author
Frederic W. (Frederic Wadsworth) Loring
1848–1871
A gifted young American writer whose promise was cut short at just twenty-two, he left behind lively fiction, poetry, and journalism shaped by both literary ambition and firsthand adventure in the American West.
1 Audiobook
Two College Friends
by Frederic W. (Frederic Wadsworth) Loring
About the author
Born in Boston in 1848, Frederic Wadsworth Loring was an American journalist, novelist, and poet. He studied at Phillips Academy and Harvard, where he contributed to the Harvard Advocate and began building a reputation as a bright young literary voice.
After college, he wrote fiction and journalism with an energy that made him stand out early. His best-known work is often linked to his short novel Two College Friends, and his writing reflects both refinement and curiosity about the wider world.
Loring's life ended tragically in 1871 during a trip in Arizona, when he was killed in the Wickenburg massacre. Because he died so young, his career feels like a glimpse of what might have been, which gives his work an added sense of poignancy today.