13 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What changes when you meet the person behind a story?
In American Nights Entertainment, Grant M. Overton looks at the writers who shape early twentieth-century fiction. His portraits begin with a simple idea: knowing an author's habits, influences and place in the world can open a way into the work. The people behind the stories become part of the pleasure of reading.
Published in 1923, the book brings you close to a critic considering the fiction of his own day. American novels and short stories are changing, and a growing reading public gives new writers an audience. Overton asks what makes these authors worth reading, using a plain, friendly style rather than difficult theory.
What you’ll discover
- People behind the pages Meet writers through portraits that connect their lives and influences with their fiction.
- A changing literary world Explore a time when magazines, publishers and readers create a growing market for stories.
- Criticism with an open door Follow a critic who writes for ordinary readers, without making theory the main event.
- Reputations in motion Consider how literary standing shifts as some praised writers fade and others gain attention.
- Another way into fiction Discover how looking at an author as a person can deepen your reading.
Who will love it
This is for readers who love literary gossip and the lives behind the books, who enjoy a witty guide with firm opinions, and who like collecting titles to read next.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Galsworthy sees both sides of loyalty
- Marlow brings Conrad into view
- Families and work supply the material
- Wright puts his message first
- Stratton-Porter turns close attention into fiction
- Tarkington’s charm can conceal his seriousness
- Wharton learns the boundaries of her gift
- Writers can outgrow their familiar manner
- Biography and judgment belong together here
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American Nights Entertainment
by Grant M. Overton · 1923
Marlow lights his pipe and tells the life of Joseph Conrad in a book of writers' portraits from 1923.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“The artist has got to make a stand against being exploited.”
In short
What kind of man writes a play about two loyalties that cannot both win, and then refuses to pick a side? The book opens with the reception of Galsworthy's Loyalties, then looks beyond easy explanations of its author.
American Nights Entertainment at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 45 min4 h 35 min fast, 6 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 82,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1923by Grant M. Overton
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Galsworthy keeps two loyalties and chooses neither
Overton begins with John Galsworthy, whose play Loyalties reached New York in the autumn of 1922. He argues that the whole man lies in that title. Galsworthy sees how two loyalties can both be right, and he will not choose between them.
Galsworthy studied law, disliked it and practised almost not at all. He travelled instead, and on a sailing ship he met Joseph Conrad. The Man of Property began the Forsyte Saga, in which a Forsyte is a person who grips property, whether wives, houses, money or reputation. Soames Forsyte is left lonely, yet readers almost come to love him.
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Details
- First published
- 1923
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 35 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Overton, Grant M. American Nights Entertainment. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/american-nights-entertainment.
Overton, G. M. (2026). American nights entertainment. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/american-nights-entertainment (Original work published 1923)
Overton, Grant M. American Nights Entertainment. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/american-nights-entertainment.
@book{overton2026american,
author = {Overton, Grant M.},
title = {American Nights Entertainment},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/american-nights-entertainment},
note = {First published 1923}
}
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What is American Nights Entertainment about?
It is a collection of portraits of writers from the early 1920s, including Galsworthy, Conrad, Wharton, Tarkington and Morley. Portrait chapters combine biography, working methods and criticism, while other chapters offer reading recommendations or imaginative conversations.
Who is Marlow in the Conrad chapter?
Marlow is the sailor who tells stories in Conrad's own novels, such as Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim. Overton lets him describe Conrad's life aloud, so the portrait is told in a voice from Conrad's fiction.
When was American Nights Entertainment written?
Overton finished the preface on August 1, 1923. The book speaks of authors then living and of new books of that year, so it captures the literary scene at that moment.
The author
Grant M. Overton
1887–1930 · American writer and critic
Grant M. Overton (1887–1930) was an American writer and critic, also known as Grant Martin Overton. He wrote books about writers and publishing. His works included When Winter Comes to Main Street, published in 1922, and American Nights Entertainment, published in 1923. He lived in the United States.
“The artist has got to make a stand against being exploited.”
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