Confessional

Frank Harris (1855-1931) was an Irish-born editor, novelist, short story writer, journalist and publisher who was on friendly terms with many of the leading figures of his day. Aged 12 he was sent to Wales to attend boarding school but was so unhappy there he ran away within a year and headed for America, arriving in New York City virtually penniless in 1869. Here he took on a series of jobs to support himself, including boot black, general labourer and construction worker on the Brooklyn Bridge, before moving to Chicago where he worked in hotels. After making the acquaintance of various cattlemen he was inspired to take up work as a cowboy but later enrolled at the University of Kansas to study law. He soon tired of his legal career and returned to England in 1882, having decided to turn to literature. He later travelled to various cities in Continental Europe before returning to London where he became editor of a series of papers including the Evening News and the Saturday Review. From 1908-14 he concentrated on working as a novelist but returned to the US at the outbreak of WWI where he edited Pearson's Magazine, becoming a US citizen in 1921. The following year he travlled to Berlin to publish his best-known work, his autobiography My Life and Loves (published in 4 vols. 1922-27), which is notorious for its graphic descriptions of his purported sexual encounters and for its exaggeration of the scope of his adventures and his role in history. Confessional is a collection of essays first published in 1930 which is divided into four parts: People, Places, Principles, and Passions.