Bess Streeter Aldrich: A writer's life

This work is a critical biography of Bess Streeter Aldrich, 1881-1954, a popular writer who was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and lived most of her adult life in Elmwood, Nebraska. She was a romantic realist whose novels' themes are often those of pioneering in Nebraska and Iowa, although, as she points out, the immigrants could have been coming into any unsettled land. Several of these works are multi-generational. Aldrich published seven novels dealing primarily with the Midwest, two books of the activities of small town families, two of short stories, one novella, and one omnibus.

Aldrich was one of the best known, best loved, and best paid fiction writers from the 1920s through the early 1950s. Because she grew up listening to her parents' and grandparents' stories of the early days of pioneering and the adventures in a new land, she knew first hand the kinds of lives about which she wrote. She also thoroughly researched her material before writing so that each work would be authentic as to details of time, place, and activities.

In this biography I cover Aldrich's life and works. Besides her novels, Aldrich wrote over one hundred short stories and articles, many of which were reprinted in Great Britain and other countries. I identify prototypes of her characters and trace the genesis of plots and themes through early short stories and on into novels. Further I discuss her preparation for writing her novels and her efforts to have certain of them made into moving pictures; I also detail her short story writing, including those times she found it difficult to place stories. Finally, I describe her dealings with editors and publishers, awards she received, trips she took, and, on a more personal basis, her activities with family and friends.