author
David Dwight Wells
1868–1900
A sharp, witty American writer of the 1890s, he blended satire, diplomacy, and social comedy in novels that still feel lively today. Though he died young, he left behind a small body of clever fiction and essays with an unmistakably playful edge.
3 Audiobooks
Parlous Times: A Novel of Modern Diplomacy
by David Dwight Wells
His Lordship's Leopard: A Truthful Narration of Some Impossible Facts
by David Dwight Wells
Her Ladyship's Elephant
by David Dwight Wells
About the author
Born in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1868, David Dwight Wells was an American author and essayist who studied at Harvard, graduating in 1893. He was the son of economist David A. Wells, and he later served as second secretary at the United States embassy in London from 1894 to 1896.
Wells wrote both fiction and nonfiction. His known works include Her Ladyship's Elephant, His Lordship's Leopard, and Parlous Times: A Novel of Modern Diplomacy, and he also contributed pieces such as "Evolution in Folklore" to Popular Science Monthly. His writing is often remembered for its humor, light satire, and interest in the manners of his time.
He died in 1900, only about 32 years old, which helps explain why his career feels brief compared with many of his contemporaries. Even so, his work offers an appealing glimpse of a smart, cosmopolitan literary voice at the end of the nineteenth century.