Cherry
Published in 1903, Booth Tarkington's early novel, Cherry is a whimsical, satirical romantic comedy. Set in 1762 near Princeton's Nassau Hall, the novel is a comedy of manners centered around two rival suitors competing for the affection of the vivacious Sylvia Gray. The novel is narrated by Mr. Sudgeberry, a self-indulgent young man. Sudgeberry attempts to woo Sylvia with dry lectures and browbeating. Meanwhile, his rival, William Fentriss, is much better suited to her romantic sensibilities. Through Sudgeberry's oblivious narration, Tarkington crafts a lighthearted critique of pride, social expectation, and the clash between rigid intellect and genuine emotion.
Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was an American novelist and dramatist who stood as one of the nation's most celebrated literary figures during the 1910s and 1920s. He remains part of an exclusive group of writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction more than once. He earned the prize for The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) and Alice Adams (1921), novels that cemented his reputation for richly writing about the shifting social dynamics and industrialization of the American Midwest. Though his widespread fame declined in the latter half of the 20th century, Tarkington's sprawling body of work remains an essential chronicle of American middle-class life and evolving domestic realities.
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