
Doner, Mary Frances
by Mary DeJong Obuchowski (2000) DONER, MARY FRANCES (1893-1985). Mary Frances Doner set many of her books near her birthplace, Port Huron, Michigan. She supplied around 250 short stories for pulp magazines early in her career and in the 1930s Continue reading text links
Posted in D
Tagged 20th Century, Great Lakes, Nonfiction, Passenger Travel, Short Story
Comments Off on Doner, Mary Frances
Davis, Richard Harding
by Linda Ledford-Miller (2000) DAVIS, RICHARD HARDING (1864-1916). Born in Philadelphia, Richard Harding Davis was the first child born to the journalist L. Clarke Davis and the fiction writer Rebecca Harding Davis. He soon followed in his parents’ footsteps as a Continue reading text links
Posted in D
Tagged 19th Century, Caribbean, Journalism, Passenger Travel, Plays, Short Story, War
Comments Off on Davis, Richard Harding
Cheever, John
by Robert Imes (2000) CHEEVER, JOHN (1912-1982). John Cheever, a writer of predominantly short fiction, uses seaside cottages and beaches as backgrounds for many of his stories. Sometimes Cheever’s depiction of the sea is more significant, however, with references to Continue reading text links
Carse, Robert
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) CARSE, ROBERT (1902-1971). A Great Lakes sailor at seventeen, Robert Carse later worked salt water, attaining the position of chief mate. He sailed most of the world and developed a reputation as an expert seaman Continue reading text links
Posted in C
Tagged 20th Century, Children's Writing, Exploration, Fiction, Great Lakes, Maritime History, Short Story
Comments Off on Carse, Robert
Briggs, Charles Frederick
by Gail H. Coffler (2000) BRIGGS, CHARLES FREDERICK (1804-1877). Born a Nantucket Yankee (his mother was a Coffin), Charles Frederick Briggs was a real sailor before he became a professional writer. Though he would later turn to the magazines to Continue reading text links
Posted in B
Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Journalism, Recreation, Short Story
Comments Off on Briggs, Charles Frederick
Bradbury, Ray
by Jonathan R. Eller (2000) BRADBURY, RAY [DOUGLAS] (1920-2012). Ray Bradbury, prolific author of twenty story collections and eight novels evolving out of more than 340 published short stories, was born in Waukegan, Illinois. He has lived in Los Angeles Continue reading text links
Posted in B
Tagged 20th Century, Children's Writing, Fiction, Plays, Science Fiction, Short Story
Comments Off on Bradbury, Ray
Barth, John
by Julius Rowan Raper (2000) BARTH, JOHN [SUMMONS] (1930- ). There is a great deal of water in the fiction of John Barth, as one would expect of a writer who was born in Cambridge on the eastern shore of Continue reading text links
Posted in B
Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, cruise ships, Fiction, Nonfiction, Recreation (beaches, Science/Nature, Short Story, small boat sailing
Comments Off on Barth, John
Barker, Benjamin
by Dean DeFino (2000) BARKER, BENJAMIN (1817-18??). Beyond birth records in Salem, Massachusetts, the only documents that survive of Benjamin Barker are twenty short novels published under that name between 1845 and 1847 and one in 1855. Those with authors’ Continue reading text links
Posted in B
Tagged 19th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Piracy, Science Fiction, Short Story
Comments Off on Barker, Benjamin
Baldwin, Bates (John Edward Jennings, Jr.)
Posted in B
Tagged 20th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Maritime History, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, Short Story
Comments Off on Baldwin, Bates (John Edward Jennings, Jr.)
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey
by Frank Rotsaert (2000) ALDRICH, THOMAS BAILEY (1836-1907). Thomas Bailey Aldrich, known chiefly as the author of The Story of a Bad Boy (1869), edited Every Saturday (1866-1874) and The Atlantic Monthly (1881-1890) and also wrote poems, short stories, and five novels. Born in Portsmouth, New Continue reading text links
Posted in A
Tagged 19th Century, Coastal Life, Fiction, First-person narrative, Poetry, Short Story
Comments Off on Aldrich, Thomas Bailey
Aiken, Conrad
by John T. Shawcross (2000) [AIKEN, CONRAD POTTER], “SAMUEL JEAKE JR.” (1889-1973). A friend and contemporary of T. S. Eliot, Conrad Aiken divided his time between England and the United States before settling in Massachusetts in 1947. He used the Continue reading text links
Posted in A
Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Nonfiction, Plays, Poetry, Short Story
Comments Off on Aiken, Conrad
Adams, William Taylor (“Oliver Optic”)
Posted in A
Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Children's Writing, Fiction, Short Story
Comments Off on Adams, William Taylor (“Oliver Optic”)
Adams, Bertram Martin
by Bert Bender (2000) ADAMS, BERTRAM MARTIN [BILL ADAMS] ( 1879-1953 ). Bill Adams was born in England to American parents. He left college to go to sea at age seventeen in a career that lasted four or five years Continue reading text links
Posted in A
Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, First-person narrative, Merchant Marine, Pacific Ocean, Poetry, Short Story
Comments Off on Adams, Bertram Martin