William Lyon Phelps
Encyclopedia
William Lyon Phelps was an American
author, critic and scholar. He taught the first American university course on the modern novel. He was a well-known speaker who drew large crowds. He had a radio show, wrote a daily syndicated newspaper column, lectured frequently, and published numerous popular books and articles.
. He earned his A.M. in 1891 from Yale
and in the same year his Ph.D. from Harvard
. He taught at Harvard for a year, and then returned to Yale where he was offered a position in the English department. He taught at Yale the rest of life.
Phelps was engaged to marry Frank's sister Annabel when Langdon Hubbard died. Annabel inherited the family estate and William christened it "The House of the Seven Gables,” after the Nathanial Hawthorne story of the same name. Her father built the house in 1882 on a bluff overlooking Lake Huron
. The couple was married on the estate on December 21, 1892 and it became their summer home.
Phelps converted the space in front of the house from a trotting track into a private 18-hole golf course golf course in 1899. and they lived there part-time from 1893 through 1933, when he retired, and full-time through 1938. They had no children.
and Ivan Turgenev
. During his first year at Yale he offered a course in modern novels. This brought the university considerable attention nationally and internationally which upset his tenure
d peers at Yale. He agreed to give up the course for a while to avoid the media attention. Responding to popular demand by his students, and to avoid scrutiny, he taught the same course outside the official curriculum. Once the unfavorable attention died down, he was appointed Lampson Professor of English Literature in 1901.
Phelps' courses became the most popular and well attended on campus. He had an engaging speaking style and was personally involved with what he taught. He wrote about English and European literature. During trips to Europe he met many of the leading writers of the turn of the 19th century.
Phelps taught at Yale for 41 years before retiring in 1933. From 1941 to 1943 he was the director of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans
.
asked him to preach regularly for the season. He had previously preached there occasionally, and his afternoon services started to attract large crowds. The little church was remodeled twice in 1925 and again in 1929 to accommodate the crowds. His wife's parents made substantial contributions that made the expansions possible.
At the height of his speaking popularity from 800 and 1,000 people attended his summer services. Some first hand accounts describe overflow crowds sitting outside the packed church so they could listen through the windows. He became known throughout the world as a leading literary scholar, educator, author, book critic and preacher.
After his retirement from Yale, he continued to present public lectures, radio talks, and write a daily newspaper column about books and authors. He continued to give a series of Sunday sermons each summer and offer a 20-week lecture course in literature during the winter. He presented several college commencement addresses each year and served as a judge of the Pulitzer Prize
for literature and on book club
selection committees.
, a private club adjacent to the campus. The group regularly lampooned the campus with elaborate pranks.
Phelps encouraged Alexander Smith Cochran
to dedicate the Cochran family's extensive collection of Shakespearean folio
s and other rare books to endow a private club for the arts and humanities. This became the Elizabethan Club
which is still active as of 2011.
In 1938, Life
magazine ran an article profiling Phelps' life. His wife Annabel died of a stroke in 1939 and William died in 1943. Phelps bequeathed the house to his niece Carolyn Hubbard Parcells Lucas. In 1951, a museum was opened in the home to house Phelps’ library and to focus on the history of Huron City. In 1964, the Pointe aux Barques Life Saving Station house was moved here. In 1987, Carolyn Lucas died, and the William Lyon Phelps Foundation took over the house and museum.
"The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good company, good conversation, are the happiest people in the world. And they are not only happy in themselves, they are the cause of happiness in others."
"If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything."
"This is the first test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible value to him."
The professor asked his students to discuss the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins' "sprung rhythm" technique. One young man handed in his exam reading, "Only God knows the answer to your question. Merry Christmas." Professor Phelps returned the paper after Christmas with the note, "Happy New Year. God gets an A—you get an F."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author, critic and scholar. He taught the first American university course on the modern novel. He was a well-known speaker who drew large crowds. He had a radio show, wrote a daily syndicated newspaper column, lectured frequently, and published numerous popular books and articles.
Early life and education
Phelps' father Sylvanus Dryden Phelps was a Baptist minister. William as a child was a friend of Frank Hubbard, the son of Langdon Hubbard, a lumber merchant who founded Huron City, Michigan. Phelps earned a B.A. in 1887, writing an honors thesis on the Idealism of George BerkeleyGeorge Berkeley
George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...
. He earned his A.M. in 1891 from Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and in the same year his Ph.D. from Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He taught at Harvard for a year, and then returned to Yale where he was offered a position in the English department. He taught at Yale the rest of life.
Phelps was engaged to marry Frank's sister Annabel when Langdon Hubbard died. Annabel inherited the family estate and William christened it "The House of the Seven Gables,” after the Nathanial Hawthorne story of the same name. Her father built the house in 1882 on a bluff overlooking Lake Huron
Lake Huron
Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...
. The couple was married on the estate on December 21, 1892 and it became their summer home.
Phelps converted the space in front of the house from a trotting track into a private 18-hole golf course golf course in 1899. and they lived there part-time from 1893 through 1933, when he retired, and full-time through 1938. They had no children.
Academic and professional life
Phelps was very athletic and played what was then the new game of baseball as well as golf and lawn tennis. He studied the novelists lie Leo TolstoyLeo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
and Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century...
. During his first year at Yale he offered a course in modern novels. This brought the university considerable attention nationally and internationally which upset his tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
d peers at Yale. He agreed to give up the course for a while to avoid the media attention. Responding to popular demand by his students, and to avoid scrutiny, he taught the same course outside the official curriculum. Once the unfavorable attention died down, he was appointed Lampson Professor of English Literature in 1901.
Phelps' courses became the most popular and well attended on campus. He had an engaging speaking style and was personally involved with what he taught. He wrote about English and European literature. During trips to Europe he met many of the leading writers of the turn of the 19th century.
Phelps taught at Yale for 41 years before retiring in 1933. From 1941 to 1943 he was the director of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans
Hall of Fame for Great Americans
The Hall of Fame for Great Americans is the original hall of fame in the United States. "Fame" here means "renown"...
.
Public speaking and writing
Phelps could be an incandescent and inspirational orator, drawing large audiences wherever he spoke. He lectured on the famous Town Hall Lecture circuit nationwide. During the summer of 1922, the pastor of the Huron City Methodist Episcopal ChurchMethodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...
asked him to preach regularly for the season. He had previously preached there occasionally, and his afternoon services started to attract large crowds. The little church was remodeled twice in 1925 and again in 1929 to accommodate the crowds. His wife's parents made substantial contributions that made the expansions possible.
At the height of his speaking popularity from 800 and 1,000 people attended his summer services. Some first hand accounts describe overflow crowds sitting outside the packed church so they could listen through the windows. He became known throughout the world as a leading literary scholar, educator, author, book critic and preacher.
After his retirement from Yale, he continued to present public lectures, radio talks, and write a daily newspaper column about books and authors. He continued to give a series of Sunday sermons each summer and offer a 20-week lecture course in literature during the winter. He presented several college commencement addresses each year and served as a judge of the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for literature and on book club
Book sales club
A book sales club is a subscription-based method of selling and purchasing books. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a book discussion club, which can cause confusion.-How book sales clubs work:...
selection committees.
Legacy
During his time as a Yale professor, Phelps invited a number of the Senior Class' notable students together in 1884 and founded The Pundits. They dined weekly at Mory'sMory's
Mory’s, known also as Mory’s Temple Bar, is a private club adjacent to the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, founded in 1849 and housed in a clubhouse that was originally a private home built some time before 1817...
, a private club adjacent to the campus. The group regularly lampooned the campus with elaborate pranks.
Phelps encouraged Alexander Smith Cochran
Alexander Smith Cochran
Alexander Smith Cochran was a wealthy manufacturer, sportsman and philathropist from Yonkers, New York.-Biography:He was the son of Willam F. Cochran and grandson of Alexander Smith, founder of the Alexander Smith Carpet Company....
to dedicate the Cochran family's extensive collection of Shakespearean folio
Folio
Folio may refer to:* Folio , a book size* A particular edition of a book printed on folio pages, such as the First Folio of William Shakespeare's plays* A leaf of a book: see Recto and verso* Folio , a sans-serif typeface...
s and other rare books to endow a private club for the arts and humanities. This became the Elizabethan Club
Elizabethan Club
The Elizabethan Club is a social club at Yale University named for Queen Elizabeth I and her era. Its profile and members tend toward a literary disposition, and conversation is one of the Club's chief purposes....
which is still active as of 2011.
In 1938, Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine ran an article profiling Phelps' life. His wife Annabel died of a stroke in 1939 and William died in 1943. Phelps bequeathed the house to his niece Carolyn Hubbard Parcells Lucas. In 1951, a museum was opened in the home to house Phelps’ library and to focus on the history of Huron City. In 1964, the Pointe aux Barques Life Saving Station house was moved here. In 1987, Carolyn Lucas died, and the William Lyon Phelps Foundation took over the house and museum.
Quotes
"If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible.""The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good company, good conversation, are the happiest people in the world. And they are not only happy in themselves, they are the cause of happiness in others."
"If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything."
"This is the first test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible value to him."
The professor asked his students to discuss the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins' "sprung rhythm" technique. One young man handed in his exam reading, "Only God knows the answer to your question. Merry Christmas." Professor Phelps returned the paper after Christmas with the note, "Happy New Year. God gets an A—you get an F."
Publications
His works include:- The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement: A Study in Eighteenth Century Literature (1893)
- Essays on Modern Novelists (1910)
- Essays on Russian Novelists (1911)
- Essays on Books (1914)
- The Advance of the English Novel (1916)
- The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century (1918)
- Archibald Marshall A Realistic Novelist (1919)
- Essays on Modern Dramatists (1921-1922)<
- Some Makers of American Literature (1923)
- As I Like It (1923)
- Essays on Things (1930)
- Autobiography with Letters (1939)
- Marriage (1940)