Edward Bellamy

Edward Bellamy (March 26, 1850 – May 22, 1898) was an American author
Edward Bellamy
and socialist, most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward, a tale set
in the distant future of the year 2000. Bellamy's vision of a harmonious future
world inspired the formation of at least 165 "Nationalist Clubs" dedicated to the
propagation of Bellamy's political ideas and working to make them a practical
reality.[1]

Contents
Biography
Early years
Literary career
The Bellamyite movement
Death and legacy
Bibliography
Novels
Short stories Edward Bellamy, circa 1889

See also Born March 26, 1850

Chicopee,
References
Massachusetts
Bibliography
Died May 22, 1898 (aged 48)
Further reading
Chicopee,
External links Massachusetts
Occupation Author
Nationality American
Biography Spouse Emma Augusta
Sanderson
(m. 1882–1898; his death)
Early years
Children Paul (b. 1884)
Edward Bellamy was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts. His father was Rufus Marion (b. 1886)
King Bellamy (1816–1886), a Baptist minister and a descendant of Joseph
Bellamy.[2] His mother, Maria Louisa Putnam Bellamy, was a Calvinist.[3] She
Signature
was the daughter of a Baptist minister named Benjamin Putnam, who was
forced to withdraw from the ministry in Salem, Massachusetts, following
objections to his becoming aFreemason.[4]

Bellamy attended public school at Chicopee Falls before leaving for Union College of Schenectady, New York, where he studied for
just two semesters.[2] Upon leaving school, Bellamy made his way to Europe for a year, spending extensive time in Germany.[2]
Bellamy briefly studied law but abandoned that field without ever having practiced as a lawyer, instead entering the world of
journalism. In this capacity Bellamy briefly served on the staff of the New York Post before returning to his native Massachusetts to
take a position at the Springfield Union.[2]

At the age of 25, Bellamy developed tuberculosis, the disease that would ultimately kill him.[2] He suffered with its effects
throughout his adult life. In an effort to regain his health, Bellamy spent a year in the Hawaiian Islands (1877 to 1878).[2] Returning
to the United States, Bellamy decided to abandon the daily grind of journalism in favor of literary work, which put fewer demands
upon his time and his health.[2]

Bellamy married Emma Augusta Sanderson in 1882. The couple had two children.

Literary career
Bellamy's early novels, including Six to One (1878), Dr. Heidenhoff's Process (1880), and Miss Ludington's Sister (1885) were
[5]
unremarkable works, making use of standard psychological plots.

A turn to utopian science fiction with Looking Backward, 2000–1887, published in January 1888, captured the public imagination
and catapulted Bellamy to literary fame.[2] The publisher of the book could scarcely keep up with demand. Within a year the book
had sold some 200,000 copies and by the end of the 19th century it had sold more copies than any other book published in America
up to that time except forUncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stoweand Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace.[6] He also
collected several short stories in 1898 and publishedThe Duke of Stockbridge; a Romance of Shays' Rebellionin 1900.

The Bellamyite movement

Although Bellamy retrospectively claimed he did not write Looking Backward as a blueprint for political action, but rather sought to
write "a literary fantasy, a fairy tale of social felicity",[7] the book inspired legions of inspired readers to establish so-called
Nationalist Clubs, beginning in Boston late in 1888.[8] Bellamy's vision of a country relieved of its social ills through abandonment of
the principle of competition and establishment of state ownership of industry proved an appealing panacea to a generation of
intellectuals alienated from the dark side of Gilded Age America. By 1891 it was reported that no fewer than 162 Nationalist Clubs
were in existence.[9]

Bellamy's use of the term "Nationalism" rather than "socialism" as a descriptor of his governmental vision was calculated, as he did
not want to limit either sales of his novel or the potential influence of its political ideas.[10] In an 1888 letter to literary critic William
Dean Howells, Bellamy wrote:

Every sensible man will admit there is a big deal in a name, especially in making first impressions. In the radicalness
of the opinions I have expressed, I may seem to out-socialize the socialists, yet the word socialist is one I never could
well stomach. In the first place it is a foreign word in itself, and equally foreign in all its suggestions. It smells to the
average American of petroleum, suggests the red flag, and with all manner of sexual novelties, and an abusive tone
about God and religion, which in this country we at least treat with respect. ...[W]hatever German and French
reformers may choose to call themselves, socialist is not a good name for a party to succeed with in America. No such
party can or ought to succeed that is not wholly and enthusiastically American and patriotic in spirit and
suggestions".[11]

Bellamy himself came to actively participate in the political movement which emerged around his book, particularly after 1891 when
he founded his own magazine, The New Nation, and began to promote united action between the various Nationalist Clubs and the
emerging People's Party.[12] For the next three and a half years, Bellamy gave his all to politics, publishing his magazine, working to
influence the platform of the People's Party, and publicizing the Nationalist movement in the popular press. This phase of Bellamy's
ficulties.[13]
life came to an end in 1894, whenThe New Nation was forced to suspend publication owing to financial dif

With the key activists of the Nationalist Clubs largely absorbed into the apparatus of the People's Party (although a Nationalist Party
did run candidates for office in Wisconsin as late as 1896[14] ), Bellamy abandoned politics for a return to literature. He set to work on
a sequel to Looking Backward titled Equality, attempting to deal with the ideal society of the post-revolutionary future in greater
detail. The book saw print in 1897 and would prove to be Bellamy's final creation.

Death and legacy

Edward Bellamy died of tuberculosis in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. He was 48 years old at the time of his death.
His lifelong home in Chicopee Falls, built by his father,[15] was designated a National Historic Landmarkin 1971.[16]

Bellamy was the cousin ofFrancis Bellamy, famous for creation of thePledge of Allegiance.

Bellamy Road, a residential road in Toronto, is named for the author.

Bibliography

Novels
Six to One (1878)
Dr. Heidenhoff's Process (1880)
Miss Ludington's Sister(1885)
Looking Backward, 2000–1887(1888)
Equality (1897)
The Duke of Stockbridge; a Romance of Shays' Rebellion(1900)

Short stories
"At Pinney's Ranch"
"The Blindman's World"
"Deserted"
"An Echo Of Antietam"
"Hooking Watermelons"
"Lost"
"A Love Story Reversed"
"The Old Folks' Party"
"A Positive Romance"
"Potts's Painless Cure"
"A Summer Evening's Dream"
"To Whom This May Come"
"Two Days' Solitary Imprisonment"
"With The Eyes Shut"

See also
Nationalist Clubs
The Nationalist
Equality Colony
Dutch Bellamy Party
Monument to credit card

References
1. Franklln Rosemont, "Bellamy's Radicalism Reclaimed", in Daphne Patai (ed.),
Looking Backward, 1988-1888.
Amherst MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1988; pg. 201.
2. Howard Quint, The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement: The Impact of Socialism on
American Thought and Action, 1886–1901.Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1953; pg. 74.
3. "Edward Bellamy" (http://spartacus-educational.com/USAbellamy
.htm). Spartacus Educational. Retrieved
2016-12-15.
4. Joseph Schiffman, "Edward Bellamy's Religious Thought", Transactions and Proceedings of the ModernLanguage
Association of America,vol. 68, no. 4 (Sep. 1953), pg. 716.
 5. Quint, The Forging of American Socialism,pp. 74–75.
6. Arthur E. Morgan, Edward Bellamy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1944;pp. 148, 252.
7. Edward Bellamy, "Why I Wrote Looking Backward," The Nationalist, vol. 2 (1890), pg. 199.
8. William D.P. Bliss and Rudolph M. Binder (eds.),The New Encyclopedia of Social Reform.New Edition. New York:
Funk and Wagnalls, 1908; pp. 810–812.
9. Morris Hillquit, History of Socialism in the United States.Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. New Y
ork: Funk and
Wagnalls, 1910; pg. 289.
10. Sylvia E. Bowman, The Year 2000: A Critical Biography of Edward Bellamy. New York: Bookman Associates, 1958;
pg. 114.
11. Bellamy to Howells, June 17, 1888, quoted in Bowman,The Year 2000, pg. 114.
12. Arthur Lipow, Authoritarian Socialism in America: Edward Bellamy and the Nationalist Movement.
Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press, 1982; pg. 30.
13. Lipow, Authoritarian Socialism in America,pg. 31.
14. Casson, Henry, ed. The blue book of the state of Wisconsin 1897 Madison, 1897; pp. 656, 657, 663(http://digital.libr
ary.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1897)
15. "A Noted Writer's Abode: The Home of Edward Bellamy at Chicopee Falls, Mass.(https://www.newspapers.com/clip/
3440239/a_noted_writers_abode_the_home_of/) ", Harrisburg [PA] Telegraph, July 19, 1890, pg. 4.
16. "Edward Bellamy House: National Historic Landmark summary listing(http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceI
d=1070&ResourceType=Building)", National Park Service, tps.cr.nps.gov/ Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201
21002123617/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1070&ResourceType=Building) October 2, 2012, at
the Wayback Machine.

Bibliography
Six to One: A Nantucket Idyl.New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1878.
Dr. Heidenhoff's Process.London: William Reeves, 1880.
Miss Ludington's Sister: A Romance of Immorality . Boston: James R. Osgoode and Co., 1885.
Looking Backward, 2000–1887.Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1889.
"How I Came to Write Looking Backward", The Nationalist (Boston), vol. 1, no. 1 (May 1889), pp. 1–4.
Plutocracy or Nationalism - Which?
Principles and Purposes of Nationalism: Edward Bellamy's Address atremont
T Temple, Boston, on the Nationalist
Club's First Anniversary, Dec. 19, 1889. Philadelphia: Bureau of Nationalist Literature, n.d. [1890].
The Programme of the Nationalists.Philadelphia: Bureau of Nationalist Literature, 1894.—First published inThe Forum,
March 1894.
Equality. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1898.
The Blindman's World and Other Stories.William Dean Howells, intro. Boston: Houghton, Mif
flin and Co., 1898.
The Duke of Stockbridge: A Romance of Shays' Rebellion.New York: Silver, Burdett and Co., 1900.
Edward Bellamy: Selected Writings on Religion and Society
. Joseph Schiffman (ed.) New York: Liberal Arts Press,
1955.
Apparitions of Things to Come: Edward Bellamy's a
Tles of Mystery & Imagination.Franklin Rosemont, ed. Chicago:
Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1990.

Further reading
Sylvia E. Bowman, Edward Bellamy Abroad: An American Prophet's Influence.New York: Twayne Publishers, 1962.
Sylvia E. Bowman, The Year 2000: A Critical Biography Of Edward Bellamy. New York: Bookman Associates, 1958.
John Dewey, "A Great American Prophet",Common Sense, April 1934, pp. 1–4.
Louis Filler, "Edward Bellamy and the Spiritual Unrest," American Journal of Economics and Sociology
, vol. 8, no. 3
(April 1949), pp. 239–249.In JSTOR
Arthur Lipow, Authoritarian Socialism in America: Edward Bellamy and the Nationalist Movement. Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press, 1982
Everett W. MacNair, Edward Bellamy and the Nationalist Movement, 1889 to 1894: A Research Study of Edward
Bellamy's Work as a Social Reformer. Milwaukee, WI: Fitzgerald Co., 1957.
Arthur E. Morgan, Edward Bellamy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1944.
 Arthur E. Morgan, The Philosophy of Edward Bellamy. King's Crown Press, 1945.
Daphne Patai (ed.), Looking Backward, 1988–1888: Essays on Edward Bellamy . Amherst, MA: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1988.
Jean Pfaelzer, The Utopian Novel in America, 1886–1896: The Politics of Form.Pittsburgh, PA: University of
Pittsburgh Press, 1985.
Elizabeth Sadler, "One Book's Influence: Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward" New England Quarterly, vol. 17
(Dec. 1944), pp. 530–555.
Robert L. Shurter, The Literary Work of Edward Bellamy",American Literature, vol. 5, no. 3 (Nov. 1933), pp. 229-
234.
Ida M. Tarbell, "New Dealers of the 'Seventies: Henry George and Edward Bellamy",The Forum, vol. 92, no. 3 (Sept.
1934), pg. 157.
John Thomas, Alternative America: Henry George, Edward Bellamy , Henry Demarest Lloyd and the Adversary
Tradition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
Richard Toby Widdicombe, Edward Bellamy: An Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Criticism.New York: Garland
Publishing, 1988.
Frances E. Willard, "An Interview with Edward Bellamy",Our Day, vol. 4, no. 24 (Dec. 1889), pp. 539–542.

External links
Works by Edward Bellamyat Project Gutenberg
Works by Edward Bellamyat Faded Page (Canada)
Works by or about Edward Bellamyat Internet Archive
Works by Edward Bellamyat LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

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