Abstract
IN this painstaking and amply documented study Mr. Wolle follows the fortunes of a young Irishman who arrived in New York in 1852 with nothing but his wit and ready pen for luggage, and in the next ten years poured out a flood of ephemeral literature, reflecting the many facets of contemporary society. Such a chameleon could not escape the mid-nineteenth century interest in scientific discoveries and pseudoscientific speculation. In his short stories, which rival in horror those of Poe, figure an invisible monster, a glass eye, robot killers, disembodied organs which continue to function normally, a swiftly revolving ball which is impervious to the force of gravity ("How I Overcame My Gravity"), a telepathist and, in his best-known work, "The Diamond Lens", a microscopist. This miscreant, by means of cold-blooded murder, produces the perfect lens, only to discover his ideal woman in a drop of water. Unable to make contact with her, he is doomed to watch her fade as the water evaporates. He goes mad.
Fitz-James O'Brien
A Literary Bohemian of the Eighteen-Fifties. By Prof. Francis Wolle. (University of Colorado Studies, Series B: Studies in the Humanities, Vol. 2, No. 2.) Pp. xi + 309. (Boulder, Colo.: University of Colorado, 1944.) 2 dollars.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
HARTNOLL, P. Fitz-James O'Brien. Nature 155, 316 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155316c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155316c0