Charles Warren Stoddard
Charles Warren Stoddard
Charles Warren Stoddard was one of California’s best-known writers in the 19th and early 20th centuries and a member of the “Golden Gate Trinity” alongside Bret Harte and Ina Coolbrith.
One could say that together, the Trinity embodied all the qualities for which San Francisco is known — exuberant talent, openly accepted homosexuality, Wild West sentimentality, equality of the sexes, and a millefiori-like mix of backgrounds.
He also befriended Mark Twain, Joaquin Miller, and Ambrose Bierce. His parties contributed not a little to the city's reputation for Bohemian decadence.
Stoddard had gone to school with Charles de Young and later became a special traveling correspondent for de Young’s Chronicle, roving across Europe, the Middle East, and as far as Egypt. Travel writing was a very popular genre at the time, and Stoddard was one of its most celebrated authors. Stoddard documented Father Damien's work among the lepers of Molokai, establishing Father Damien in the public's esteem.
During his lifetime, he was best known for his writings about Polynesia, though these are less widely read today. He remains notable in American literature as the author of the first American novel featuring openly gay characters—The Pleasure of His Company (1903), which was essentially an autobiography. Stoddard’s homosexuality was very open and frequently conflicted with the Catholicism to which he had converted in mid-life.
One could say that together, the Trinity embodied all the qualities for which San Francisco is known — exuberant talent, openly accepted homosexuality, Wild West sentimentality, equality of the sexes, and a millefiori-like mix of backgrounds.
He also befriended Mark Twain, Joaquin Miller, and Ambrose Bierce. His parties contributed not a little to the city's reputation for Bohemian decadence.
Stoddard had gone to school with Charles de Young and later became a special traveling correspondent for de Young’s Chronicle, roving across Europe, the Middle East, and as far as Egypt. Travel writing was a very popular genre at the time, and Stoddard was one of its most celebrated authors. Stoddard documented Father Damien's work among the lepers of Molokai, establishing Father Damien in the public's esteem.
During his lifetime, he was best known for his writings about Polynesia, though these are less widely read today. He remains notable in American literature as the author of the first American novel featuring openly gay characters—The Pleasure of His Company (1903), which was essentially an autobiography. Stoddard’s homosexuality was very open and frequently conflicted with the Catholicism to which he had converted in mid-life.
Charles Warren Stoddard
