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Arthur Meeker, Jr. (November 3, 1902 – October 22, 1971) was an American novelist and journalist. Meeker was born in Chicago to a prominent, wealthy family on November 3, 1902.〔 He had three sisters. His father retired from his position as an executive with Armour & Co. in 1928 and died in 1946.〔''New York Times'': ("Arthur Meeker," February 6, 1946 ), accessed September 2, 2011〕 His mother Grace Murray Meeker died in 1948.〔''New York Times'': ("Mrs. Arthur Meeker," November 21, 1948 ), accessed September 2, 2011〕 The family lived on Prairie Avenue and also owned Arcady Farm near Lake Forest.〔Clive Aslet, ''The American Country House'' (Yale University Press, 2005), 63, 112, 143; Kim Coventry, Daniel Meyer, Arthur H. Miller, ''Classic Country Estates of Lake Forest: Architecture and Landscape Design, 1856-1940'' (NY: W.W. Norton, 2003), 108〕 Meeker studied play-writing at Harvard and Princeton, but left without graduating. He wrote society and travel articles for the Chicago American, the Chicago Daily News, and the Chicago Herald. He achieved critical acclaim as the author of several historical novels, notably ''The Ivory Mischief'', which was a Book of the Month Club selection.〔''New York Times'': (John Chamberlain, "Books of the Times," January 2, 1942 ), accessed September 2, 2011: "Mr. Meeker has a fine talent for historical re-creation, but the two shallow-brained sisters...can hardly sustain him for 800-odd pages even though their beauty lasted well into middle age."〕 ''Time'' said "It seems another of those long (840-page), thickly upholstered Jumbos of period fiction.... But unlike most books of the type, its re-creation is solid, convincing and intimate, its characterizations are shrewd, its style adult, and even the upholstery is interesting."〔''TIME'': ("Books: Tale of Two Sisters," January 1, 1942 ), accessed September 2, 2011〕 He wrote two novels set in contemporary Chicago, ''The Far Away Music'' and ''Prairie Avenue'', which the ''New York Times'' called a "light and colorful entertainment."〔''New York Times'': ("The New Fiction: Five Titles of Interest," May 1, 1949 ), accessed September 2, 2011〕 At the start of his career as a novelist, one report of literary events said:〔''New York Times'': ("Books and Authors," February 17, 1929 ), accessed September 2, 2011. Queen Marie of Romania visited Chicago in 1926. ''New York Times'': ("Communists Jeer Marie at Chicago," November 14, 1926 ), accessed September, 2011. David Windsor is better known as the Duke of Windsor. Mrs. Potter Palmer was a figure in Chicago society in the late 19th century. Ward McAllister was the self-appointed arbiter of New York society from the 1860s to the early 1890s.〕 Meeker spent part of each year in Europe, became fluent in French, and purchased a chalet in Switzerland on the Bürgenstock above Lucerne.〔 He often accompanied the Chicago socialite-journalist Fanny Butcher and her husband on tours of Europe.〔Fanny Butcher, ''Many Lives–One Love'' (NY, Harper & Row, 1972), 81, 276-7, 300〕 He gave up his Chicago home in 1951 for an apartment at 4 Gramercy Park in New York City.〔 Meeker served as president of the Society of Midland Authors〔John Clubbe, ''Byron, Sully, and the Power of Portraiture'' (Ashgate Publishing, 2005), 26-31〕〔Society of Midland Authors: ("Presidents" ), accessed September 2, 2011〕 and with Butcher co-founded the Chicago chapter of P.E.N. about 1931, serving initially as its secretary.〔Butcher, 81-2, 305, 380〕 Letters he wrote to his family from Europe in the 1930s suggest he was homosexual.〔Newberry Library: (Arthur Meeker, Jr. Papers ), accessed September 2, 2011. Correspondence indicates he supported a young man named Allen.〕 He had a thirty-year relationship with Robert Molnar, with whom he lived from at least 1940 until Meeker's death in their New York City home on October 22, 1971.〔 Meeker named Molnar his heir.〔 Meeker died from injuries sustained in a car accident in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, a year earlier.〔Find a Grave: (Arthur Meeker, Jr ), accessed September 2, 2011〕 He is buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.〔 ==Works== Novels: *''American Beauty'' (Covici-Friede, 1929)〔 *''Strange Capers'' (Covici-Friede, 1931)〔''New York Times'': ("Arthur Meeker Jr. Writes Novel," May 9, 1931 ), accessed September 2, 2011〕 *''Vestal Virgin'' (NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1934)〔''New York Times'': ("The World of Music," March 4, 1934 ), accessed September 2, 2011: a "picture of operatic life in per-war Germany"〕 *''Sacrifice to the Graces'' (NY: D. Appleton-Century, 1937)〔''New York Times'': ("Books Published Today," January 29, 1937 ), accessed September 2, 2011: "A novel of Americans in Europe in Victorian Days."〕 *''The Ivory Mischief'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1942) *''The Far Away Music'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1945)〔''New York Times'': ("Books Published Today," November 1, 1945 ), accessed September 2, 2011: "A novel of Chicago in 1850". ''The Rotarian'', February 1946: "The fine recreation of mid-19th-Century Chicago, joined with an absorbing story and fully rounded and memorable characters, will delight every discerning reader."〕 *''Prairie Avenue'' (NY: Knopf, 1949) *''The Silver Plume'' (NY: Knopf, 1952) Memoir: *''Chicago, With Love: A Polite and Personal History'' (NY: Knopf, 1955)〔''New York Times'': (Frederick Babcock, "People to Talk About," October 16, 1955 ), accessed September 2, 2011〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Arthur Meeker, Jr.」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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