Edgar Wilson Nye
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (June 2019) |
Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye | |
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Born | |
Died | February 22, 1896 | (aged 45)
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Humorist, journalist |
Signature | |
Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye (August 25, 1850 – February 22, 1896) was an American humorist. He was also the founder and editor of the Laramie Boomerang.
Biography
Nye was born in
The Boomerang was founded while Nye was the postmaster of Laramie. It launched him to national fame, gaining subscribers in every state and some foreign countries. In 1892, he wrote in The Century Magazine:
There is a grim and ghastly humor -- the humor that is born of a pathetic philosophy -- which now and then strikes me in reading the bright and keen-witted work of our American paragraphers. It is a humor that may be crystallized by hunger and sorrow and tears. It is not found elsewhere as it is in America. It is out of the question in England, because an Englishman cannot poke fun at himself. He cannot joke about an empty flour-barrel. We can: especially if by doing it we may swap the joke for another barrel of flour. We can never be a nation of snobs so long as we are willing to poke fun at ourselves.
Some of his works include Bill Nye's Comic History of the United States, Baled Hay, Remarks, Bill Nye and Boomerang, Bill Nye's History of England, and Bill Nye's Red Book. He is credited with the remark "Wagner's music is better than it sounds.".
Late in his career, he was briefly associated with James Whitcomb Riley with whom he wrote two books. They also appeared together on the lecture circuit.[3] He also traveled and lectured with Luther Burbank.
He passed the later years of his life in Arden, North Carolina where he died of meningitis, and was buried in Calvary Episcopal Churchyard in Fletcher, Henderson County, North Carolina. A historical marker honoring him is located in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, between the towns of Roberts and River Falls, and a second is located in Fletcher, North Carolina. A small monument marks his birthplace in Shirley, Maine.
Gallery
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Cover, Nye and Riley's Railway Guide (1888), written by Nye and James Whitcomb Riley
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Illustration byF. Opper, Bill Nye's Comic History of the United States (1894)
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Cover, Bill Nye's Comic History of England (1896), illustrated by F. Opper
Notes
- ^ public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nye, Edgar Wilson". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 929–930. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- ^ Chisholm 1911.
References
- Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums (1970). Doris A. Isaacson (ed.). Maine: A Guide 'Down East'. Rockland, Me: Courier-Gazette, Inc. pp. 376–377. OCLC 143588.
External links
- Works by Bill Nye at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Edgar Wilson Nye at Internet Archive
- Works by Edgar Wilson Nye at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Readings of Bill Nye stories at Mister Ron's Basement podcast, indexed (ronevry.com)
- Edgar Wilson Nye at Find a Grave
- Bill Nye at Library of Congress, with 38 library catalog records