Vance Thompson (April 17, 1863 - June 5, 1925) was an American

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

, novelist,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

low-carbohydrate diet Low-carbohydrate diets restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet (nutrition), diet. Foods high in carbohydrates (e.g., sugar, bread, pasta) are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and pro ...

writer.

Biography

The son of a

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

pastor and brother of Maud Thompson, he was educated at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and graduated in 1883. He later studied in Germany, and worked as a dramatic critic in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

from 1890 to 1897. In 1890, he was married to stage actress and novelist Lillian Spencer. Like fellow-aesthete and good friend

James Huneker James Gibbons Huneker (January 31, 1857 – February 9, 1921) was an American art, book, music, and theater critic. A colorful individual and an ambitious writer, he was "an American with a great mission," in the words of his friend, the critic ...

, he helped bring fin-de-siècle French authors to the attention of the American public. He also wrote a study on the ego entitled ''the Ego Book: a Book of Selfish Ideals'' (1914). A study of French authors with ties to the

Symbolist movement Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

was published in 1913, entitled ''French Portraits: Being Appreciations of the Writers of Young France''. From 1895 to 1899, he co-edited the periodical ''M'lle New York'' with Huneker. Described as "a highly idiosyncratic blend of serious analyses and presentations of European Symbolist literature and thought with buffoonery and incessant anti-philistinism", it quickly became a manifesto for their cultural ideals. He died in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million low-carbohydrate diet Low-carbohydrate diets restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet (nutrition), diet. Foods high in carbohydrates (e.g., sugar, bread, pasta) are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and pro ...

and contains a list of "forbidden foods".Elias, Megan J. (2009). ''Food in the United States, 1890-1945''. ABC-CLIO. pp. 129-130. Thompson believed that

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term '' ...

bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es,

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

, and all alcoholic drinks should be avoided. He recommended eating all kinds of meat (except pig),

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

, sea-food, eggs, fruit and green

vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...

s. The book was criticized for misrepresenting nutritional science. Physician B. B. Vincent Lyon criticized ''Eat and Grow Thin'' for promoting a

fad diet A fad diet is a diet that is popular, generally only for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard scientific dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements; ...

. Lyon noted that the high-protein content of the diet is dangerous for obese patients or those with cardiovascular or renal insufficiencies. Physiologist

Graham Lusk Graham Lusk FRS(For) FRSE (February 15, 1866 – July 18, 1932) was an American physiologist, and nutritionist. He graduated from Columbia University, and from University of Munich with a PhD. He was an expert on diabetes. He was profoundly dea ...

commented that the advice from the book "made so many of my friends so utterly miserable that I am sure that in the end it will counteract its own message."Lusk, Graham. (1917)
"Food In War Time"
''The Scientific Monthly'' 5: 307.

Publications

''French Portraits: Being Appreciations of the Writers of Young France''
(1900) *''Spinners of Life'' (1904) *''Diplomatic Mysteries'' (1905)
''The Life of Ethelbert Nevin''
(1913)
''The Ego Book: A Book of Selfish Ideals''
(1914) *''The Night Watchman and Other Poems'' (1914)
''Eat and Grow Thin: The Mahdah Menus''
(1914)
''Drink and Be Sober''
(1915)
''Verse''
(1915)
''The Carnival of Destiny''
(1916) *''The Peace Girl'' (1916)
''Woman''
(1917)
''Live and Be Young''
(1920) *''The Pointed Tower'' (1923) *''The Green Ray'' (1924) *''The Scarlet Iris'' (1924) *''Mr. Guelpa'' (1925)

References

External links

Scans of ''M'lle Yew York'' at the ''American Decadence'' website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Vance 1863 births 1925 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American poets American literary critics American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American male poets Low-carbohydrate diet advocates Princeton University alumni Pseudoscientific diet advocates