Frederick Faust

Abstract

‘Max Brand’, ‘Evan Evans’ and ‘George Owen Baxter’ are among the better known pen names of Frederick Shiller Faust, born in Seattle, Washington on 29 May, 1892, the son of Gilbert Leander Faust and Elizabeth Uriel Faust, Gilbert’s third wife. Faust grew up in the San Joaquin Valley, living in extreme poverty. His father had drifted through the West failing at a variety of occupations in many different towns. The family moved frequently, often more than once a year (276: 13). Necessity forced a younger brother and an older sister to be continually farmed out to relatives while Faust was kept at home because of poor health; he was even sent to the mountains one summer to recuperate. He read his first book, Malory’s Morte de’ Arthur, at the age of seven and quickly became a voracious reader; by ten he had ‘written enough to know that [he] wanted to write more’, and it was at this time, he says, that ‘a sense of high destiny overcame [him] once and for all’ (276: 19). His mother died when he was eight, and he was orphaned at thirteen.KeywordsHappy EndingUnexcused AbsenceHide PotentialCampus NewspaperWeak HeartThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.