Books By Charles Warren Stoddard, Mint Editions - Author

Charles Warren Stoddard (1843-1909) was an American novelist and travel writer. Born in Rochester, New York, he was raised in a prominent family in New York City. In 1855, he moved with his parents to San Francisco, where Stoddard began writing poems. He found publication in The Golden Era in 1862, embarking on a long career as a professional writer. Two years later, he traveled to the South Sea Islands for the first time. While there, he befriended Father Damien, now a Catholic saint, and wrote his South-Sea Idylls, which were praised by literary critic William Dean Howells. After converting to Catholicism in 1867, he began his career as a travel writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, journeying to Europe, Egypt, and Palestine over the next five years. In 1885, he took a position as the chair of the University of Notre Dame’s English department, but was forced to resign when officials learned of his homosexuality. Throughout his career, Stoddard praised the openness of Polynesian societies to homosexual rel