author
Brian Hooker
1880–1946
A versatile American man of letters, he moved from poetry and teaching into the theater and became especially known for his lively English version of Cyrano de Bergerac and for musical-stage writing such as The Vagabond King. His work had an easy feel for spoken rhythm, which helped it travel well from page to performance.
1 Audiobook
The Professor's Mystery
by Wells Hastings, Brian Hooker
About the author
Born in New York City in 1880, Brian Hooker was an American poet, educator, lyricist, and librettist. He studied at Yale, later taught English and rhetoric, and built a career that ranged across literature, translation, and the stage.
He is best remembered for his 1923 English rendering of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, a version admired for its theatrical energy and staying power. Hooker also wrote for musical theater, including work on Rudolf Friml's operetta The Vagabond King, showing the same gift for language that sounds natural when spoken or sung.
Hooker died in 1946. Today he is often introduced as a poet, but his reputation rests just as much on the way he helped bring dramatic and lyrical works to English-speaking audiences.