Tarkington, Booth (Newton Booth Tarkington), 1869–1946, American author, b. Indianapolis. His most characteristic and popular works were his genial novels of life in small Middle Western towns, including The Gentleman from Indiana (1899), The Conquest of Canaan (1905), and the trilogy Growth (1927), made up of Turmoil (1915), The Magnificent Ambersons (1918; Pulitzer Prize), and The Midlander (1923). Alice Adams (1921; Pulitzer Prize), considered by some his best novel, tells of the frustrated ambitions of a romantic lower-middle-class girl. He wrote several amusing novels of boyhood and adolescence, the most notable being Penrod (1914) and Seventeen (1916). His plays include a dramatization of his own historical romance Monsieur Beaucaire (1901) and Clarence (1921).

Bibliography

See his reminiscences, The World Does Move (1928); biography by J. L. Woodress (1955, repr. 1969); study by K. J. Fennimore (1974).

Tarkington, (Newton) Booth

(born July 29, 1869, Indianapolis, Ind., U.S.—died May 19, 1946, Indianapolis) U.S. novelist and dramatist. He became known for satirical and sometimes romanticized pictures of Midwesterners in humorous portrayals of boyhood and adolescence that include the young-people's classics Penrod (1914), Seventeen (1916), and Gentle Julia (1922). The trilogy Growth (1927) includes The Magnificent Ambersons (1918, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1942), which traces the decline of a once-powerful and prominent family. Alice Adams (1921; film, 1923, 1935), a searching character study, is perhaps his most finished novel.

Tarkington, (Newton) Booth (1869–1946) writer, playwright; born in Indianapolis, Ind. He studied at Purdue (1890–91) and Princeton (1891–93). He hoped to become a painter but, lacking skill, he turned to writing popular novels and plays; the best known of the latter is Monsieur Beaucaire (1901), an adaptation of his own novel. He is best known for the novels, The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) and Alice Adams (1921), as well as for his children's novels, such as Penrod (1914) and Seventeen (1916). He was popular during the early part of the 20th century, but today his work seems dated and insubstantial. He lived in Kennebunkport, Maine.