Edgar Saltus

Edgar Evertson Saltus (October 8, 1855 – July 31, 1921) was an American writer known for his highly refined prose style. His works paralleled those by European decadent authors such as Joris-Karl Huysmans, Gabriele D'Annunzio and Oscar Wilde.

Edgar Saltus
Born(1855-10-08)October 8, 1855
New York City, United States
DiedJuly 31, 1921(1921-07-31) (aged 65)
New York City, United States
OccupationBiographer, essayist, historian, novelist, poet
Alma materYale University
Columbia Law School
Period1884–1921
Literary movementDecadent movement
Spouse
Helen Sturgis Read
​
(
m. 1883; div. 1891)

Elsie Welch Smith
​
(
m. 1895; died 1911)

Marie Flores Giles
(
m. 1911)
RelativesFrancis Saltus Saltus

Life

Edgar Saltus was born in New York City on October 8, 1855 to Francis Henry Saltus and his second wife, Eliza Evertson,[1] both of Dutch descent.[2] He attended St. Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire. After two semesters at Yale University, Saltus entered Columbia Law School in 1878,[3]:206–207 graduating with a law degree in 1880.[4]

He wrote two books on philosophy: The Philosophy of Disenchantment (1885) focused on pessimism and in particular the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Eduard Von Hartmann,[3]:26–30 while The Anatomy of Negation (1886) tried "to convey a tableau of anti-theism from Kapila to Leconte de Lisle".[5]

After a conversion experience, the once anti-theist and pessimist credited Ralph Waldo Emerson with having transformed his views. In an 1896 Collier's column, he wrote, "I began to see, and what to me was even more marvelous, I began to think."[6] In time, he became a member of the Theosophical Society,[7]:180–182 an organization that studied, synthesized and experimented with the more esoteric concepts and practices of world religions.

Saltus was married three times: Helen Sturgis Read in 1883 (divorced, 1891), Elsie Welch Smith in 1895 (separated, 1901; died, 1911) and author Marie Flores Giles in 1911.[8] Saltus had a three-year love affair in the 1890s with heiress Aimée Crocker, confirmed in her memoir And I'd Do It Again (1936).[9]

Saltus and his first wife appeared in the 1887 first edition of the New York, Social Register.[10]

His elder half-brother Francis Saltus Saltus was a minor poet. Both brothers are buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.[11]

Legacy

Acclaimed by fellow writers in his day, Saltus fell into obscurity after his death.[12]

His novel The Paliser Case was adapted to film in 1920,[13] and his novel Daughters of the Rich was filmed in 1923.[14]

A biography by his third wife Marie Saltus, Edgar Saltus: The Man was published in 1925.[7] Edgar Saltus, a critical study by Claire Sprague, appeared in 1968.[15]

The writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten, was instrumental in convincing Saltus's daughter, Elsie Saltus Munds, to donate to Yale what is now known as the Edgar Saltus Papers, consisting of thirty-eight first editions, two of them inscribed, and eighteen letters written in 1918.[16]

Works
  1. [biography of] Balzac (1884)
  2. The Philosophy of Disenchantment (1885)
  3. The Anatomy of Negation (1886)
  4. Mr. Incoul's Misadventure (1887)
  5. The Truth About Tristrem Varick (1888)
  6. Eden: An Episode (1888)
  7. The Pace That Kills (1889)
  8. A Transient Guest and Other Episodes (1889)
  9. A Transaction in Hearts (1889)
  10. Love And Lore (1890)
  11. Mary Magdalen (1891)
  12. Imperial Purple (1892)
  13. Madame Sapphira (1893)
  14. Enthralled (1894)
  15. When Dreams Come True: A Story of Emotional Life (1895)
  16. Daughters of the Rich (1900)
  17. Purple and Fine Women (1903)
  18. The Pomps of Satan (1904)
  19. The Perfume of Eros: A Fifth Avenue Incident (1905)
  20. Vanity Square (1906)
  21. Historia Amoris (1906)
  22. The Lords of the Ghostland (1907)
  23. The Monster (1912)
  24. Oscar Wilde: An Idler's Impressions (1917)
  25. The Gates of Life (1919)
  26. The Paliser Case (1919)
  27. The Imperial Orgy: An Account of the Tsars From the First to the Last (1920)
  28. The Ghost Girl (1922)
  29. Uplands of Dream (A 1925 compilation of sixteen essays published in magazines between 1900 and 1914)
  30. The Philosophical Writings of Edgar Saltus: The Philosophy of Disenchantment & The Anatomy of Negation (2014) ISBN 978-0-988-55364-4

References
  1. Vrooman, Jr., Isaac H. (March 20, 1909). "New York Times Saturday Review of Books" (PDF). New York Times. New York City. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  2. Keene, Ann T. "Saltus, Edgar Evertson (1855-1921), writer". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001 (inactive June 7, 2020). Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  3. Weir, David (2008). Decadent Culture in the United States. Albany, New York: SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7917-9.
  4. "Person Detail: Edgar Evertson Saltus". The NYSCA Literary Map of New York State and The NYSCA Literary Tree. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  5. The Anatomy of Negation, p. 10, cited in Weir, Decadent Culture, pp. 32–33
  6. Ljungquist, Kent (1999). Nineteenth-century American Fiction Writers. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale Research. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-7876-3096-6.
  7. Saltus, Marie (1925). Edgar Saltus: The Man. Chicago: Pascal Covici.
  8. Leary, Lewis (1980). American Literature to 1900. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 266. ISBN 978-1-349-16418-9.
  9. Crocker, Aimée (1936). And I'd Do It Again. Coward-McCann. p. 288.
  10. Social Register: 1887. New York, NY: Social Register Association. 1986. p. 102. ISBN 0-940281-00-7.
  11. "Famous Interments". Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  12. McKitrick, Eric (1951). "Edgar Saltus of the Obsolete". American Quarterly. 3 (1): 22–35. doi:10.2307/3031184. ISSN 0003-0678. JSTOR 3031184.
  13. Wlaschin, Ken (2009). Silent Mystery and Detective Movies: A Comprehensive Filmography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-7864-4350-5.
  14. Munden, Kenneth White (1997). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-520-20969-5.
  15. Sprague, Claire (1968). Edgar Saltus. Twayne Publishers. ISSN 0496-6015.
  16. "Collection: Edgar Saltus papers". Archives at Yale. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
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