So Big: The Bestseller of 1924
By Edna Ferber
()
About this ebook
Edna Ferber was born on August 15th, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The family moved often due to her father's business failures, likely caused by his early blindness. After living in Chicago, Illinois, came Ottumwa, Iowa with her parents and older sister, Fannie, from ages five to twelve. In Ottumwa, Edna faced and experienced brutal anti-Semitism.
Age 12 Edna and her family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, where she graduated from high school and briefly attended Lawrence University.
When recovering from anemia, Edna’s short stories were compiled and published. From there she took newspaper jobs at the Appleton Daily Crescent and the Milwaukee Journal before publishing her first novel. She also covered both the 1920 Republican National Convention and the 1920 Democratic National Convention for the United Press Association.
Edna was very proud of her Jewish heritage and already in 1922 was troubled by the rise of the Nazi Party and its spreading of anti-Semitic prejudice. Her fears greatly influenced her work, which often featured themes of racial and cultural discrimination.
In 1925, Edna won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for her book ‘So Big’. It was made into a silent movie that year and as a talkie in 1932. Edna initially had doubts about the novel, believing it lacked a plot and had a subtle theme that could easily be missed. Her publisher, Doubleday, dismissed her worries. It sold hundreds of thousands of copies of the novel sold to the public. In fact, it became the best-selling title of 1924.
Edna was a keen member of the Algonquin Round Table, a group of wits who met for lunch every day at the New York Hotel in New York. She collaborated with Round Table member George S. Kaufman on several Broadway plays: Minick (1924), The Royal Family (1927), Dinner At Eight (1932), The Land Is Bright (1941), Stage Door (1936), and Bravo! (1948).
When composer Jerome Kern proposed turning her serious 1926 book ‘Show Boat’ into a musical, Edna wasn’t keen on it being a typical lightweight entertainment of the 1920s. Kern explained that he and Oscar Hammerstein II wanted to create a different type of musical. Edna granted him the rights. It changed musical theatre.
Across her career Edna had written some classic and best-selling works either in their own right or as adaptations. Many had received accolades, from the Pulitzer to Oscars. In her personal life though Edna never married and had no children. If there were any relationships, she kept them very quiet. Her outspokenness was usually based on protecting others from insult or putdowns to protect herself. After a man joked that her suit made her resemble a man, she shot back ‘So does yours.’
Edna Ferber died at her home in New York City on April 16th, 1968, of stomach cancer, at the age of 82.
Related to So Big
Related ebooks
So Big Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSo Big: Winner of the Pulitzer Price in 1925 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSo Big - Unabridged Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSo Big: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHappy Families Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuch a Pretty Little Picture and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom the Rock Stars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKipps (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Maynely A Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Keepers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKipps Annotated Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRilla of Ingleside Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Thousand Lies: Evil Comes in All Shapes and Sizes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe House That Time Forgot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeartbeat: "The basic trouble is that people make statements without sufficient data" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHigh Lonesome: New and Selected Stories 1966-2006 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Card by Arnold Bennett - Delphi Classics (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHope Deferred: An Amish Romance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kipps Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe House of Santos Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRobbie and Alice - a Tudor adventure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Innocents: A Story for Lovers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Philistine - A Story: "But I don't believe in them, really" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLimbo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Settlement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Winceworthys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKipps: “What on earth would a man do with himself, if something did not stand in his way?” Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Classics For You
The Master & Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (with an Introduction by Mary Augusta Ward) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Women (Seasons Edition -- Winter) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jungle: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sense and Sensibility (Centaur Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Count of Monte-Cristo English and French Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scarlet Letter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tinkers: 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for So Big
0 ratings0 reviews