Henry Blake Fuller

Henry Blake Fuller (1857-1929) was an American novelist and short story writer. Born in Chicago, he gained a reputation as a young romance writer emulating the style of Henry James. By 1893, however, he turned to realism with The Cliff-Dellers, a fast-paced novel set in Chicago's business world. Praised by critic William Dean Howells, Fuller nevertheless continued to pursue new literary ground, publishing a series of one act plays collected in The Puppet Booth (1896), as well as working as an editor and contributor to The Dial and Poetry. His masterpiece, however, is Bertram Cope's Year (1919), a campus novel set at a fictionalized Northwestern University. Recognized for its groundbreaking portrayal of homosexual characters, the novel is a courageous and controversial work of literature from a pioneering gay author. Honored for his achievements by the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame and the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, Fuller was a talented author for whom the political and personal are always intertwined.