Celebrating Charles Warren Stoddard

Author Robert Louis Stevenson [RLS] gets a lot of credit for coming to the defense of the late Father Damien (1840-89), Belgian priest to the lepers on the island of Molokai. In 1890, Stevenson published an open letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde, a Presbyterian minister stationed in a fine mansion in Honolulu, who had attacked the deceased Belgian priest in print after the latter had caught leprosy from his parishioners on the island and died of it in 1889. Hyde said he could not understand the adulation awarded the deceased priest, and wrote such charges as this, reported by Stevenson: "Damien was dirty. He was. Think of the poor lepers annoyed with this dirty comrade!"

Rev. Hyde had even written that Fr. Damien slept with the lepers. RLS, who visited Molokai after the priest's death, jumped to Damien's defense with his widely-published open letter, berating the critical minister for living in luxury and safety while Damien had been a true Christian martyr. RLS' defense created a stir, but the minister never responded to it. Fr. Damien was proclaimed a Catholic saint in 2009.

But it was Charles Warren Stoddard (1843-1909) who told RLS about Fr. Damien in the first place. Stoddard might be called the George Washington of the gay movement in San Francisco, for he published the first relatively open homosexual novel, "For the Pleasure of His Company," in 1903. Stoddard was a poet and newspaperman, and he and Stevenson met in San Francisco in 1880 through mutual acquaintances. Both frequented the Bohemian Club here, and Stoddard was a friend of Stevenson's stepson-in-law, the artist Joseph Strong.

Stoddard had visited the island of Molokai in 1868 when both he and Fr. Damien were in their 20s. He shook Damien's hand, and stayed in touch with the priest until the Belgian died. In 1903 he published the book "Father Damien, A Sketch." Stoddard was a Catholic convert and sometimes fantasized about becoming a monk, but he was far too worldly for that. Strong painted an oil portrait of Stoddard holding a skull in a Capuchin outfit. At his "eyrie" on Rincon Hill south of Market in San Francisco, Stoddard displayed many souvenirs of his travels in the South Seas, as well as the manciple and stole that Fr. Damien wore when he said mass.

RLS described his meeting with Stoddard in San Francisco, and the fascination of the American's refuge in an old mansion perched on Rincon Hill. It was Stoddard who urged RLS to visit the South Pacific islands. RLS left with Stoddard's book South Sea Idylls, as well as Herman Melville's Omoo, under his arm. RLS had had some childhood experiences that pointed him towards exploration in those southern seas, but Stoddard was there to give him a further push and information at just the right moment in Stevenson's life and career.

Stoddard was also very close to Stevenson's stepdaughter, Belle Strong (wife of the artist), and to his wife, Fanny. As one studies the biographies of RLS, one comes to know Belle Strong somewhat, but it is in Stoddard's books and biography that she steps into the limelight and becomes a far more interesting person. She and Stoddard competed for the attention of visiting naval officers in Hawaii, according to Roger Austen's excellent biography of Stoddard, "The Gentile Pagan."

Stoddard told Stevenson about Fr. Damien, and had quite an influence on the author of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson went on to settle in Samoa and become important in Samoan politics (involving the Samoans and the superpowers of those days, the English, French, Germans and Americans). He became a great friend of the islands' people. There he built an impressive home that became a focus of island as well as European life. He died in 1894, and was buried atop a hill in Samoa.

Stevenson's wife Fanny came back to San Francisco after his death, and built a house on Hyde (!) Street at Lombard, just across the road from the Crookedest Street. (Hyde is the name of the evil one in Stevenson's 1886 novel, and the name of the minister who attacked Fr. Damien.) Willis Polk designed her house with her. Spared by the Great Fire, it is still there today.

Stoddard wrote for the Chronicle and many other publications of his day. His books are very readable: "For the Pleasure of His Company" is called the first overtly homosexual American novel, and there is the fine biography of him by Roger Austen. In general, Stoddard is much more highly regarded by European critics than by American. His family was well-connected historically; in the 17th century, Stoddards graduating from Harvard became doctors and ministers.

He was celebrated by the Bohemian Club, which is often mentioned in his novel, whose title was suggested to him by Rudyard Kipling. In April 1903, when Stoddard returned to San Francisco after years teaching back east, the Bohemians threw a gala evening in honor of him. Henry James and Enrico Caruso attended. In fact, it is said that James thought the party was for him!

Charles Warren Stoddard is a lot of fun to learn about. He was a man comfortable in his sexuality. He lived in a time of absolute hush-hush, yet he found a great deal of kindness. He was a vigorous writer and truly one of the founders of literary San Francisco.