author
Charles Fenno Hoffman
1806–1884
A lively figure in New York’s literary world, this poet, novelist, and editor helped shape the Knickerbocker circle and brought a distinctly American flavor to 19th-century writing. He was especially remembered for his songs and poems, which once made him one of the best-known writers of his day.
1 Audiobook
The Man in the Reservoir
by Charles Fenno Hoffman
About the author
Born in New York City in 1806, Charles Fenno Hoffman became an author, poet, and magazine editor closely associated with the Knickerbocker Group. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, but literature and publishing soon took center stage in his life.
Hoffman edited and founded influential periodicals, including The Knickerbocker, and wrote across several forms: poetry, fiction, travel writing, and song lyrics. Among his better-known works are A Winter in the West and the historical novel Greyslaer, and in his own time he was widely admired for popular pieces such as "Sparkling and Bright."
His later years were marked by severe mental illness, and he spent much of the second half of his life away from public literary activity. He died in 1884, but his work remains a window into the ambitions, energy, and style of early American literature.