August Derleth Summary

Derleth, August (1909-1971) A better description of August Derleth's massive output could not be found than in Alison M. Wilson's August Derleth: A Bibliography. Born February 24, 1909, ... Read more

August Derleth, a versatile and prolific author, combined a deep and abiding love of nature with a respect and reverence for his Germanic roots and his Wisconsin heritage. During the course of a caree... Read more

Critical Essay by H P [h. P. Lovecraft] Dear A. W.:— Your novelette The Early Years [the initial draft of the novel which was to become Evening in Spring] duly came, and I have read it with the... Read more

Critical Essay by James Gray [In "Wind Over Wisconsin"] August Derleth invites inspection of a significant moment in the history of his own state…. [He] wishes to throw a bridge a... Read more

Critical Essay by Ruth Byrns ["Hawk on the Wind" is Derleth's] first volume of poetry. Chosen from hundreds of poems which he has written in the past decade, the selections in thi... Read more

Critical Essay by Mason Wade The promise that was revealed and widely recognized in August Derleth's first book of poems, "Hawk on the Wind," is … richly realized [in �... Read more

Critical Essay by Ruth Lechlitner What is important and good in ["Restless Is the River"] lies in the interwoven background details, incidents not so much personal as communal. These fac... Read more

Critical Essay by Harry Thornton Moore There are twenty stories in ["Country Growth"], and in each of them the most consistent character in all Derleth's serious writing appears&#... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Van Gelder [Because] of a curious quality of realism, of common experience, "Country Growth" touches the edge of that universality that is the province of the gr... Read more

Critical Essay by Harry Thornton Moore Like the other books in the Sac Prairie Saga, ["Bright Journey"] stands by itself as a separate story. But it does not differ essentially from Derl... Read more

Critical Essay by Katherine Woods What Mr. Derleth has done [in "Village Year"] is simply to set down the observations that personally interested him day to day or month to month [in and... Read more

Critical Essay by Edith H. Walton "Evening in Spring" is a light lyric story, half comic, half tender, which has to do with the ardors and the sorrows of first love. It is the story of h... Read more

Critical Essay by Margaret Donaldson The Oliver Mackenzie, carrying a show boat troupe, plied its way up the Mississippi River each Spring from St. Louis to New Orleans and back again in the Fall. In ... Read more

Critical Essay by Isaac Anderson [In "Murder Stalks the Wakely Family," seven] persons living in the little town of Sac Prairie, Wis., receive invitations—they might almost be cal... Read more

Critical Essay by New York Herald Tribune Weekly Book Review So long identified in poetry with the Wisconsin scene, with his sagas of Sac Prairie told in quiet, conventional, repetitious patterns, Aug... Read more

Critical Essay by William Kehoe ["The Shield of the Valiant"] proves once again that one must live in a small town most of his life really to know its overall pattern, and that Derleth h... Read more

Critical Essay by Emerson Hynes "Village Daybook" consists of selections over a period from Derleth's diary. If mediocrity and brilliance are marks of authenticity in a diary, thi... Read more

Critical Essay by John Holmes [August Derleth] has made a new collection of his poems ["Rendezvous in a Landscape"] in four groups, "Homage to Thoreau," "Homage to R... Read more

Critical Essay by Russell Macfall "All things of live adventuring are kin" is the theme of ["Country Poems"], 30 poems about the birds and animals, cornfields and country c... Read more

Critical Essay by Victor P. Hass [Mr. Derleth has written "The House on the Mound" as a sequel to "Bright Journey"] and if it lacks much of the dramatic impact of "B... Read more

Critical Essay by Victor P. Hass Few writers at work in America today have been able to register the heartbeat of a place with the fidelity, skill and warmth that August Derleth has brought to his bel... Read more

Critical Essay by Benny Green The Adventures of Solar Pons is utterly different, not only from the works of spoof scholarship, but also from most other works to do with Holmes, for it consists of shor... Read more

Critical Essay by Elizabeth Hart Whoever conceived the idea for "Place of Hawks" has, with the best intentions, done August Derleth a disservice…. [The] first sample of his [short... Read more

Critical Essay by Edith H. Walton "Still Is the Summer Night," Mr. Derleth's second novel, again has Sac Prairie for a background. This time, however, the emphasis is different [f... Read more