Wister was educated in Switzerland, London, St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Harvard University, graduating in 1882. He then studied music at the Paris Conservatoire for two years before returning to New York, where he began working as a bank clerk. Because of ill-health, he spent some time out West before returning to Harvard in 1885 to study law. He took his law degree in 1888 and practiced in Philadelphia for a time before turning to a literary career. Wister began writing during the early 1880's and contributed stories to Harper's among others. His first story was published in 1882. By 1891, Wister devoted all his energy to writing, producing The Dragon of Wantley in 1892 and Red Men in White in 1896. His experiences in Wyoming then resulted in his publication of The Virginian in 1902, the definitive western and a model on which many other writers of western fiction based their works. Wister also wrote biographies, the most well-known of which was Roosevelt: The Story of a Friendship (1930). Roosevelt had been a classmate of Wister at Harvard and was a life-long friend. His other works include Ulysses S. Grant (1900), The Jimmyjohn Boss (1900), Philosophy 4 (1903), Done in the Open (1903), Lady Baltimore (1906), Padre Ignacio (1911), The Pentecost of Calamity (1915), A Straight Deal (1920), When the West Was Won (1926) and When West Was West (1928). |
