Thomas Mayne Reid 1241742 223384606 2008-07-03T21:09:35Z 172.131.179.196 /* Bibliography */ {{otherpeople|Thomas Reid}} {{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]] --> | name = Thomas Mayne Reid | image = | caption = | birthdate = [[April 4]], [[1818]] | birthplace = [[Ballyroney]], [[County Down]], [[Ireland]] | deathdate = [[October 22]], [[1883]] | deathplace = [[London]], [[United Kingdom]] | occupation = novelist | genre = | movement = | notableworks = | influences = [[Lord Byron]] | influenced = [[Vladimir Nabokov]], [[Nikolai Gumilyov]] }} '''Thomas Mayne Reid''' ([[April 4]] [[1818]] – [[October 22]] [[1883]]), was an [[Ireland|Irish]]-[[United States|American]] [[novelist]]. "Captain" Reid wrote many adventure novels akin to those written by [[Frederick Marryat]] and [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]. He was a great admirer of [[Lord Byron]]. These novels contain action that takes place primarily in untamed settings: the [[American West]], [[Mexico]], [[South Africa]], the [[Himalayas]], and [[Jamaica]]. ==Biography== Reid was born in [[Ballyroney]], [[County Down]], in the north of [[Ireland]], the son of Rev. Thomas Mayne Reid Sr., who was a senior clerk of the [[Irish General Assembly]]. His father had wanted him to become a [[Presbyterian]] [[Minister of religion|minister]], so in September of [[1834]] he enrolled at the [[Royal Academical Institution]] in [[Belfast]]. But, although he stayed for four years, he could not motivate himself enough to complete his studies and receive a degree. He headed back home to Ballyroney to teach school. In December of [[1839]] he boarded the ''Dumfriesshire'' bound for [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], arriving in January 1840. He made his way to [[New York City]], and landed a job as a corn factor, or corn trader in the corn market. He only stayed six months, reports saying he left the position for refusing to whip slaves on the wharf. Next he became the tutor for General [[Peyton Robertson]]'s children. Soon after he ran the New English, Mathematical, and Classical School; this lasted seven months, when he headed south again. He found work as a clerk for a provision dealer (in a general store in either Natchez, Mississippi, or Natchitoches, Louisiana). In [[1843]] he had made his way to [[St. Louis, Missouri]]; here he joined a company headed west to the [[Rocky Mountains]]. ==Literary Career== After his return from the west he had his first poem published in ''[[Godey's Lady's Book]]'' under the pseudonym ''"A Poor Scholar"''. He headed to [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], in 1843, and worked as a journalist. It was here that he met [[Edgar Allan Poe]] and the two became drinking companions for a time.<ref>Meyers, Jeffrey. ''Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy''. Cooper Square Press, 1992. p. 142. ISBN 0815410387</ref> Poe would later write of Reid: :"a colossal but most picturesque liar. He fibs on a surprising scale but with the finish of an artist, and that is why I listen to him attentively." On [[December 3]] [[1846]], he joined the [[First New York Volunteer Infantry]] to fight in the [[Mexican-American War]]; he received the [[Commissioned officer|commission]] of [[second lieutenant]]. A month later he landed in [[Veracruz, Veracruz|Vera Cruz]] with Major General [[Winfield Scott]]'s army. Using the pseudonym ''"Ecolier"'', he was a correspondent for the ''Spirit of the Times'' of St. Louis, and published ''"Sketches by a Skirmisher"'' on [[May 1]], [[1843]]. At the [[battle of Chapultepec]], on [[September 13]], he received a severe thigh wound; three days later he was promoted to [[first lieutenant]] for showing great courage during the battle. He was discharged from the army in May of 1848. ''Love's Martyr'', his first play, played at the [[Walnut Street Theater]] in New York for five nights, in October 1848. He published ''[[War Life]]'', an account of his army service, [[June 27]], [[1849 in literature|1849]]. Learning of the [[Revolutions of 1848|Bavarian Revolution]], he headed to [[England]] to volunteer. But, after the [[Atlantic]] crossing changed his mind, and instead headed home to northern Ireland. He shortly moved to [[London]], and in [[1850 in literature|1850]] published his first novel, ''[[The Rifle Rangers]]''. This was followed by ''[[The Scalp Hunters]]'' ([[1851 in literature|1851]]; dedicated to Commodore [[Edwin W. Moore]], whom he met in 1841), ''[[The Desert Home]]'' ([[1852 in literature|1852]]), and ''[[The Boy Hunters]]'' ([[1853 in literature|1853]]). This latter book, set in [[Texas]] and [[Louisiana]], was "juvenile scientific travelog". It would become a favorite of a young [[Theodore Roosevelt]], who would become a huge Reid fan. That same year he married the daughter of his publisher G. W. Hyde, an English [[aristocrat]], Elizabeth Hyde, a 15-year-old young lady. After a short time off to spend with his new bride and honeymoon, he soon returned to writing. Continuing to base his novels on his adventures in America, he turned out several more successful novels: ''[[The White Chief]]'' ([[1855 in literature|1855]]), ''[[The Quadroon]]'' ([[1856 in literature|1856]]), ''[[Oceola (novel)|Oceola]]'' ([[1859 in literature|1859]]), and ''[[The Headless Horseman (novel)|The Headless Horseman]]'' ([[1865 in literature|1865]]). He spent money freely, including building the sprawling ''"Ranche"'', an elaborate reproduction of a Mexican hacienda that he had seen during the Mexican-American War. This extravagant living forced him to declare [[bankruptcy]] in November of [[1866]]. The following October he moved to [[Newport, Rhode Island]], hoping to recapture the success the U.S. had brought him earlier. He went back to New York in 1867 and founded the ''[[Onward Magazine]]''.<ref> Open Source Books. Internet Archive. Accessed July 14,2007. [http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Boy_Hunters]</ref> He lectured at [[Steinway Hall]] in New York, and published the novel ''[[The Helpless Hand]]'' in [[1868 in literature|1868]]. But America was not as kind to Reid this time around. The wound he had received at Chapultepec started to bother him, and he was hospitalized for several months at St. Luke in June of [[1870]]. Elizabeth hated America, and following his discharge from the hospital he and his wife returned to England on [[October 22]] [[1870]], and lived at [[Ross on Wye]], [[Herefordshire]]. Suffering from acute melancholia, he was soon again hospitalized. He tried to write, but completed few projects. He lived mainly off his U.S. Army pension, which was not enough to cover his situation. Reid died in London, at the age of 65, and was buried in [[Kensal Green Cemetery]]. :*"This is `weed prairie'; it is misnamed: It is the Garden of God." is on his grave marker and is a quotation from ''The Scalp Hunters''. Books such as the ''[[Young Voyagers]]'' had great popularity, especially with boys. He was also very popular around the world; his tales of the American West captivated children everywhere, including [[Europe]] and [[Russia]]. Among his books, many of which were popular in translation in Poland and Russia, were ''The Rifle Rangers'' (1850), ''Scalp Hunters'' (1851), ''Boy Hunters'' (1853), ''War Trail'' (1851), ''Boy Tar'' (1859), and ''Headless Horseman'' (1865/6).<ref> Open Source Books. Internet Archive. Accessed July 14,2007. [http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Boy_Hunters]</ref> [[Vladimir Nabokov]] recalled ''[[The Headless Horseman (novel)|The Headless Horseman]]'' as a favourite adventure novel of his childhood years - "which had given him a vision of the prairies and the great open spaces and the overarching sky."<ref>''CLASSICS ON CASSETTE:'SPEAK, MEMORY'.'' John Espey. '''[[Los Angeles Times]]''' Book Review; Page 8; Book Review Desk. October 20, 1991.</ref> At 11, Nabokov even translated '''''The Headless Horseman''''' into French alexandrines.<ref>''Artist as Precocious Young Man.'' Rutherford A. '''[[Sunday Herald]]''' December 30, 1990.</ref> Although Mayne Reid called himself, and is listed often as, "captain", Francis B. Heitman's definitive ''Historical Register and Dictionary of the U.S. Army'' only shows lieutenant. ==Bibliography== *''[[The Rifle Rangers]]'' - (1850) ([http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Rifle_Rangers Archive.org]) *''[[The Bush Boys]]'' - (1856) ([http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Bush_Boys Archive.org]) *''[[The War Trail]]'' - (1857) ([http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_War_Trail Archive.org]) *''[[The Lone Ranche]]'' - (1860) ([http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Lone_Ranche Archive.org]) *''[[The Scalp Hunters]]'' - (1860) ([http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Scalp_Hunters Archive.org]) *''[[The Cliff Climbers]]'' - (1864) ([http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Cliff_Climbers Archive.org]) *''[[The Boy Slaves]]'' - (1865) ([http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Boy_Slaves Archive.org]) *''[[The Headless Horseman (novel)|The Headless Horseman]]'' - (1866) *''[[The Giraffe Hunters |The Giraffe Hunters]]'' - (1867) *''[[The Castaways (novel)|The Castaways]]'' - (1870) ([http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Castaways Archive.org]) *''[[The Death Shot]]'' - (1873) ([http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Death_Shot Archive.org]) *''Osceola the Seminole, or, The red fawn of the Flower land'' - (1874) *''[[The Boy Hunters]]'' - (1855) ([http://www.archive.org/details/Captain_Mayne_Reid_The_Boy_Hunters Archive.org]) *''[[The White Gauntlet]]'' ==References== <references/> ==External links== *[http://www.ulib.niu.edu/badndp/reid_mayne.html ''"Reid, Captain Mayne"'' Bio] - at the [[Northern Illinois University]] Libraries * {{Handbook of Texas|id=RR/fre24|name=Thomas Mayne Reid}} *[http://www.prs.tcu.edu/lit_west_full.pdf ''"Literary History American West"''] - at [[Texas Christian University]] - 8.7mb - ([[Adobe Acrobat]] *.PDF document) *{{gutenberg author| id=Reid+Mayne | name=Mayne Reid}} ** {{Gutenberg|no=15764|name=Kullankaivajat ja indiaanit Kertomus Pohjois-Meksikosta}} - (Finnish) *[http://www.digibib.tu-bs.de/?docid=00000361 ''Der weiße Häuptling (The White Chief: A Legend of Northern Mexico)''] - Edition of 1881 - (German) *[http://www.athelstane.co.uk/maynreid/index.htm Captain (Thomas) Mayne Reid] - Bio and selected free ebooks - at [[Athelstane]] *[http://library.uncg.edu/depts/archives/mss/html/Mss166.htm] {{Link FA|bg}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Thomas Mayne}} [[Category:1818 births]] [[Category:1883 deaths]] [[Category:American novelists]] [[Category:Irish novelists]] [[Category:People from County Down]] [[bg:Майн Рид]] [[fr:Thomas Mayne-Reid]] [[ru:Рид, Томас Майн]] [[fi:Mayne Reid]] [[uk:Рід Томас Майн]]