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Thousands of copies sold out within weeks, and the novel was republished in August 1868. It was the first in a six-volume Ragged Dick series (1: Ragged Dick 2: Fame and Fortune 3: Mark, the Match Boy 4: Rough and Ready 5: Ben, the Luggage Boy 6: Rufus and Rose). The book was Alger's best-selling work and remained in print for forty years. [11]
Horatio Alger Jr. (/ ˈ æ l dʒ ər /; January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was an American author who wrote young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to middle-class security and comfort through good works.
A New York City bootblack rises to middle class respectability through hard work, honesty, and determination. Alger's all-time bestseller. Online at Gutenberg: Fame and Fortune; or, The Progress of Richard Hunter: 1868 Juvenile novel. First serialized in twelve installments in Student and Schoolmate. Novelization published by Loring.
Rags to riches (also rags-to-riches) refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popular culture, such as the writings of Horatio Alger, Jr.
The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, that was founded in 1947 to honor the achievements of outstanding Americans who have succeeded in spite of adversity and to emphasize the importance of higher education.
Gatsby contrasts with Ben Franklin and the characters in Horatio Alger Jr. novels, as successful 'self-made men'. His story serves as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream where "an unhappy fate is inevitable for the poor and striving individual, and the rich are allowed to continue without penalty their careless treatment of others ...
As a satire of the Horatio Alger myth of success, the novel is evocative of Voltaire’s Candide, which satirized the philosophical optimism of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Alexander Pope. Pitkin is a typical ‘Schlemiel’, stumbling from one situation to the next; he gets robbed, cheated, unjustly arrested, frequently beaten and exploited.
He became the Entrepreneur of the Year in 1976 from the Cox School of Business at SMU, Dallas Humanitarian of the Year in 1980, Texas Business Hall of Fame in 1987, and the Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans in 1989.