Editing Edward Bellamy

{{short description|American author (1850–1898)}}
{{for|the banker and Lord Mayor of London|Edward Bellamy (banker)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox writer
| image       = Edward Bellamy - photograph c.1889.jpg
| caption     = Edward Bellamy, circa 1889
| birth_date  = {{birth date|mf=y|1850|3|26}}
| birth_place = [[Chicopee, Massachusetts]], US
| death_date  = {{death date and age|mf=y|1898|5|22|1850|3|26}}
| death_place = [[Chicopee, Massachusetts]], US
| occupation  = Author
| website     = {{URL|https://edwardbellamyhouse.org/}}
| signature   = Appletons' Bellamy Edward signature.png
}}

'''Edward Bellamy''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɛ|l|ə|m|i}};<ref>{{Cite Dictionary.com|Bellamy}}</ref> March 26, 1850 – May 22, 1898) was an American author, journalist, and political activist most famous for his [[utopia]]n novel ''[[Looking Backward]]''. Bellamy's vision of a harmonious future world inspired the formation of numerous "[[Nationalist Clubs]]" dedicated to the propagation of his political ideas.

After working as a journalist and writing several novels, Bellamy published ''Looking Backward'' in 1888. It was the third best-selling novel of the 19th century in the United States,<ref>Weir, Robert E. “Utopia Began in Chicopee Falls: Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward.” ''Historical Journal of Massachusetts'', vol. 51, no. 2, June 2023, pp. 12–29. [Database: America: History and Life with Full Text]</ref> and it especially appealed to a generation of intellectuals alienated from the alleged dark side of the [[Gilded Age]]. In the early 1890s, Bellamy established a newspaper known as ''[[New Nation (United States)|The New Nation]]'' and began to promote united action between the various Nationalist Clubs and the emerging [[People's Party (United States)|Populist Party]]. He published ''[[Equality (novel)|Equality]]'', a sequel to ''Looking Backward'', in 1897, and died the following year.

==Biography==

===Early life===

Edward Bellamy was born in [[Chicopee, Massachusetts]]. His father was Rufus King Bellamy (1816–1886), a [[Baptist]] minister and a descendant of [[Joseph Bellamy]].<ref name=Quint74>Howard Quint, ''The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement: The Impact of Socialism on American Thought and Action, 1886–1901.'' Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1953; p. 74.</ref> His mother, Maria Louisa Putnam Bellamy, was a Calvinist.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://spartacus-educational.com/USAbellamy.htm|title=Edward Bellamy|newspaper=Spartacus Educational|access-date=December 15, 2016}}</ref> She was the daughter of a Baptist minister named Benjamin Putnam, who was forced to withdraw from the ministry in [[Salem, Massachusetts]], following objections to his becoming a [[Freemason]].<ref>Joseph Schiffman, "Edward Bellamy's Religious Thought", ''Transactions and Proceedings of the Modern Language Association of America,'' vol. 68, no. 4 (Sep. 1953), p. 716.</ref>

Bellamy attended public school at Chicopee Falls before leaving for [[Union College]] of [[Schenectady, New York]], where he studied for just two semesters.<ref name=Quint74 /> Upon leaving school, he made his way to Europe for a year, spending extensive time in Germany.<ref name=Quint74 /> He briefly studied law but abandoned that field without ever having practiced as a lawyer, instead entering the world of journalism. In this capacity Bellamy briefly served on the staff of the ''[[New York Post]]'' before returning to his native Massachusetts to take a position at the ''Springfield Union''.<ref name=Quint74 />

At the age of 25, Bellamy developed [[tuberculosis]], the disease that would ultimately kill him.<ref name=Quint74 /> He suffered with its effects throughout his adult life. In an effort to regain his health, Bellamy spent a year in the [[Hawaiian Islands]] (1877 to 1878).<ref name=Quint74 /> Returning to the United States, he decided to abandon the daily grind of journalism in favor of literary work, which put fewer demands upon his time and his health.<ref name=Quint74 />

Bellamy married Emma Augusta Sanderson in 1882. The couple had two children.

===Literary career===

Bellamy's early novels, including ''Six to One'' (1878), ''[[Dr. Heidenhoff's Process]]'' (1880), and ''Miss Ludington's Sister'' (1885), were unremarkable works, making use of standard psychological plots.<ref>Quint, ''The Forging of American Socialism,'' pp. 74–75.</ref>

A turn to utopian science fiction with ''[[Looking Backward|Looking Backward, 2000–1887]],'' published in January 1888, captured the public imagination and catapulted Bellamy to literary fame.<ref name=Quint74 /> Its publisher could scarcely keep up with demand. Within a year it had sold some 200,000 copies, and by the end of the 19th century had sold more copies than any other book published in America up to that time except for ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' by [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] and ''[[Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ]]'' by [[Lew Wallace]].<ref>Arthur E. Morgan, ''Edward Bellamy''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1944; pp. 148, 252.</ref> The book gained an extensive readership in the United Kingdom as well, more than 235,000 copies being sold there between 1890 and 1935.<ref name=Bowman121>Bowman, ''The Year 2000'', p. 121.</ref>

In ''Looking Backward'', a non-violent revolution had transformed the American economy and thereby society; [[private property]] had been abolished in favor of [[state ownership]] of capital and the elimination of social classes and the ills of society that he thought inevitably followed from them.<ref name=EAL80>Franklin Rosemont, "Edward Bellamy (1850–98)," in [[Mari Jo Buhle]], [[Paul Buhle]], and [[Dan Georgakas]] (eds.), ''Encyclopedia of the American Left.'' First Edition. New York: Garland Publishing, 1990; p. 80.</ref> In the new world of the year 2000, there was no longer war, poverty, crime, prostitution, corruption, money, or [[taxes]].<ref name=EAL80 /> Neither did there exist such occupations seen by Bellamy as of dubious worth to society, such as politicians, lawyers, merchants, or soldiers.<ref name=EAL80 /> Instead, Bellamy's utopian society of the future was based upon the voluntary employment of all citizens between the ages of 21 and 45, after which time all would retire.<ref name=EAL80 /> Work was simple, aided by machine production, working hours short and vacation time long.<ref name=EAL80 /> The new economic basis of society effectively remade [[human nature]] itself in Bellamy's idyllic vision, with greed, maliciousness, untruthfulness, and insanity all relegated to the past.<ref name=EAL80 />

==Bellamyite movement==

Bellamy's book inspired legions of readers to establish so-called [[Nationalist Clubs]], beginning in Boston late in 1888.<ref name=Bliss>William D.P. Bliss and Rudolph M. Binder (eds.), ''The New Encyclopedia of Social Reform.'' New Edition. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1908; pp. 810–812.</ref> His vision of a country relieved of its social ills through abandonment of the principle of competition and establishment of state ownership of industry proved an appealing panacea to a generation of intellectuals alienated from the dark side of [[Gilded Age]] America. By 1891 it was reported that no fewer than 162 Nationalist Clubs were in existence.<ref name=Hillquit289>Morris Hillquit, ''History of Socialism in the United States.'' Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1910; p. 289.</ref>

Bellamy's use of the term "Nationalism" rather than "socialism" as a descriptor of his governmental vision was calculated, as he did not want to limit either sales of his novel or the potential influence of its political ideas.<ref name=Bowman114>Sylvia E. Bowman, ''The Year 2000: A Critical Biography of Edward Bellamy.'' New York: Bookman Associates, 1958; p. 114.</ref> In an 1888 letter to literary critic [[William Dean Howells]], Bellamy wrote:

{{Blockquote|Every sensible man will admit there is a big deal in a name, especially in making first impressions. In the radicalness of the opinions I have expressed, I may seem to out-socialize the socialists, yet the word socialist is one I never could well stomach. In the first place it is a foreign word in itself, and equally foreign in all its suggestions. It smells to the average American of petroleum, suggests the red flag, and with all manner of sexual novelties, and an abusive tone about God and religion, which in this country we at least treat with respect. [...] [W]hatever German and French reformers may choose to call themselves, socialist is not a good name for a party to succeed with in America. No such party can or ought to succeed that is not wholly and enthusiastically American and patriotic in spirit and suggestions.<ref>Bellamy to Howells, June 17, 1888, quoted in Bowman, ''The Year 2000'', p. 114.</ref>}}

Bellamy himself came to actively participate in the political movement which emerged around his book, particularly after 1891 when he founded his own magazine, ''[[New Nation (United States)|The New Nation]],'' and began to promote united action between the various Nationalist Clubs and the emerging [[People's Party (United States)|People's Party]].<ref>Arthur Lipow, ''Authoritarian Socialism in America: Edward Bellamy and the Nationalist Movement.'' Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1982; p. 30.</ref> For the next three and a half years, Bellamy gave his all to politics, publishing his magazine, working to influence the platform of the People's Party, and publicizing the Nationalist movement in the popular press. This phase of his life came to an end in 1894, when ''The New Nation'' was forced to suspend publication owing to financial difficulties.<ref>Lipow, ''Authoritarian Socialism in America'', p. 31.</ref>

With the key activists of the Nationalist Clubs largely absorbed into the apparatus of the People's Party (although a Nationalist Party did run three candidates for office in [[Wisconsin]] as late as 1896<ref>{{cite web| url = http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1897| title = Casson, Henry, ed. ''The blue book of the state of Wisconsin 1897'' Madison, 1897; pp. 656, 657, 663}}</ref>), Bellamy abandoned politics for a return to literature. He set to work on a sequel to ''Looking Backward'' titled ''[[Equality (novel)|Equality]],'' attempting to deal with the ideal society of the post-revolutionary future in greater detail. In this final work, he addressed the question of [[feminism]], dealing with the taboo subject of female [[reproductive rights]] in a future, post-revolutionary America.<ref name=EAL82>Rosemont, "Edward Bellamy (1850–1898)," p. 82.</ref> Other subjects overlooked in ''Looking Backward,'' such as [[animal rights]] and [[Conservation movement|wilderness preservation]], were dealt with in a similar context.<ref name=EAL82 /> The book saw print in 1897 and would prove to be Bellamy's final creation.

Several short stories of Bellamy's were published in 1898, and ''The Duke of Stockbridge; a Romance of Shays' Rebellion'' was published in 1900.

===Death and legacy===

Edward Bellamy died of tuberculosis in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts ten years after the publication of his most famous book. He was 48 years old.

[[Edward Bellamy House|His lifelong home]] in Chicopee Falls, built by his father,<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3440239/a_noted_writers_abode_the_home_of/ A Noted Writer's Abode: The Home of Edward Bellamy at Chicopee Falls, Mass.]", ''Harrisburg [PA] ''The Daily Telegraph'','' July 19, 1890, p. 4.</ref> was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1971.<ref name="nhlsum">"[http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1070&ResourceType=Building Edward Bellamy House: National Historic Landmark summary listing]", National Park Service, tps.cr.nps.gov/ {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002123617/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1070&ResourceType=Building |date=October 2, 2012 }}</ref>

Bellamy was the cousin of [[Francis Bellamy]], famous for writing the original version of the [[Pledge of Allegiance (United States)|Pledge of Allegiance]].

[[List of north–south roads in Toronto#Bellamy Road|Bellamy Road]], a residential road in [[Toronto]], is named for the author.

==Published works==
[[File:Looking Backward.jpg|thumb|right]]

===Novels===

*''Six to One'' (1878)
*''[[Dr. Heidenhoff's Process]]'' (1880)
*''Miss Ludington's Sister'' (1885)
*''[[Looking Backward|Looking Backward, 2000–1887]]'' (1888)
*''[[Equality (novel)|Equality]]'' (1897)
*''The Duke of Stockbridge; a Romance of Shays' Rebellion'' (1900)

===Short stories===

*"At Pinney's Ranch"
*"The Blindman's World"
*"Deserted"
*"An Echo Of Antietam"
*"Hooking Watermelons"
*"Lost"
*"A Love Story Reversed"
*"The Old Folks' Party"
*"A Positive Romance"
*"Potts's Painless Cure"
*"A Summer Evening's Dream"
*"[[To Whom This May Come]]"
*"Two Days' Solitary Imprisonment"
*"With The Eyes Shut"
*"The Cold Snap"
*"The Old Folks' Party"

===Other===

*''Edward Bellamy Speaks Again!'' (1937)
*''Talks on Nationalism'' (1938)

==See also==
* [[Dutch Bellamy Party]]
* [[Equality Colony]]
* [[Monument to credit card]]
* [[Nationalist Clubs]]
* ''[[The Nationalist (United States)|The Nationalist]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|2}}
* [https://archive.org/details/sixtooneanantuc00bellgoog ''Six to One: A Nantucket Idyl.''] New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1878.
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924022016046 ''Dr. Heidenhoff's Process.''] London: William Reeves, 1880.
* [https://archive.org/details/85BellamyMissluddingtonssister Miss Ludington's Sister: A Romance of Immorality.] Boston: James R. Osgoode and Co., 1885.
* [https://archive.org/details/lookingbackward01bellgoog ''Looking Backward, 2000–1887.''] Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1889.
* [https://archive.org/details/HowICameToWriteLookingBackward-may1889 "How I Came to Write ''Looking Backward"''], ''[[The Nationalist (United States)|The Nationalist]]'' (Boston), vol. 1, no. 1 (May 1889), pp.&nbsp;1–4.
* [https://archive.org/details/PlutocracyOrNationalism-Which ''Plutocracy or Nationalism – Which?'']
* [https://archive.org/details/PrinciplesAndPurposesOfNationalismEdwardBellamysAddressAtTremont ''Principles and Purposes of Nationalism: Edward Bellamy's Address at Tremont Temple, Boston, on the Nationalist Club's First Anniversary, Dec. 19, 1889.''] Philadelphia: Bureau of Nationalist Literature, n.d. [1890].
* [https://archive.org/details/TheProgrammeOfTheNationalists ''The Programme of the Nationalists.''] Philadelphia: Bureau of Nationalist Literature, 1894. <small>—First published in ''The Forum,'' March 1894.</small>
* [https://archive.org/details/equality00bell ''Equality.''] New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1898.
* [https://archive.org/details/blindmansworld00bellrich ''The Blindman's World and Other Stories.''] William Dean Howells, intro. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1898.
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924014310035 ''The Duke of Stockbridge: A Romance of Shays' Rebellion.''] New York: Silver, Burdett and Co., 1900.
* ''Edward Bellamy: Selected Writings on Religion and Society.'' Joseph Schiffman (ed.) New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1955.
* ''Apparitions of Things to Come: Edward Bellamy's Tales of Mystery & Imagination.'' Franklin Rosemont, ed. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1990.
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|2}}
* Sylvia E. Bowman, ''Edward Bellamy Abroad: An American Prophet's Influence.'' New York: Twayne Publishers, 1962.
* Sylvia E. Bowman, ''The Year 2000: A Critical Biography Of Edward Bellamy.'' New York: Bookman Associates, 1958.
* John Dewey, "A Great American Prophet", ''Common Sense,'' April 1934, pp.&nbsp;1–4.
* Louis Filler, "Edward Bellamy and the Spiritual Unrest," ''American Journal of Economics and Sociology,'' vol. 8, no. 3 (April 1949), pp.&nbsp;239–249. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3484175 In JSTOR]
* Arthur Lipow, ''Authoritarian Socialism in America: Edward Bellamy and the Nationalist Movement.'' Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1982
*Fernando Alberto Lizarraga. “Equality, Liberty, and Fraternity: The Relevance of Edward Bellamy’s Utopia for Contemporary Political Theory.” ''Utopian Studies'' 31, no. 3 (2021): 512–31. 
* Everett W. MacNair, ''Edward Bellamy and the Nationalist Movement, 1889 to 1894: A Research Study of Edward Bellamy's Work as a Social Reformer.'' Milwaukee, WI: Fitzgerald Co., 1957.
* Arthur E. Morgan, ''Edward Bellamy.'' New York: Columbia University Press, 1944.
* Arthur E. Morgan, ''The Philosophy of Edward Bellamy.'' King's Crown Press, 1945.
* Daphne Patai (ed.), ''Looking Backward, 1988–1888: Essays on Edward Bellamy.'' Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1988.
* Jean Pfaelzer, ''The Utopian Novel in America, 1886–1896: The Politics of Form.'' Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1985.
* Robertson, Michael, 'Edward Bellamy's Orderly Utopia', ''The Last Utopians: Four Late Nineteenth-Century Visionaries and Their Legacy'' (Princeton, NJ, 2018; online edn, Princeton Scholarship Online, 24 Jan. 2019), https://doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691154169.003.0003,
* Elizabeth Sadler, "One Book's Influence: Edward Bellamy's ''Looking Backward''" ''New England Quarterly'', vol. 17 (Dec. 1944), pp.&nbsp;530–555.
* Robert L. Shurter, "The Literary Work of Edward Bellamy", ''American Literature,'' vol. 5, no. 3 (Nov. 1933), pp.&nbsp;229–234.
* Ida M. Tarbell, "New Dealers of the 'Seventies: Henry George and Edward Bellamy", ''The Forum,'' vol. 92, no. 3 (Sept. 1934), p.&nbsp;157.
* John Thomas, ''Alternative America: Henry George, Edward Bellamy, Henry Demarest Lloyd and the Adversary Tradition.'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
* Richard Toby Widdicombe, ''Edward Bellamy: An Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Criticism.'' New York: Garland Publishing, 1988.
* Frances E. Willard, "An Interview with Edward Bellamy", ''Our Day,'' vol. 4, no. 24 (Dec. 1889), pp.&nbsp;539–542.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|b=no |c=Category:Edward Bellamy |d=Q455776 |m=no |mw=no |n=no |q=Edward Bellamy |s=Author:Edward Bellamy |species=no |species_author=no |v=no |voy=no |wikt=no}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edward-bellamy}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Bellamy,+Edward | name=Edward Bellamy}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Bellamy, Edward|name=Edward Bellamy|author=yes}}
* [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bellamy-ed/index.htm Edward Bellamy Archive] at [[marxists.org]]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edward Bellamy}}
* {{Librivox author |id=3606}}

{{Edward Bellamy}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellamy, Edward}}
[[Category:1850 births]]
[[Category:1898 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:19th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American Christian socialists]]
[[Category:American democratic socialists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Authors of utopian literature]]
[[Category:Bellamyism]]
[[Category:Literature critical of work and the work ethic]]
[[Category:Writers from Chicopee, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Union College (New York) alumni]]