FRANK STOCKTON

1834-1902

FRANK STOCKTON
1834-1092
Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 April 20, 1902) was an American writer, novelist
and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's stories and gently fairy tales
that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century.
Life
Born in Philadelphia in the year 1834, Stockton was the 3 rd of 9 sons and daughters of a
prominent Methodist minister. He finished is High School Life in 1852 at Central High School,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Declining to study medicine as his father wish, Stockton became a wood engraver. Truly, his
studies led to his success like he invented a double wood engraver in 1866.
For years he supported himself as a wood engraver until his father's death in 1860; in 1867, he
moved back to Philadelphia to start his writing career, at first, he write for a newspaper founded
by his brother: and later, in 1873, he became the assistant editor of St. Nicholas Magazine under
Mary Mapes Dodge and that was his longest employment, that he able to work up to 8 years. His
first fairy tale, "Ting-a-ling," was published that year in The Riverside Magazine; his first book
collection appeared in 1870. He was also an editor for Hearth and Home magazine in the early
1870s. He resigned his work in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1881 to devote his remaining life in his
Writing Career.
He spent his remaining years writing and writing until he died in April 20, 1902 of cerebral
hemorrhage in Washington D.C and is buried at The Woodlands in Philadelphia.
Writings/ Literary Works
As stated above, he devotes his remaining time writing short stories, novels children fairy tales
science fiction and the like. But as I researched, he never writes any forms of Poetry mostly he
write on Prose. Mostly he writes on all about adventures and Journeys of a Man.
Stockton avoided the didactic moralizing common to children's stories of the time, instead using
clever humor to poke at greed, violence, abuse of power and other human foibles, describing his
fantastic characters' adventures in a charming, matter-of-fact way in stories like "The Griffin and
the Minor Canon" (1885) and "The Bee-Man of Orn" (1887), which were published in 1963 and
1964, respectively, in editions illustrated by Maurice Sendak. "The Griffin and the Minor Canon"
won a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1963.
His most famous fable is "The Lady, or the Tiger?" (1882), about a man sentenced to an unusual
punishment for having a romance with a king's beloved daughter. Taken to the public arena, he is
faced with two doors, behind one of which is a hungry tiger that will devour him. Behind the
other is a beautiful lady-in-waiting, whom he will have to marry, if he finds her. While the crowd
waits anxiously for his decision, he sees the princess among the spectators, who points him to
the door on the right. The lover starts to open the door and ... the story ends abruptly there. Did
the princess save her love by pointing to the door leading to the lady-in-waiting, or did she prefer
to see her lover die rather than see him marry someone else? That discussion hook has made
the story a staple in English classes in American schools, especially since Stockton was careful
never to hint at what he thought the ending would be (according to Hiram Collins Haydn in The
Thesaurus of Book Digests, ISBN 0-517-00122-5). He also wrote a sequel to the story, "The
Discourager of Hesitancy."

His 1895 adventure novel The Adventures of Captain Horn was the third-bestselling book in the
United States in 1895.
The Bee Man and several other tales were incorporated in a book published in 1887 by Charles
Scribner's Sons entitled The Queen's Museum and Other Fanciful Tales, illustrated by Frederick
Richardson. Stories included The Queen's Museum, The Christmas Truants, the Griffin and the
Minor Canon, Old Pipes and the Dryad, the Bee-man of Orn, The clocks of Rondaine, Christmas
before Last, Prince Hassak's March, the Philopena, and the Accommodating Circumstance.
His Rudder Grange originally serialized in Scribers Monthly, recounted on the whiscally fantastic
and amusing adventures of a family living on a canal boat. Its success encouraged 2 sequels:
Rudder Grange Abroad in 1891 and Pomonas Travel in 1894.
The casting away of Mrs. Kecks and Mrs. Alshine in 1886, told of two middle age woman on a sea
voyage to Japan who became castaways on a deserted island. A sequel appeared in 1888 as The
Dusantes.
Earlier, Stockton had produced stories for children and Juvenile Fiction. His writing took a more
sharply satirical turn in Comic Bucareers and pirate of Our Coast in 1898 which ridicules the
romanticism of conventional historical novels of the time.
Stockton also, in such stories as the Geal War syndicate in 1889 attempted what would now be
called Science Fiction. in his hands, however, the genre had a minimum of credible science and a
maximum of somewhat juvenile fantasy. Though he is seldom reprinted now, his popularity in his
last years was enough to warrant a 23 volume edition of his collected writing.

LIST OF LITERARY WORKS

PROSE: Short Stories and Novels
Titles in Fiction/Novel Category
Adventures of Captain Horn, The

Associate Hermits, The A novel

Bicycle of Cathay: A Novel, A
Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts
Captain's Toll-Gate, The A novel
Girl at Cobhurst, The
Great Stone of Sardis, The A novel
Great War Syndicate, The A fiction
House of Martha, The
Jolly Fellowship, A
Kate Bonnet: The Romance of a Pirate's Daughter A novel
Late Mrs. Null, The
Pomona's Travels
Rudder Grange A novel
Stories of the Three Burglars, The
Vizier of the Two-Horned Alexander, The
What Might Have Been Expected
Titles in Short Story Category
"His Wife's Deceased Sister"
American Lord, An from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Amos Kilbright; His Adscititious Experiences
Asaph
Baker Of Barnbury: A Christmas Story, The
Banished King, The
Battle Of The Third Cousins, The
Bee-Man Of Orn, The
Blackgum Ag'in' Thunder from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein'
Buller-podington Compact, The American humorous short story
Bushwhacker Nurse, The from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein'
Captain Eli's Best Ear
Christmas Before Last; Or, The Fruit Of The Fragile Palm
Christmas Wreck, The
Conscious Amanda, The from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein'
Cot And The Rill, The from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein'
Derelict
Dey, The Bey, And Some Jersey Sailors, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Euphemia Among the Pelicans
Fins, Rattles, And Wings from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Foreign Prince And The Hermit's Daughter, The from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told
Therein'
Gilded Idol And The King Conch-Shell, The from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told
Therein'
Grandison's Quandary
Griffin And The Minor Canon, The
How Scheyichbi Really Became New Jersey from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Jersey Tea Party, A from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Jerseyman And His Royal Crown, A from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Lady In The Box, The from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein'
Lady, or the Tiger?, The

Love Before Breakfast

Magic Egg, The
Magical Music, The from 'Ting-a-ling' collection
Man In The "auger Hole", The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Man Who Coveted Washington's Shoes, A from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Molly Pitcher from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Morristown Ghosts, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Mr. Tolman
My Balloon Hunt from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein'
My Terminal Moraine
My Translatophone from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein'
My Unwilling Neighbor
My Well and What came out of It
New Jersey And The Land Of Gold from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Old Pipes And The Dryad
Our Archery Club
Philopena, The
Philosophy Of Relative Existences, The
Piece Of Red Calico, A
Plain Fishing
Pomona's Daughter
Prince Hassak's March
Queen's Museum, The
Remarkable Wreck Of The "Thomas Hyke", The
Reversible Landscape, The
Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy A BOOK OF STORIES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
Rudder Grangers In England, The
Schoolmaster And The Doctor, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Sea Fights With A Nobler Foe from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Slaves Of New Jersey, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Staying Power Of Sir Rohan, The
Story Of A Girl And A Hogshead, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Story Of A Peacemaker, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Story Of A Spy, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Story Of Fort Nonsense, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Story Of Penelope Stout, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Story Of Seven Devils, A
Story Of Tempe Wick, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Story Of The Discovery Of Scheyichbi, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Story Of The Telegraph And The Steamboat, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Story Of Two Captains, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'
Tale Of Negative Gravity, A
Thing That Glistened, A from "Eleven Possible Cases"
Ting-a-ling from 'Ting-a-ling' collection
Ting-a-Ling and the Five Magicians from 'Ting-a-ling' collection
Ting-a-ling's visit to Tur-i-li-ra from 'Ting-a-ling' collection
Transferred Ghost, The
Vice-Consort, The from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein'
Water Devil, The

What I Found In The Sea from 'John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein'
Widow's Cruise, The
Winning Of The Prize, The from 'Stories of New Jersey'