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The Fortunes of Oliver Horn
If you were his friend, and most men who knew him were, he would have slipped his arm through your own, and after a brief moment you would have found yourself poring over a detailed plan, his arm still in yours, while he showed you the outline of some pin, or lever, needed to perfect the most marvellous of all discoveries of modern times--his new galvanic motor.
- GenresClassics
328 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1902
About the author
Francis Hopkinson Smith
413 books6 followersFrancis Hopkinson Smith (October 23, 1838 – April 7, 1915) was a United States author, artist and engineer. He built the foundation for the Statue of Liberty, wrote many famous stories and received awards for his paintings.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 28, 2021
Rare Civil War era novel that exhibits the struggles of a young man finding his way in the world.
December 3, 2018
A good-natured Southern boy from a patrician family is sent to New York to forget his dream of becoming a painter and work for a living.
Oliver falls in with a lively group of bohemians calling themselves the Skylarkers' Club who get into various scrapes, such as inviting a German brass band to play in their loft apartment. Later they mature into a more sober and focused coterie of artists, the Stone Mugs.
He eventually defies the mother he worships by going to Art College at night where he meets Margaret Grant, a determined New Englander. Their budding relationship is derailed by the cultural differences between North and South, then eventually by the American Civil War.
In my notes I picked out this passage, some thoughts of Margaret about the essential discrepancies between the values of a Yankee and a patrician Southerner. I'm not American but it struck me as fairly astute:
'Many of the things that seemed so important to him were valueless in her more practical eyes. Instead of a regime which ennobled those who enjoyed it's privileges, she saw only a slavish devotion to worn-out traditions, and a clannish provincialism which proved to her all the more clearly the narrow-mindedness of the people who sustained and defended them. So far as she could judge, the qualities that she deemed necessary in the makeup of a robust life, instinct with purpose and accomplishment, seemed to be entirely lacking...'
On reflection that quote is unfairly one-sided, taken and from a prejudiced position of unfamiliarity. In essence it still held true when Margaret got to know Oliver and his family better - his gentlemanly father, a failed inventor, and his reverently obeyed mother - but she came to understand the good in those values too.
I recently read a similar book by his son, F. Berkeley Smith, only in that one the impossible-to-dislike bohemians were based in a secluded nook of coastal France.
That was a cosy read too, but I preferred the father's effort.
Oliver falls in with a lively group of bohemians calling themselves the Skylarkers' Club who get into various scrapes, such as inviting a German brass band to play in their loft apartment. Later they mature into a more sober and focused coterie of artists, the Stone Mugs.
He eventually defies the mother he worships by going to Art College at night where he meets Margaret Grant, a determined New Englander. Their budding relationship is derailed by the cultural differences between North and South, then eventually by the American Civil War.
In my notes I picked out this passage, some thoughts of Margaret about the essential discrepancies between the values of a Yankee and a patrician Southerner. I'm not American but it struck me as fairly astute:
'Many of the things that seemed so important to him were valueless in her more practical eyes. Instead of a regime which ennobled those who enjoyed it's privileges, she saw only a slavish devotion to worn-out traditions, and a clannish provincialism which proved to her all the more clearly the narrow-mindedness of the people who sustained and defended them. So far as she could judge, the qualities that she deemed necessary in the makeup of a robust life, instinct with purpose and accomplishment, seemed to be entirely lacking...'
On reflection that quote is unfairly one-sided, taken and from a prejudiced position of unfamiliarity. In essence it still held true when Margaret got to know Oliver and his family better - his gentlemanly father, a failed inventor, and his reverently obeyed mother - but she came to understand the good in those values too.
I recently read a similar book by his son, F. Berkeley Smith, only in that one the impossible-to-dislike bohemians were based in a secluded nook of coastal France.
That was a cosy read too, but I preferred the father's effort.
August 30, 2009
I've learned just from reading this story alone that life can be fortunate even though ones own ambitions are flawed. Oliver wants to be an artist, and the only thing stopping him is his stubborn mother. She wishes him to be a lawyer just has his father was before he gave it up to be an inventor. Oliver gets sent away to New York to make his fortune..to study law. Instead he meets an artist and attends an art academy where he meets his love Madge.(Margaret) she is the only woman in the school and is from the North. Oliver is the "outcast southerner".They spend a summer painting together and fall in love -they come from two opposing places. The story gets more complex in that relationships are tested and family ties are loosened. The war is in progress and trust is lacking. Oliver paints a mystery woman and sells the painting..his big break! Madge has her own studio.Oliver's father has his big break while he is on his deathbed.-never too late, huh? The story ends with Ollie and Madge getting married and having a son named Richard after his father. Very sweet simple story. My favorite character is Malachi, the "slave" turned butler.
December 3, 2015
I tried to read this 8 years ago and again last year but stopped. so boring a beginning. I am very glad I gave it another chance. Parts of it were an easy 5 star reading. Both in characters and plot. Of course there were those other parts which were so boring. so the 3 stars. Very good Civil War period story and a easy fast read in good parts which were about half of the book.
April 18, 2017
It's always good to look back while also looking forward. What better way than reading a novel written in a time so different yet so similar to our own. A perfect piece of history that displays the divides that humanity continues to struggle with to this day. All hidden in the romance of a boy becoming the man he is destined to be, in a world that doesn't entirely agree with him or men like him.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews