Who was Robert Smythe Hichens?
Robert Smythe Hichens (1864-1950) was an English journalist and novelist whose Green Carnation, a satire on the decadents, published anonymously in 1894 and attributed to Oscar Wilde, created a sensation in London. He was born at Spildhurst, Kent., and received a thorough musical education. While studying music, he wrote lyrics for music, and a number of short stories, and finally abandoned music for literatnre. Mr. Hichens then studied for a year at the London School of Journalism. His Green Carnation was followed by An Imaginative Man, Flames, The Prophet of Berkeley Square and The Garden of Allah. The latter book was dramatized and presented in New York, starring Madame Nazimova. Mr. Hichens has collaborated in such successful plays as Becky Sharp, The Medicine Man and The Daughters of Babylon. Hichens' The Spell of the Holy Land was published in 1914.
