Joseph Hergesheimer

American author
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Quick Facts
Born:
Feb. 15, 1880, Philadelphia
Died:
April 25, 1954, Sea Isle City, N.J., U.S. (aged 74)

Joseph Hergesheimer (born Feb. 15, 1880, Philadelphia—died April 25, 1954, Sea Isle City, N.J., U.S.) was an American author whose novels are typically concerned with the decadent and sophisticated milieu of the very wealthy. After giving up the study of painting, Hergesheimer turned to writing. Beginning with The Lay Anthony (1914), he established himself as a popular and prolific writer of novels, short stories, biography, history, and criticism. His work is distinguished for the Baroque lushness of its descriptive passages and its often penetrating psychological insights. Of his novels, The Three Black Pennys (1917), the story of three generations of ...(100 of 129 words)