author
Roswell Martin Field
1851–1919
A journalist and novelist from a literary family in St. Louis, he wrote with a light touch and a lively eye for character. He is also remembered as the older brother and occasional collaborator of poet Eugene Field.
1 Audiobook
The Romance of an Old Fool
by Roswell Martin Field
About the author
Roswell Martin Field was born in St. Louis in 1851 and became an American journalist and writer. He was the son of lawyer Roswell Martin Field and the brother of Eugene Field, the much-loved poet and humorist. Their shared literary world shaped his career, and the two brothers even worked together on Echoes from the Sabine Farm.
Field wrote both fiction and lighter literary pieces. Works linked to him in major library records include In Sunflower Land, The Bondage of Ballinger, and The Romance of an Old Fool. He also worked in journalism, including at the Chicago Evening Post, which fits the quick, readable style associated with his writing.
Though he is less famous today than his brother, Field left behind a body of work that blends humor, storytelling, and a newspaper writer's sense of pace. For listeners who enjoy rediscovering overlooked American authors from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he offers an appealing glimpse into that literary moment.