Inspirational Quotes by Booth Tarkington (American Novelist)

Booth Tarkington (1869–1946,) fully Newton Booth Tarkington, was an American novelist, dramatist, and children’s writer. One of the most prolific American authors in the early 19th century, he wrote more than 40 novels, 30 plays and screenplays, and several collections of short stories.

Born in Indianapolis, Tarkington studied at Purdue and Princeton but did not take a degree. He is best known for his satirical and occasionally romanticized portrayals of American Midwesterners (many of his novels are set in Indiana,) beginning with The Gentleman from Indiana (1899) and Monsieur Beaucaire (1900.)

Between 1907 and 1910, Tarkington wrote plays, mostly comedies such as Your Humble Servant (1909) and Springtime (1909,) many in collaboration with Harry Wilson and Julian Street.

The humorous ‘Penrod’ series of young adult novels—Penrod (1914,) Penrod and Sam (1916,) Penrod Jashber (1929,) and Seventeen (1916)—features the young boy Penrod Schofield, based on Tarkington’s own memories of growing up in Indiana.

Tarkington’s other works include a trilogy, Growth (1927,) including The Magnificent Ambersons (1918, Pulitzer Prize.) This chronicle of three generations of a leading Indiana family and their decline during a period of transition was adapted into the film The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) by Orson Welles. Alice Adams (1921; Pulitzer Prize) portrays an ordinary girl whose illusions are shattered when a love affair with a gentleman above her in social rank ends when he meets her mediocre family. The World Does Move (1928) is a book of reminiscences.

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