Talk:Bret Harte

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Whatever[edit]

Bret Harte's writings influenced the realistic period of naturalism and expostulated the previous aura of romanticism. His wide variety of reconnaisance jobs equipped him with a plethora of experiences that became manifested in his writings. Have a great day and don't be pussilanimous. I hope this wasn't soporific or vapid.

I agree. The Hitman was awesome.

Last Paragraph[edit]

"In his autobiography, Mark Twain famously insults Harte, though he had been dead four years already at the time of composition. Twain calls Harte and his writing insincere. He gives light respect to "Luck of Roaring Camp" but also criticizes the miners' dialect, claiming it never existed outside of the story. Twain reserves his most damning statements for Harte's personal life, especially after Harte left the West."

This paragraph just seems to be stuck right on the end. It does not go with the flow of the article and really comes from nowhere. It should be removed or worked in to the article a little better.

Reading this article gives the impression that Mark Twain did not know or approve of the writings of Bret Harte, when in fact the two men had been friends for years, and had even worked together on the play 'Ah Sin'. There is no mention of this play in either the Harte or Twain bibloigraphy. There is a reference on another site that says Mark Twain claimed Bret Harte taught him to write.

The above appears on pp. 161-169 of Twain's autobiography. It's a fair summary of what Twain wrote. Regards, DMorpheus (talk) 17:02, 22 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Discrepancy in Harte's date of birth[edit]

When I took the photograph of Bret Harte's gravestone (shown in this article) I was puzzled to see that the date of birth on the gravestone is August 25th 1837, whereas the text of the article (and most websites) give it as August 25th 1836. Which is correct? Did his friend Hydeline Van de Velde simply get it wrong when she buried him? Euchiasmus 21:00, 9 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Harte's date of birth in the American National Biography is listed as 1836. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.124.232.132 (talk) 23:36, 13 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There seems a lot of confusion about the year. Various sites on Google provide resources that give both years, but don't attempt to explain the discrepancy. However, most decent biographies seem to favour 1836 - e.g. [1], [2], [3], and [4]. I'm assuming Van de Velde had the wrong year when she organised the gravestone. I'll change the date. -- JackofOz (talk) 23:27, 2 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Another interesting piece to this puzzle: Bret Harte Birth Year Set as 1836, Berkeley Daily Gazette, August 15, 1936. I have added this to the article's references. Kestenbaum (talk) 02:46, 13 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Article Quality - Very Poorly Written[edit]

Could This Be More Badly Written? I challenge someone to make it worse. Wow. "The spirit of Dickens..." What does that even mean? And why include Kipling? That is completely unclear. Either it needs to be explained and cited or removed. Also, "determined to pursue his literary career..." Wasn't he already pursuing his literary career? Why exactly did he move? What was specifically offered to him in the East that caused him to give up his career as a frontier writer. I would do the editing myself but I know very little about the man. Someone knowlegedable please save this article!

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.136.75.169 (talk) 05:02, 1 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Sexuality in Harte's Writing[edit]

I confess to not being familiar with the body of Harte's work (just "The Luck of Roaring Camp"). Nevertheless, Chris Packard's study "Queer Cowboys" startled me. In a number of Harte's works (such as "Tennessee's Partner" and "In the Tules"), homoeroticism (and implicit misogyny) appear to be right on the surface, though people of a century ago likely "decoded" these references as intense but non-sexual friendship. This is a topic someone better-informed (perhaps Mr. Packard?) should add to this article. The article itself is disappointingly short; surely there must be much more to be said about Bret Harte and his works.WilliamSommerwerck 13:13, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I feel so too, but it doesn't seem to be forthcoming. I am particularly interested in Twain's condemnation of Harte's writing and character, which is nothing short of vicious. Twain's criticisms can sting, but are generally tempered by humor; not here. 101 years after Twain's death, there is no way of getting much insight into this, but I can't help wondering if the then unspeakable situation of same-sex attraction might have spurred Twain's wrath and contempt. Rumiton (talk) 16:42, 21 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Since my original posting, I've read more of Harte's stories. I discussed Harte's work with a literary scholar (Schmidgall, I think), who agreed that one of Harte's principal weaknesses is that he too often tells, rather than shows -- he describes mental states and events, rather than dramatizing them. (This article still needs work.)
There's an article in a "learnéd journal" titled "Mark Twain and Homosexuality". It gives strong evidence that at an early period in his career he consorted with and even roomed with homosexual men. (Whether he ever engaged in homosexual acts is not known.) The only reference to homosexual behavior I'm aware of is his remarks about the "queer goings-on" behind the sheets that subdivided rooms in boarding houses. I know of nothing in Twain that is even remotely homophobic. WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 18:02, 5 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Legacy section needs restructuring and editing[edit]

First Legacy should regrouped and subdivided in collections of schools, roads, etc. Google alone has 3 middle schools in the Bay Area alone, and more roads are named after Bret Harte than those listed. 198.123.49.110 (talk) 17:58, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Date of death[edit]

Some sources say 5 May, some say 6 May. Which is correct, and why? -- Jack of Oz [your turn] 09:02, 14 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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Correct date for The Stolen Cigar-Case[edit]

Career in California section gives date of 1867 for reprint of The Stolen Cigar-Case, a parody of Sherlock Holmes. Not possible, since the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, wasn't published until 1887. 64.179.154.8 (talk) 22:22, 14 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]


Works of parody[edit]

While the parody The Hoodlum Band is missing from earlier editions of Condensed Novels (1867) it is present in the 1882 Riverside Press edition, published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company and collected and revised by the author himself[1]. Philh-591 (talk) 22:34, 7 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Harte, Bret (1882). Condensed novels and stories. Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
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