SPLENDID POSEUR

by M.M. Marberry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 13, 1953

This biography of Joaquin Miller based on recently found diaries, dissipates some of the wildest legends about him. Miller was in all truth eccentric, unconventional and picturesque enough so that the truth needs no gilding and makes good reading. His own words seem to prove that in everything he did he was a hoax, a fraud, a poseur. But the text makes equally clear that he was in the great tradition of the America that produced Elbert Hubbard, Buffalo Bill, and other swashbuckling, handsome, generous and attractive frauds. Around 1900, Miller was a two continent sensation, a poet of highest popularity, at that time rated with Walt Whitman. Today it is doubtful if school-boys know anything he wrote other than, perhaps, his Columbus. Consequently, the subject is somewhat limited in appeal, though it has a place in the tradition of the West in American literature. His like will not be seen again.

Pub Date: Oct. 13, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crowell

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1953

Categories: NONFICTION