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John William De Forest | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1826-05-31)May 31, 1826 |
| Died | July 17, 1906(1906-07-17) (aged 80) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | Realistic fiction |
| Subject | American Civil War |
| Notable works | Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United StatesUnion |
| Branch | United States Army Union Army |
| Rank |  Captain BrevetMajor |
| Unit | 12th Connecticut Volunteers |
| Conflicts | American Civil War |
John William De Forest (May 31, 1826 – July 17, 1906) was an American soldier and writer ofliterary realism, best known for hisCivil WarnovelMiss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty. He also coined the term for theGreat American Novel, one which would embody the country in one text.
De Forest was born inSeymour, Connecticut, (then called Humphreysville), the son of a prosperous cotton manufacturer. He did not attend college, but instead pursued independent studies, mainly abroad, where he was a student inLatin, and became a fluent speaker of French, Italian, and Spanish. While yet a youth, he spent four years traveling in Europe, and two years in theLevant, residing chiefly inSyria. In 1850, he again visited Europe, making extensive tours through Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany,Greece, andAsia Minor. From that time, he wrote short stories for periodicals, having already authored several books.
One of his earliest works,The History of the Indians of Connecticut, from the Earliest known Period to 1850, shows his interest in history. Written from 1847 to 1850,The History of the Indians of Connecticut is critical of the settlers' treatment of thePequots and ofKing Philip's War, which is somewhat surprising given the early date of the scholarship.[clarification needed][1] The non-fictional work also foreshadows De Forest's later fiction in its subject, realism, and occasional violence.
In 1856, De Forest married Harriet Stillman Shepherd and the couple spent the early years of their marriage inCharleston, South Carolina. Their only child, Louis Shepherd De Forest, was born there in 1857.[2]
De Forest serialized his first novel,Witching Times, inPutnam's Monthly Magazine in 1856 and 1857.[2]
He received the honorary degree of A. M. fromAmherst College in 1859.
With the advent of the American Civil War, De Forest returned to the United States. As acaptain in theUnion Army, he organized acompany fromNew Haven, the 12th Connecticut Volunteers. He served constantly in the field until January 1865, taking an active part underMaj. Gen.Godfrey Weitzel's command in the southwestern states, and underPhilip Sheridan in theShenandoah Valley.
Graphic descriptions of battle scenes inLouisiana, and of Sheridan's battles in the valley of the Shenandoah, were published inHarper's Monthly during the war by Major De Forest, who was present on all the occasions thus mentioned, and though experiencing forty-six days under fire, received but one trifling wound.
De Forest mustered out from the volunteer army in 1865 with thebrevet rank ofmajor.
After being mustered out of the army with the rest of theVeteran Reserve Corps of which he was the adjutant general, De Forest transferred to the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (more commonly known as the "Freedmen's Bureau") and was appointed Assistant Commissioner in charge of the post inGreenville, South Carolina. His experiences there, published in magazines of the period and eventually in collected form asA Union Officer in the Reconstruction shed light on the conditions in the South during theReconstruction.
His magazine articles of his time in the army were also collected published posthumously asA Volunteer's Adventures.
In 1867, De Forest published his most significant novel,Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty.William Dean Howells praised him as a "realist before realism was named," but most early critics argued that theRomantic elements of De Forest's plot mixed poorly with the admirable realism of the battle scenes, and the novel fell through with the audience in 1867. Reeditions in 1939 and 1956 reintroduced De Forest as an author, but the full range of his experimentalism in this early novel has still not been fully understood. InMiss Ravenel's Conversion, De Forest tried to come to grips with writing experiences he himself had had, and which did not fit any of the idealist and romantic patterns thatwar literature had followed so far. Consequently, there are a number of scenes that portray war with a graphic sense of bloody reality (f. i. the siege of Port Hudson), but there are also burlesque and comical passages, as well as reflective moments.
In 1868, De Forest called for a new type of literature in an essay forThe Nation and coined the term "The Great American Novel", which became his most influential contribution to American writing. He demanded an accurate "tableaux" of the country and noted that the closest to meeting the goal wasUncle Tom's Cabin byHarriet Beecher Stowe. As he described the novel, "It was a picture of American life, drawn with a few strong and passionate strokes, not filled in thoroughly, but still a portrait."[3]
He died of heart disease in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 17, 1906.[2]
De Forest wrote essays, a few poems, and about fifty short stories, numerous military sketches, and book reviews, most of which were anonymous. His published books include:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Wilson, J. G.;Fiske, J., eds. (1891).Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.{{cite encyclopedia}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)