20th Century - page 4 - the iconic authors

H. G. Wells

1866 - 1941

The English novelist, journalist, sociologist and historian, H. G. Wells, had an enormous influence on both his own generation and the one that immediately followed it. Best remembered nowadays for his science fiction novels such as The Island of Doctor Moreau, he was called a father of the genre, alongside Jules Vernes and Hugo Gernsback. He was nominated 4 times for the Nobel Prize in ... [+]

H.P. Lovecraft

1890 - 1937

An American author, Howard Phillips Lovecraft achieved posthumous fame for his horror fiction. During his life, he was virtually unknown by the American public, apart from his publications in pulp magazines. However, now he is regarded as one of the best and most influential 20th century writers of horror fiction.

Hamilton Wright Mabie

1846 - 1916

Hamilton Wright Mabie was an American writer, critic, lecturer and editor during the 19th and early 20th centuries. After law school, he was hired to work for the Christian Union magazine and was later promoted to associate editor.

Hamlin Garland

1860 - 1940

American novelist, poet, essayist and short story writer, Hamlin Garland is generally acknowledged for his fictional works involving hard-working Midwestern farmers.

He was made member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1918 and won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1922 with his book A Daughter of the Middle Border.

Harriet Prescott Spofford

1835 - 1921

Harriet Spofford is still today one of the most widely-published American writers. She wrote novels, poems, and detective stories, spanning her career across more than six decades and many literary genres. She had an extraordinary gift for language and wrote beautiful, moving descriptions, evoking intense feelings.

Henry van Dyke

1852 - 1933

Henry Jackson van Dyke, Jr. was an American author, educator, and clergyman, especially well known for his poetry and two Christmas stories, "The Other Wise Man" and "The First Christmas Tree." You will find various religious themes expressed throughout his works. van Dyke was educated and would go on to teach English literature at Princeton University.

Howard Pyle

1853 - 1911

Jack London

1876 - 1916

Jack London was the pen name of the American novelist, short story writer, journalist and social activist John Griffith Chaney. He was a part of the radical literary group "The Crowd", based in San Francisco. He also was a spokesman of unionization, socialism and fought for the workers’ rights. His best known works, The Call of the Wild and White Fang, are based on the elemental struggles fo ... [+]

James Joyce

1882 - 1941

The Irish novelist, short story writer and poet, James Joyce, is regarded as one of the most influencial authors of the 20th century. He was a pioneer of the Modernist movement, using stream of consciousness as a narrative device. His fictional universe centers on Dublin: "For myself, I always write about Dublin because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all cities in ... [+]

James Weldon Johnson

1871 - 1938

James Weldon Johnson, who was a talented American poet and novelist, made a name for himself as a man of letters and as a civil rights leader in the early decades of the 20th century. He is credited with bringing a new standard of artistry and realism to black literature. He was head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People during the 1920s and helped remove the legal ... [+]

Jean Toomer

1894 - 1967

Jean Toomer (1894 – 1967) was an American poet and novelist commonly associated with the Harlem Renaissance and modernism. His reputation stems from his novel, Cane (1923), which Toomer wrote during and after a stint as principal at a black school in Sparta, Georgia. Sociologist Charles S. Johnson called the novel "the most astonishingly brilliant beginning of any Negro writer of his generation." ... [+]

Jessie Redmon Fauset

1882-1961

Not only a writer and poet herself, Jessie Redmon Fauset contributed to the Harlem Renaissance as an editor and reviewer by encouraging black writers to give a realistic and positive representation of the African-American community. She published four novels during the 1920s and 1930s, exploring the lives of the black middle class.