Harris Merton Lyon Explained

Harris Merton Lyon (1882–1916) was an American short story writer.

Biography

Harris Merton Lyon was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1882.^[1] He attended the University of Missouri while working at a restaurant and laundrette.^[1] By the early 1900s, he moved to New York City to work as a journalist and as a short story writer.^[1] His stories were published in Broadway Magazine, edited by Theodore Dreiser, and later in McClure's, Collier's, The Smart Set,^[1] and The Illustrated Sunday Magazine.^{[2] [3]} In 1908, he published his first collection of short stories, Sardonics, followed by Graphics in 1913.^[1]

A newspaper from February 1908 reproduced a photo of a 17-year-old Japanese woman named Hyacinth Tawana, who the caption said was coming to America to marry Lyon. The caption stated Lyon "had rescued his bride-to-be from a very perilous situation in Japan, and the romance followed."^[4]

In 1913, he moved to a farm in Colebrook, Connecticut and started writing a series of anonymous letters for Reedy's Mirror.^[5] He died of Bright's disease three years later.^[1]

Theodore Dreiser wrote a portrait based on Lyon in Twelve Men.^[1] Dreiser nicknamed him 'Maupassant, Jr'.^{[6] [7]}

Bibliography

• Sardonics (1908)
• Graphics (1913)

Notes and References

1. Robert Coltrane, 'LYON, HARRIS MERTON', in A Theodore Dreiser encyclopedia, Keith Newlin (ed.), Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, p. 239 https://books.google.com/books?id=Qqsc3zwrDtIC&dq=%22Harris+Merton+Lyon%22&pg=PA239
2. Edward Joseph Harrington O'Brien, The Best American Short Stories ... and the Yearbook of the American Short Story, Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, 1916, p. vii https://books.google.com/books?id=EX7vXRxtIlQC&q=%22Harris+Merton+Lyon%22
3. Edward J. O'Brien, The Best Short Stories of 1915, Bastian Books, 2008, p. 155 https://books.google.com/books?id=GY-Zjd29vSYC&dq=%22Harris+Merton+Lyon%22&pg=PA155
4. News: Photo Caption, page 6. February 27, 1908. Bedford Democrat [Bedford, Virginia].
5. Max J. Puzel, The Man in the Mirror: William Marion Reedy and His Magazine, University of Missouri Press, 1998, pp. 256-259 https://books.google.com/books?id=JXvhtZdUbjMC&dq=%22Harris+Merton+Lyon%22&pg=PA259
6. [Missouri Historical Society]
7. Jeremy Loving, The Last Titan: A Life of Theodore Dreiser, Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2005, p. 186 https://books.google.com/books?id=cneO63oEZzYC&dq=%22Harris+Merton+Lyon%22&pg=PA186