H. C. Bunner

Henry Cuyler Bunner (August 3, 1855 – May 11, 1896) was an American novelist, journalist and poet. He is known mainly for ''Tower of Babel''.

Bunner's works have been praised by librarians for its "technical dexterity, playfulness and smoothness of finish".

Biography

Bunner was born on August 3, 1855, in Oswego, New York, to Rudolph Bunner Jr. (1813–1875) and Ruth Keating Tuckerman (1821–1896) and was educated in New York City. His paternal grandparents were Rudolph Bunner (1779–1837) and Elizabeth Church (1783–1867), the daughter of John Barker Church (1748–1818) and Angelica Schuyler (1756–1814).

From being a clerk in an importing house, he turned to journalism, and after some work as a reporter, and on the staff of the ''Arcadian'' (1873), he became in 1877 assistant editor of the comic weekly '' Puck''. He soon assumed the editorship, which he held until his death. He developed ''Puck'' from a new struggling periodical into a powerful social and political organ.

In 1886, he published a novel, ''The Midge'', followed in 1887 by ''The Story of a New York House''. Other efforts in fiction were his short stories and sketches: "Short Sixes" (1891), "More Short Sixes" (1894), "Made in France" (1893), ''Zadoc Pine and Other Stories'' (1891), ''Love in Old Cloathes and Other Stories'' (1896), and "Jersey Street and Jersey Lane" (1896). Among his poetic works ''Airs from Arcady and Elsewhere'', published in 1884 and including one of his best known poems, "The Way to Arcady"; ''Rowen'' (1892), and ''Poems'' (1896), edited by his friend Brander Matthews and displaying a light play of imagination and a delicate workmanship. He also wrote clever ''vers de société'' and parodies. One of his several plays (usually written in collaboration) was ''The Tower of Babel'' (1883).

His short story "Zenobia's Infidelity" was made into a feature film called ''Zenobia'' starring Harry Langdon and Oliver Hardy by the Hal Roach Studio in 1939.

Personal life

Bunner married Alice Learned (1863–1952), daughter of Joshua Coit Learned (1819–1892), and granddaughter of Joshua Coit (1758–1798), U.S. Representative from Connecticut. Together, they had:

* Rudolph Bunner (1887–1888)
* Ruth Tuckerman Bunner (1890–1946), who married Harold Edwin Dimock (1884–1967) in 1917, brother of Edith Dimock (1876–1955), the artist.
* Philip Schuyler Bunner (1892–1892)
* Laurence H. Bunner (1894–1974)

Bunner died on May 11, 1896, in Nutley, New Jersey.

References

External links

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Some H. C. Bunner stories, including 'What Mrs. Fortescue Did' and 'Zenobia's Infidelity' are read in Mister Ron's Basement
Podcast, now indexed for your convenience.

The Best American Humorous Short Stories by H. C. Bunner et al.
Project Gutenberg eBook
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunner, Henry
1855 births
1896 deaths
Schuyler family
People from Nutley, New Jersey
People from Oswego, New York
19th-century American novelists
19th-century American poets
American male novelists
American male poets
19th-century American male writers
Novelists from New York (state)
Writers from Essex County, New Jersey