Bennett
Bennett names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Bennett (ENOCH) ARNOLD
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
(ENOCH) ARNOLD, English novelist and playwright, who has won a high and distinctive place in modern fiction. He was born at Hanley, England, May 27, 1867. He was at first inclined to follow law as a profession, but abandoned this for journalism, becoming editor of "Woman" in 1896. But his creative instinct sought expression in fic. tion, to which he devoted himself after 1900. His first two novels made no deep impression, but a veritable sensation was produced by the first of his stories of the pottery district of North Staffordshire, "Anna of the Five Towns" (1902). This was followed at intervals until 1912 by six other books of the same type, all dealing with the "Five Towns" and in many cases involving the same characters. On a limited scale, it was like the "Comédie Humaine" of Balzac. With marvelous ability Bennett takes the dull, monotonous lives of various classes in an English factory district and shows the strength and fierceness at times of the elemental passions beneath the drab exteriors. As Trollope was the historian par excellence of the life that went on in ecclesiastical towns, so Bennett registers the currents of existence in the manufacturing centers, which to so many writers seem destitute of all romance. In his fecundity, too, he resembles Trollope, and over 30 novels have been written by him, all of them marked in varying degrees by literary distinction. He has also written several plays that have attained success, most notable of which is "Milestones" (1912). During the World War he has written many articles bearing on widely differing phases of the conflict.
Bennett JAMES GORDON, an American journalist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JAMES GORDON, an American journalist, born in New York City, May 10, 1841; son of James Gordon Bennett, founder of the New York "Herald," of which he became managing editor in 1866, and from that time largely controlling, and becoming proprietor on the death of his father in 1872. In 1870 he sent Henry M. Stanley on the exploring expedition which resulted in the finding of Dr. Livingstone, and, in conjunction with the London "Daily Telegraph," supplied the means for his journey across Africa by way of the Kongo in 1874- 1878. He organized a system of storm prognostications of value to shipping masters; fitted out the "Jeannette" Polar expedition; and, in 1883, was associated with John W. Mackay in organizing the new Commercial Cable Company. He founded the "Evening Telegram" in New York, and established daily editions of the "Herald" in Paris and London. He early gave much attention to yachting. He resided mainly in Paris until his death, May 14, 1918. By the terms of his will Mr. Bennett left the bulk of his fortune to found and endow a home for journalists. actor and manager, born in Bennett's father, Archbishop Benson, in 1889, and
Bennett JAMES GORDON, a Scotch-American journalist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JAMES GORDON, a Scotch-American journalist; founder and proprietor of the New York "Herald," born in Newmill, Keith, Sept. 1, 1795. Trained for the Roman Catholic priesthood, he emigrated to the United States in 1819, where he became in turn teacher, proof reader, journalist, and lecturer. He had acted as casual reporter and writer in connection with several journals, and had failed in one or two journalistic ventures, previous to the issue of the first number of the New York "Herald," May 6, 1835, price one cent. He spared no effort and expense in securing news, and laid the foundation of its after success. It was the first newspaper to publish the stock lists and a daily money article. He died in New York, June 1, 1872.
Bennett RICHARD, American Mill
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
RICHARD, American Mill, Ind., in 1872. He was educated in the public schools and at the Logansport Normal School. After several years spent on the stage as an actor, he produced and appeared in Brieux's play, "Damaged Goods." He also produced several other plays of Brieux and other French playwrights in the United States. He was from 1896 to 1908 associated with Charles Frohman in the production of plays. He was chairman of the executive board of the National Society of Sociology.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
All four men have since been overtaken by events Collier's could not know in 1921. Arnold Bennett, then "a high and distinctive place in modern fiction," died in 1931 after drinking tap water in Paris; Virginia Woolf's 1924 attack on him in "Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown" helped push his reputation down for decades, and today it is not the "Five Towns" sequence as a whole but one novel, "The Old Wives' Tale" (1908), that keeps him on reading lists. The "Herald" that both James Gordon Bennetts built was merged into the New York Herald Tribune in 1924 and died with that paper in 1966, though the Paris edition the younger Bennett founded survived as the International Herald Tribune and continues as the New York Times International Edition; the son's name also survives in Britain as the exclamation "Gordon Bennett!" Richard Bennett, listed here only as an actor-manager and Brieux producer, died in 1944 better remembered as the father of the film stars Constance and Joan Bennett and as Major Amberson in Orson Welles's "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942).
Written for this edition, 2026.