Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Harland, Henry
HARLAND, HENRY (1861–1905), novelist, born at St. Petersburg on 1 March 1861, was only child of Thomas Harland, a lawyer of Norwich, Connecticut. He regarded himself as heir to the baronetcy of Harland of Sproughton, co. Suffolk, which was not claimed by his family on the death in 1848 of Sir Robert Harland, second baronet (G.E.C., Complete Baronetage, v. 155) because under the laws of Connecticut they would lose part of their property in that state. Brought up mainly in Rome, he studied in the University of Paris, acquiring a knowledge of the life of the Latin Quarter which he afterwards put to literary use. Subsequently he studied in Harvard University, though without graduating, and after returning for a year to Rome, where he wrote letters for the 'New York Tribune,' he entered the surrogate's office in New York.
Harland commenced his literary' career with 'As it was Written: a Jewish Musician's Story,' which was published in London in 1885, under the name of 'Sidney Luska.' It was a sensational novel, dealing with Jewish-American life. Many stories of the same type followed under the same pseudonym, and although of no high literary merit they brought Harland both reputation and pecuniary profit in America. 'Grandison Mather' (1890), one of the last, was reviewed in the 'Athenæum' as 'a clever and lively novel by an author who deserves to be better known in England.' Soon after 1890 Harland resolved to abandon sensational fiction, and coming to England set himself deliberately to develop a literary style. Thenceforth he spent most of his time in London.
The first two books which appeared under his own name, 'Two Women or One?' (1890), an ingenious story of double personality, and 'Mea Culpa: a Woman's Last Word' (1891), show no marked breach of affinity with his earlier work. But in 1893, in 'Mademoiselle Miss and other Stories,' he gave the first, if imperfect, evidence of an independent style. This little book was followed by 'Grey Roses' in 1895 and 'Comedies and Errors' in 1898, delicate studies which proved the writer's mastery of the art of the short story. The influence of Mr. Henry James was visible in Harland's work. Discerning critics at once acknowledged his promise, and from its birth in 1894 until its demise in 1897 he was literary editor of the 'Yellow Book,' a quarterly literary and artistic magazine, which reckoned among its contributors authors and artists of an advanced aesthetic school. In 1900, through •The Cardinal's Snuff Box,' a full-length novel of artistic charm, Harland first became known to the general public. Similar work followed until Harland's death at San Remo on 20 Dec. 1905. He married Aline Merriam, of French extraction. He had no children.
Besides the books already mentioned, Harland wrote, under the pseudonym 'Sidney Luska': 1. 'Mrs. Pexeida,' New York, 1886. 2. 'The Yoke of the Thorah,' New York, 1888. 3. 'My Uncle Florimond,' Boston, 1888. 4. 'A Latin Quarter Courtship, and other Stories,' 1890. Under his own name he also wrote: 6. 'The Lady Paramount,' 1902. 6. 'My Friend Prospero,' 1904. 7. 'The Royal End,' issued posthmnously in 1909. He translated Matilde Serao's 'Fantasia' (1891), and wrote an introduction to a translation of Octave Feuillet's 'Roman d'un Jeune Homme Pauvre' (1902). Mrs. Harland translated Matilde Serao's * Addio, Amore I' (1894). A sketch portrait of Harland is reproduced in the 'Early Work of Aubrey Beardsley,' who also caricatured Harland in the frontispiece to John Davidson's 'Scaramouch in Naxos' (1889).
[The Times, 22 Dec. 1905; Athenæum, 30 Dec. 1906; New International Encyclopædia, 1910.]