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Fannie Hurst

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Author

The Resume

    (October 19, 1885-February 23, 1968)
    Born in Hamilton, Ohio
    Novelist and short story author
    Wrote the novels 'Lummox' (1923), 'Back Street' (1931), 'Imitation of Life' (1934), 'Lonely Parade' (1942), 'Anywoman' (1950), and 'Fool, Be Still' (1960)
    Short story collections include 'Just Around the Corner' (1914), 'Humoresque: A Laugh on Life with a Tear Behind It' (1919), 'Song of Life' (1927) and 'We Are Ten' (1937)

Why she might be annoying:

    She married secretly.
    She and her husband lived separately.
    A character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'This Side of Paradise' described her as not having produced 'one story or novel that will last ten years.'
    Langston Hughes parodied her racially-themed 'Imitation of Life' as 'Limitations of Life.'

Why she might not be annoying:

    While acknowledging she had never been a critical favorite, she said, 'I have a vast, popular audience. It warms me like a furnace.'
    At her peak, she and Booth Tarkington were the two highest-paid American authors.
    She was a patron to several Harlem Renaissance authors, including Zora Neale Hurston and Dorothy West.
    She raised money to help Jewish refugees fleeing Europe during World War II.
    She was a delegate the UN's World Health Organization (1952).
    Her story 'Humoresque' was adapted as a movie twice (1920,1946), her novel 'Imitation of Life' twice (1934,1959), and 'Back Street' three times (1932,1941,1961).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 90.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 22 Votes: 50.0% Annoying