Hamlin Garland in the "Third House": A Pragmatic Romancer of American Politics

• Published in: Studies in American naturalism 2015-12, Vol.10 (2), p.103-122
• Main Author: Mulligan, Roark
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Essays; Farms; Garland, Hamlin; Lobbyists; Marriage; Modernism; Novels; Politics; Populism; Pragmatics; Realism; Utopias; Womens rights
• ISSN: 1931-2555; 1944-6519

[...]the dynamic Brennan, although not the protagonist, is the title character of the novel-he is the "member of the third house," more interesting and more complex than the earnest Wilson Tuttle whose legislative victory is brought about, not by himself, but by a secondary female character, Helene's friend, Evelyn Ward, who convinces her father, another corrupt politician, to testify. [...]the farmers who are the focus of Garland's early radical writings, through Grange organizations, growers unions, special interest groups, lobbyists, and commodity traders, more than through party politics, would eventually influence market regulations, crop subsides, and tax breaks, just as writers such as Garland and Upton Sinclair, through fiction, not through politics, were able to influence public sentiment. According to Postel, "The primacy of economics underlay much of the reform thought about women's progress. According to The Banker's Magazine, John Johnson did not open the West Salem Exchange Bank until May 1893 (with a capital of only $4,000), so "A 'Good Fellow's' Wife" was probably written late in 1893 or early 1894, after the exchange bank opened but before Garland began spending summers with his parents. 18.