Barnum, Frances Courtenay Baylor

views updated

BARNUM, Frances Courtenay Baylor

Born 20 January 1848, Fort Smith, Arkansas; died 19 October 1920, Winchester, Virginia

Wrote under: Frances Courtenay Baylor

Daughter of James and Sophie Baylor Dawson; married GeorgeSherman Barnum, 1896

Frances Courtenay Baylor Barnum carried her mother's maiden name from her teen years on and wrote under that name even after her marriage. Her father was an army officer, so her childhood years were spent in such army posts as San Antonio and New Orleans. Barnum was educated by her mother, and after the Civil War she moved to her mother's family home in Winchester, Virginia. The following several years were spent in England and on the continent with her sister's family, which provided the background for Barnum's international novels. After they returned to Virginia, Barnum began publishing with a play, Petruchio Tamed, which was put out anonymously. Closely following were articles in such newspapers as the Louisville Courier-Journal, Boston Globe, New Orleans Times-Democrat, and the London Truth. Her poetry, though never collected independently, was well known, especially "Kind Words to Virginia" and "The Last Confederate."

Barnum's fiction, mostly directed at young people, reflected the aristocratic attitudes of her mother. Her earliest novel, On Both Sides (1885), reflects the lives of the "best people" of England and America and reveals Barnum's true gift of realistic portraiture. Her situations, however, are idealized, and plot is almost nonexistent in most of her fiction.

Barnum is at her best when her not-always-gentle humor reveals social and individual character, as when John's friends are incredulous at his grief over his wife's death: "There were men on the mountain who had lost four wives and had never dreamed of such a thing as letting the light affliction of the moment work permanent injury to such graver interests as pigs, and potatoes, and wheat… ." Unfortunately, these gems are lost in the often pedantic or sentimental ramblings.

Worth preserving, however, are the memorable characters of much of Barnum's fiction. The young Juan and Juanita charm children and adults alike as they find their way home to Mexico alone; Claudia Hyde reflects the strength and natural aristocracy a Southern lady could display after the war had ravaged her home and her homeland; Miss Nina Barrow exemplifies the way not to raise a child; the Withers reveal that progress up the ladder of fortune often leads to emptiness. Because of her humor and insight, Barnum's fiction remains eminently readable.

Other Works:

Behind the Blue Ridge (1887). Juan and Juanita (1888). A Shocking Example, and Other Sketches (1889). Claudia Hyde (1894). Miss Nina Barrow (1897). The Ladder of Fortune (1899). A Georgian Bungalow (1900).