by Nicholas Delbanco
They were a most unlikely quintet: two Englishmen (one with a German name he disliked), two Americans and one Polish former seaman. What they had in common was writing, and at the turn of the century they settled down in Kent and East Sussex outside London where they provided all kinds of support for each other. Ford Madox Ford (a/k/a Hueffer) and Joseph Conrad actually collaborated. Henry James, the wealthy American and dandy, befriended young Stephen Crane, who wore cowboy shirts, had an ex-nightclub "hostess" for a mistress, and was dying of tuberculosis. H.G. Wells argued art with James and wrote about all the others. Crane's last letter was written in an attempt to get the impoverished Conrad honored by Queen Victoria. The five shared literary agents and turn up disguised as fictional characters in each other's work as well. The writer of this engaging book, a teacher at Bennington College and author of 10 novels, concludes that these very different writers "had in common ambition, a tolerance for variety and a recognition of the stringent demands of craft." (Morrow, $11.50)
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