Talk:Nathaniel Parker Willis

message: I got started on cleaning this up a bit. The 1911 encyclopedia information that was used is unbelievably biased. I have no references about most of his life and work, but I did what I could in relation to some of his magazine work and relationship with Edgar Allan Poe. This desperately needs more clean up and more sources. I'm not sure if it's entirely necessary to list every single item he ever published in sequence, but I'm unaware of what is most important from his works. -Midnightdreary 15:44, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lots of work to be done 

message: *Willis began contributing more frequently to magazines and periodicals. - This sentence at the beginning of the "Literary career" section needs some context, such as dates or motivations.
::The context is in the preceding and following sentences: between 1827 and 1829. Is that not clear? --Midnightdreary (talk) 17:52, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: This sentence is like a topic sentence for the entire paragraph or even the entire section, so it should not rely on the next sentence for context. I was definitely stopped short here. I wouldn't have assumed the sentence was referring back to the previous section, either. When a sentence starts a section, it usually begins a new topic. Awadewit (talk) 14:10, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Supplied context. --Midnightdreary (talk) 21:55, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

text: Hmm... arbitrarily implies there is no reason; that makes it hard to clarify. Even I am confused by this one. --Midnightdreary (talk) 17:52, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Do we have a solution for this yet? Awadewit (talk) 14:10, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I clarified that he had previously published his sister. Not sure if that helps. --Midnightdreary (talk) 21:55, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

text: He only wrote one novel, Paul Fane. I think I clarified this nicely, if you want to take another look ("no links"? What does that mean? I was earlier asked to remove a link to an online version of a work in this same review). --Midnightdreary (talk) 17:52, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: It would still be nice to describe these other longer works a bit - what kind of works were they? What were they about? (When I said no links, I meant no wikilinks. I see DYKs in your future!) Awadewit (talk) 14:10, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I have found no specific descriptions beyond what I have already added. None of them are particularly literary or meritorious. --Midnightdreary (talk) 21:55, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

text: I strongly disagree. Willis's appearance and his image were his reputation. He introduced himself as a character to the reading public, and that's what made his work popular. I can clarify this, but I would never budge on including his physical appearance and personality under reputation, nor would any biography of Nat Willis. :) --Midnightdreary (talk) 17:52, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I think your response provides an excellent solution - include the material where it is most relevant in the article, where you discuss how he appealed to the public and how his business succeeded. That ensures that it is discussed at the most relevant moment in his life and removes the problem of describing him as a static character. Awadewit (talk) 14:10, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Not sure how this would work. I'll ruminate on it a bit further. --Midnightdreary (talk) 21:55, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

text: Explaining why is difficult. Why do so many people say red is their favorite color? It's just the fad of the time. --Midnightdreary (talk) 17:52, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I would expect some of the literary criticism about the time does in fact try to explain this. That is just the sort of thing literary critics try to explain. Awadewit (talk) 14:10, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I'll see what I can dig up. --Midnightdreary (talk) 21:55, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

text: I'll look for advice on this one. UVA has a fairly substantial Willis collection, and there are not a lot of collections out there. I differ to others' opinions. --Midnightdreary (talk) 17:52, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Can we get some other opinions on this? I know I found it frustrating to click on the link and not be able to see any of the texts! Awadewit (talk) 14:10, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: The easiest solution is just to remove it and, thus, the debate! --Midnightdreary (talk) 21:55, 19 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Leftover FAC stuff 

message: Here's an engraving of Willis in case it can be used.--INeverCry 04:33, 19 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Image 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I changed the paragraph about Willis's journey to England in 1845. The former text said that Imogen stayed in England after her father had returned to the US. The reference was to Yellin, page 86. But in the last two lines of p. 86 Yellin only says that Willis "had initially planned" to leave his daughter in England, while in the continuation of the same paragraph on p. 87 she says that after changing his plan, he returned to the US together with Imogen. Yellin (whose focus is of course on Jacobs, not on the Willis family) doesn't provide information on where Imogen was staying between her return from England and her father's second marriage. So I dropped the sentence "After the marriage, Willis's daughter Imogen came to live with the newlyweds in New York", because it no longer has any context.
Rsk6400 (talk) 09:07, 1 January 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Corrections related to Harriet Jacobs