Educated at Harvard University, where he graduated in 1890, Herrick spent some time at MIT before taking a position as professor of English Literature at the newly established University of Chicago in 1893. He held this post until he resigned in 1923 over a dispute concerning his pension and never forgave the school and its dean. His first novel, The Man Who Wins, appeared in 1897. Herrick was strongly influenced by the writings of Hawthorne, but equally by the naturalism of Chicago's stockyards and packing houses. The final years of his life were spent as the governor of the Virgin Islands. Hist best-known works include The Gospel of Freedom (1898), The Web of Life (1900), The Common Lot (1904), The Memoirs of an American Citizen (1905), The Master of the Inn (1908), The Healer (1911), Clark's Field (1914), The Conscript Mother (1916), Homely Lilla (1923), Wanderings (1925), Chimes (1926), The End of Desire (1932) and Sometime (1933). |
