While modern critics regard some of Maurice Thompson's work as a step toward realism, Thompson rightly perceived himself as writing in the older romantic mode. His "local color" aimed to set down "those incidents of human life that flicker along the vanishing line" that marks "the close of every period of civilization." His intention was not to portray dominant social circumstances, but to summon nostalgia for a world whose colors were fading. Yet, Thompson's dream world is one where outcomes are determined by luck and shrewdness. Achievement in the arts or professions is remote, the highest accomplishment is outdoing the other fellow by means that often amount to the use of force or to cheating, and people are pathetically dependent on the approval of their peers.

Thompson was born on 9 September 1844 in Fairfield, Indiana, to the Reverend Matthew Grigg and Diantha Jaeger Thompson. He got a few years...