Stover at Yale

Last updated
Stover at Yale
Author Owen Johnson
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Frederick A. Stokes
Publication date
1912
Media typePrint (hardcover)

Stover at Yale, [1] by Owen Johnson is a novel describing undergraduate life at Yale at the turn of the 20th century. The book was described by F. Scott Fitzgerald as the "textbook" of his generation. [2] Stover at Yale recounts Dink Stover's navigation through the social structure at Yale and his struggles with social pressure.

Contents

Plot summary

Setting the Stage (Chapters 1-3)

The story opens with a picture of Stover seating himself on a train bound for New Haven. A short account is given of Stover's background from his Lawrenceville School days (recounted in The Varmint ). He overcame a poor start at the prep school and gained a reputation in football and as a class leader. While Stover is poised in dress and bearing, his classmates appear more eager and juvenile. Stover listens to them talk and learns of the secret society system, which will be the main drama of the plot. Later, the tap ceremony for the Yale senior society Skull and Bones is vividly described. [3]

While on the train, Stover also meets Tom Regan, an older, physically imposing and more open classmate of his, as well as LeBaron, a leading sophomore who is already taking Stover under his wing.

Arriving at his campus lodgings, Stover meets several more characters who will play parts in the following chapters. With Tough McCarty, his rival become friend from Lawrenceville days, Stover has a joyous roughhouse. He also meets McNabb, who is the "partier" of the freshman class. With Hunter, who is reserved and poised for leadership, Stover instantly feels rivalry. A sophomore, Reynolds, "an undersized nervous fellow" but first in his class to "make the News", stops by to check on the Andover freshmen in the house. He evaluates each man and advises him on what to go after in terms of extracurriculars. Some comic relief is afforded when Rogers, a junior stops by, and the tone changes to Reynolds deferring while Rogers leads the group in antagonizing a group of sophomores by turning lights on and off.

The chapter concludes with Stover's dinner with LeBaron. LeBaron counsels Stover on the importance of winning election to a secret society. Stover is troubled by the status given to this social positioning. Back with Tough, Stover tells him to "go slow" about making new friendships, nixing Tough's plan for a dining group, but has difficulty explaining his thinking.

Establishing himself in the class (Chapters 4-27)

The action then shifts to the gridiron. Stover performs well at basic drills, but gets no praise and is not called on to scrimmage. Tompkins, one of the coaches, cautions him, "Stover, just one word for your good. You come up with a big prep school reputation. Don't make an ass of yourself."

Later, Stover meets Gimbal, who openly proclaims a plan to fight the society system. Gimbal is also open about looking for political leadership with his anti-society stance. The two shake hands, but Stover is uncertain what to make of Gimbal.

In the evening, Stover and his class take part in wrestling contests against the sophomores. When no one from his class will stand in as the middleweight, Stover volunteers, though he knows no wrestling. Stover uses his football tackling power to beat his opponent, despite the other man's better knowledge of wrestling. Dana, the football captain, and Tompkins, the coach, see Stover's incredible tackling power and recognize him for it, enthusiastically and sparingly. Stover is borne home by his classmates, having established himself as a name in the class.

Stover reconnects with Regan, who had avoided the wrestling match and the first week of practice, despite his huge size, preferring to concentrate on personal affairs and school. Stover also meets other members of the class: Bob Story, son of an influential judge, as well as Joe Hungerford, a "name known across the world for power in finance." Stover, with Hungerford's encouragement, persuades Regan to become the waiter for their dining club.

In football practice, Stover at first is disappointed that his wrestling heroics do not suddenly win him a place on the team, but eventually he gets placed as the end on the scrub team. He battles a senior, Bangs, who is the starting end, and outplays him dramatically. Bangs resents Stover's presence as threatening a position that he spent three years building toward.

Publication history

Stover at Yale was originally serialized in McClure's [4] in 1911. The copyright has expired and the work has passed into public domain. [5]

Commentary and reviews

There were varied reactions to the book. [2] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Influence

An image of Dink Stover sitting on the Yale fence is the logo of New York-based menswear brand Paul Stuart.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1908 United States presidential election</span> 31st quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1908 United States presidential election was the 31st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1908. Republican Party nominee William Howard Taft defeated three-time Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skull and Bones</span> Secret society at Yale University, US

Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior-class society at the university, Skull and Bones has become a cultural institution known for its powerful alumni and various conspiracy theories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burns, Baby Burns</span> 4th episode of the 8th season of The Simpsons

"Burns, Baby Burns" is the fourth episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 17, 1996. In the episode, Mr. Burns reunites with his long-lost son Larry. At first, they get along well, but Mr. Burns soon realizes that his son is an oaf. The episode was directed by Jim Reardon and is the first one written by Ian Maxtone-Graham. The episode guest starred Rodney Dangerfield as Larry Burns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Johnson (writer)</span> American novelist

Owen McMahon Johnson was an American writer best remembered for his stories and novels cataloguing the educational and personal growth of the fictional character Dink Stover. The "Lawrenceville Stories", set in the well-known prep school, invite comparison with Kipling's Stalky & Co. A 1950 film, The Happy Years, and a 1987 PBS mini-series, The Lawrenceville Stories, were based on them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WrestleMania X</span> 1994 World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

WrestleMania X was the 10th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on March 20, 1994, at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. The central focus of the pay-per-view was the WWF Championship, which was defended in two matches. Due to Lex Luger and Bret Hart being named the co-winners of the 1994 Royal Rumble match, both challenged champion Yokozuna. Luger was first but was disqualified for pushing the referee. Hart faced Yokozuna later in the evening and won the championship by pinning Yokozuna. This led to a lengthy worked feud between Bret and his brother Owen, who had defeated Bret in the opening match of the pay-per-view.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survivor Series (1994)</span> World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

The 1994 Survivor Series was the eighth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Thanksgiving Eve on November 23, 1994, at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. Since its inception, Survivor Series always took place on the traditional Thanksgiving Eve/Day date; the following Survivor Series and all subsequent shows have taken place on various Sundays before Thanksgiving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Nelson (athlete)</span> American pole vaulter

Frank Thayer Nelson was an American athlete and baseball player who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He was born in Detroit, Michigan and died in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allen Johnson (historian)</span>

Allen Johnson (1870–1931) was an American historian, teacher, biographer, and editor of the Dictionary of American Biography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John N. Hungerford</span> American politician

John Newton Hungerford was a banker, philanthropist, and a U.S. Representative from New York. Although he had no children, one of his focuses in life was the education of youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucius Horatio Biglow</span> American football player and coach (1885–1961)

Lucius Horatio "Ray" Biglow III was an American college football player and coach. He played right guard for Yale University from 1905 to 1907. He was selected as an All-American in both 1906 and 1907 and served as Yale Bulldogs football coach in 1908.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrenceville School</span> Private school in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States

The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Schools Association and the Ten Schools Admissions Organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Delbanco</span> American professor and writer

Andrew H. Delbanco is an American writer and professor. He is the Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies at Columbia University and the president of the Teagle Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Johnson (swimmer)</span> American swimmer

David "Dave" Charles Johnson is an American former competition swimmer and 1968 Mexico City Olympic competitor. He graduated Yale Medical School, and became an orthopaedic surgeon, specializing in sports medicine.

Joseph Dana Kafer was an American football player. He played college football for the Princeton Tigers football team from 1901 to 1903 and was selected as a consensus All-American at the halfback position in 1903. Kafer sustained a shoulder injury during a football game in October 1901 that kept him out of the lineup for the remainder of the season. He scored three touchdowns in Princeton's 1903 victory over Cornell. He was also a member of the Yale baseball team.

Alpheus Henry Snow was an American lawyer and scholarly investigator in the field of international law.

Joseph Chung-Hsin Tsai (Chinese: 蔡崇信; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhòa Chông-sìn; born January 1964) is a Taiwanese-Canadian billionaire business magnate, lawyer, and philanthropist. He is a cofounder and chairman of the Chinese multinational technology company Alibaba Group and owns the Brooklyn Nets of the American National Basketball Association (NBA), the New York Liberty of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the San Diego Seals of the National Lacrosse League, and has interests in several other professional sports franchises. Tsai's net worth is estimated to be US$8.1 billion.

The Varmint is a lost 1917 American comedy silent film directed by William Desmond Taylor, written by Gardner Hunting and Owen Johnson, and starring Jack Pickford, Louise Huff, Theodore Roberts, Henry Malvern, Ben Suslow and Milton Schumann. It was released on August 5, 1917, by Paramount Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Sedley (actor)</span> American actor (1881–1962)

Henry McDonald Sedley (1881–1962) was an American actor. He caused the death of a fellow student while a freshman at Yale University in 1901, which may have been the reason for a young woman being banned by her grandmother from marrying him.

The Dickey Club, often referred to as "The Dickey Tradition" or simply “The Dickey”, was a private social club at Harvard University, originally founded in 1851 as a chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. The Club included members such as former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and financier J.P. Morgan Jr. The Dickey was absorbed by the Hasty Pudding Club in 1924.

References

  1. Johnson, Owen. "Formats and Editions of Stover at Yale". Worldcat.org. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
  2. 1 2 Delbanco, Andrew (10 March 2005). "Colleges: An Endangered Species? by Andrew Delbanco | The New York Review of Books". The New York Review of Books. Nybooks.com. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
  3. Yale Alumni Publications, Inc. "secret societies (Sept/Oct 04)". Yale Alumni Magazine. Archived from the original on 2005-04-04. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
  4. "Memoir demonstrates Yalies have always been crazy | Feb 20, 1998". Yaleherald.com. February 20, 1998. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
  5. "Stover at Yale, free online version". Ctrl.org. Archived from the original on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
  6. Owen Johnson : as a significant American author, his personalities and antecedents, as interpreter of the American boy [and] comments on "Stover at Yale". (Book, 1912) [Wo. Worldcat.org. OCLC   7689379.
  7. [WorldCat.org]. [WorldCat.org]. OCLC   90020332.
  8. The college experience (Book, 1962). [WorldCat.org]. OCLC   185599.
  9. "The Endangered University by Andrew Delbanco | The New York Review of Books". Nybooks.com. March 24, 2005. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
  10. STOVER AT YALE. March 31, 1912, Sunday Page 14, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/03/31/100358192.pdf
  11. "New York Times, The; May 19, 1912, Sunday, Section: Review of Books, Page BR308, 2712 words, no author, OWEN JOHNSON ATTACKS HIS CRITICS; Says "Stover at Yale" Is a True Picture of College Life; Questions the Poll of Yale Students; and Condemns Novels "with a Purpose"" (PDF). New York Times. May 19, 1912. Retrieved 2011-12-22.