Olivia Howard Dunbar

Olivia Howard Dunbar (1873-January 6, 1953)^[1] was an American short story writer, journalist and biographer, best known today for her ghost fiction.^[2]

Life

Dunbar was born in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts in 1873. She graduated from Smith College in 1894,^[3] after which she worked in newspaper journalism. She worked for the New York World during which time she penned an exposé on Mary Baker Eddy and Christian Science.^[4] As a short story writer and critic, she was published in many of the popular periodicals of her time, including Harper's and The Dial. Dunbar wrote several ghost stories, as well as a 1905 essay, "The Decay of the Ghost in Fiction", defending the subgenre.^[5] Dunbar was active in the women's suffrage movement, and her work has been noted to contain feminist themes.^[2] She married the poet Ridgely Torrence in 1914. Dunbar died in 1953. Her work has been anthologized by Dorothy Scarborough and Jessica Amanda Salmonson.^[2]^[6]

Selected works

Short fiction

The Shell of Sense (1908)
The Long Chamber (1914)

Novels

A House in Chicago (1947)

References

^ "OLIVIA H. DUNBAR, 79, BIOGRAPHER, ESSAYIST". New York Times. January 7, 1953. p. 31. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c Salmonson, Jessica Amanda (1989). What Did Miss Darrington See? : An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction. New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York. ISBN 9781558610057.
^ "Story of the Week: The Shell of Sense". Library of America. September 21, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
^ Howard Dunbar, Olivia (May 15, 1901). ""The Real Mrs. Eddy. "Mother" Of Christian Science"". New York World.
^ Olivia Howard Dunbar, "The Decay of the Ghost in Fiction". In Jason Colavito, ed.,A Hideous Bit of Morbidity: An Anthology of Horror Criticism from the Enlightenment to World War I. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. (pp. 330-336). ISBN 978-0786469093 (Reprinted from The Dial, June 1, 1905, p. 377-380.)
^ Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Scare tactics : supernatural fiction by American women.New York : Fordham University Press, 2008. ISBN 0823229858 (p. 106).

External links

[NYT-1] "OLIVIA H. DUNBAR, 79, BIOGRAPHER, ESSAYIST". New York Times. January 7, 1953. p. 31. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[jas-2] Salmonson, Jessica Amanda (1989). What Did Miss Darrington See? : An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction. New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York. ISBN 9781558610057.

[LOA-3] "Story of the Week: The Shell of Sense". Library of America. September 21, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2012.

[4] Howard Dunbar, Olivia (May 15, 1901). ""The Real Mrs. Eddy. "Mother" Of Christian Science"". New York World.

[5] Olivia Howard Dunbar, "The Decay of the Ghost in Fiction". In Jason Colavito, ed.,A Hideous Bit of Morbidity: An Anthology of Horror Criticism from the Enlightenment to World War I. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. (pp. 330-336). ISBN 978-0786469093 (Reprinted from The Dial, June 1, 1905, p. 377-380.)

[6] Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Scare tactics : supernatural fiction by American women.New York : Fordham University Press, 2008. ISBN 0823229858 (p. 106).

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