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FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD (1854–1909)

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 386 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FRANCIS See also:MARION See also:CRAWFORD (1854–1909)  , See also:American author, was See also:born at Bagni di See also:Lucca, See also:Italy, on the 2nd of See also:August 1854, being the son of the American sculptor See also:Thomas See also:Crawford (q.v.), and the See also:nephew of Julia See also:Ward See also:Howe, the American poet . He studied successively at St See also:Paul's school, See also:Concord, New See also:Hampshire; See also:Cambridge University; See also:Heidelberg; and See also:Rome . In 1879 he went to See also:India, where he studied See also:Sanskrit and edited the See also:Allahabad See also:Indian See also:Herald . Returning to See also:America he continued to study Sanskrit at Harvard University for a See also:year, contributed to various See also:periodicals, and in 1882 produced his first novel, Mr Isaacs, a brilliant See also:sketch of See also:modern Anglo-Indian See also:life mingled with a See also:touch of See also:Oriental See also:mystery . This See also:book had an immediate success, and its author's promise was confirmed by the publication of Dr See also:Claudius (1883) . After a brief See also:residence in New See also:York and See also:Boston, in 1883 he returned to Italy, where he made his permanent See also:home . This accounts perhaps for the fact that, in spite of his See also:nationality, See also:Marion Crawford's books stand apart from any distinctively American current in literature . Year by See also:wear he published a number of successful novels: A See also:Roman See also:Singer (1884), An American Politician (1884), To Leeward (1884), Zoroaster (1885), A See also:Tale of a Lonely See also:Parish (1886), Marzio's Crucifix (1887), Saracinesca (1887), Paul Patoff (1887), With the Immortals (1888), Greifenstein (1889), Sant' Ilario (1889), A Cigarette-maker's See also:Romance (189o), Khaled (1891), The See also:Witch of See also:Prague (1891), The Three Fates (1892), The See also:Children of the See also:King (1892), See also:Don Orsino (1892), Marion Darche (1893), Pietro Ghisleri (1893), Katharine See also:Lauderdale (1894), Love in Idleness (1894), The Ralstons, (1894), Casa Braccio (1895), See also:Adam See also:Johnston's Son (1895), Taquisara (1896), A See also:Rose of Yesterday (1897), See also:Corleone (1897), Via Crucis (1899), In the See also:Palace of the King (1900), See also:Marietta (1901), See also:Cecilia (1902), Whosoever Shall Offend (1904), See also:Soprano (1905), A See also:Lady of Rome (1906) . He also published the See also:historical See also:works, See also:Ave See also:Roma Immortalis (1898), Rulers of the See also:South (1900)—renamed See also:Sicily, See also:Calabria and See also:Malta in 1904,—and Gleanings from Venetian See also:History (1905) . In these his intimate knowledge of See also:local See also:Italian history combines with the romancist's imaginative See also:faculty to excellent effect . But his See also:place in See also:con-temporary literature depends on his novels . He was a gifted narrator, and his books of fiction, full of historic vitality and dramatic characterization, became widely popular among readers to whom the See also:realism of " problems " or the eccentricities of subjective See also:analysis were repellent, for he could unfold a romantic See also:story in an attractive way, setting his See also:plot amid picturesque surroundings, and gratifying the reader's intelligence by a See also:style at once straightforward and accomplished .

The Saracinesca See also:

series shows him perhaps at his best . A Cigarette-maker's Romance was dramatized, and had considerable popularity on the See also:stage as well as in its novel See also:form; and in 1902 an See also:original See also:play from his See also:pen, Francesca da See also:Rimini, was produced in See also:Paris by Sarah See also:Bernhardt . He died at See also:Sorrento on the 9th of See also:April 1909 .

End of Article: FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD (1854–1909)
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