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BLACK, WILLIAM (1841-1898)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 19 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BLACK, See also:WILLIAM (1841-1898) , See also:British novelist, was See also:born at See also:Glasgow on the 9th of See also:November 1841. His See also:early ambition was to be a painter, but he made no way, and soon had recourse to journalism for a living. He was at first employed in newspaper offices in Glasgow, but obtained a See also:post on the See also:Morning See also:Star in See also:London, and at once proved himself a descriptive writer of exceptional vivacity. During the See also:war between See also:Prussia and, See also:Austria in 1866 he represented the Morning Star at the front, and was taken prisoner. This See also:paper shortly afterwards failed, and Black joined the editorial See also:staff of the Daily See also:News. He also edited the Examiner, at a See also:time when that periodical was already moribund. After his first success in fiction, he gave up See also:journal-ism, and devoted himself entirely to the See also:production of novels. For nearly See also:thirty years he was successful in retaining the popular favour. He died at See also:Brighton on the loth of See also:December 1898, without having experienced any of that reaction of the public See also:taste which so often follows upon conspicuous successes in fiction. Black's first novel, See also:James Merle, published in 1864, was a See also:complete failure; his second, Love or See also:Marriage (1868), attracted but very slight See also:attention. In See also:Silk Attire (1869) and Kilmeny (1870) marked a See also:great advance on his first See also:work, but in 1871 A Daughter of Heth suddenly raised him to the height of popularity, and he followed up this success by a See also:string of favourites. Among the best of his books are The See also:Strange Adventures of a Phaeton (1872); A Princess of See also:Thule (1874); Madcap See also:Violet (1876); See also:Macleod of Dare (1878); See also:White Wings (1880); Sunrise (1880); Shandon Bells (1883); See also:Judith See also:Shakespeare (1884); White Heather (,885); Donald See also:Ross of Heimra (1891); Highland See also:Cousins (1894) and See also:Wild Eelin (1898).

Black was a thoroughgoing sportsman, particularly fond of fishing and See also:

yachting, and his best stories are those which are laid amid the breezy mountains of his native See also:land, or upon the See also:deck of a yacht at See also:sea off its wild See also:coast. Hisdescriptions of such scenery are See also:simple and picturesque, He was a word-painter rather than a student of human nature. His See also:women are stronger than his men, and among them are many wayward and lovable creatures; but subtlety of See also:intuition plays no See also:part in his characterization. Black also contributed a See also:life of See also:Oliver See also:Goldsmith to the See also:English Men of Letters See also:series.

End of Article: BLACK, WILLIAM (1841-1898)

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