Chapter 41 postscript

Eugene Field is known as a poet in the history of American literature.However, writing poetry is not a job to support the family. This point is no different in ancient and modern China and abroad. Therefore, Eugene Field also has another serious occupation: columnist. American newspaper columnists and columnists are the earliest Appeared during the Civil War.With the rapid development of the media industry, this group has also become one of the most influential intellectual groups.They have a wide readership and have had a huge social impact, which is unmatched by our columnists who specialize in romantic oil, salt, sauce and vinegar.After the 1880s, Chicago gradually became the base of columnists. Famous pens gathered together like a cloud, pointing to the country and inspiring the writing.Judging from the content, it is both witty and humorous, as well as lamenting; it not only criticizes and disapproves of characters, expresses grievances and grievances, but also comments on current events with penetrating insights.Eugene Field is the representative figure of this period.

Eugene Field was born on September 2, 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri.There are two older sisters above him who died shortly after he was born; below him is a brother who is one year younger than him, that is, Roswell who wrote the preface to this book.When Eugene was six years old, his mother died, and he and his younger brother were sent to foster care with relatives. Therefore, Eugene spent his youth in Vermont and Massachusetts.At fifteen, he entered a small private high school in Massachusetts.There were only five children in the whole school, and Eugene soon became their leader. He often led these children to tease their principal, so it seemed that he was definitely not a good student.After graduating from high school, he first entered Williams College, and had to give up his studies at the age of nineteen because of his father's death.Then he went to Knox College and the University of Missouri successively, but he didn't mix for a long time. The three universities together only had three years, and needless to say, he didn't get a degree.But having said that, the three years of college life were not all fruitless. For example, he met a fourteen-year-old girl named Julia Comstock at the University of Missouri. Two years later, sixteen-year-old Julia became Eugene Field's bride.It seems that he has graduated from the subject of love.

The first complication of early marriage is the need to support a family.So, Eugene Field entered the newspaper industry and began his apprenticeship as a journalist. He frequently switched jobs among various newspaper offices in the Midwest, and his future seemed not very bright. 1883 was a turning point in his life. In this year, he accepted the invitation of "Chicago Daily News" to come to the base camp of this columnist, and opened his personal column "Sharps and Flats" in this newspaper. The content is mainly humorous current commentary and interesting children's poems, which made Luoyang paper expensive for a while.This column was maintained until his death.

Eugene Field is also a bibliophile, and he has a deep understanding of the ups and downs of a book hunter. In the summer of 1895, he started to write this book, and said as soon as he wrote it: This is "the most important work in my life".Could it be that at this time he already had a premonition that this was the last year of his life? Regrettably, this work was not finalized.According to the author's plan, the book has a total of twenty chapters. On November 2, 1895, the nineteenth chapter was finished, and two days later, Eugene Field died in his sleep at the age of forty-five.Therefore, this book has become the poet's last swan song.

Qin Chuanan November 29, 2004 Beijing Huajiadi