John Kendrick Bangs

John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) American humourist, editor, essayist and lecturer. He inspired the term Bangsian fantasy which put a name to the fantastical style of writing of the afterlife which was so much like his own, and that had been seen earlier in such masterpieces as the description of Hell and the voyage across the river Styx in The Epic of Gilgamesh.

John Kendrick Bangs was born 27 May 1862 in Yonkers, New York. His father Francis Nehemiah Bangs (d.1886) was a lawyer. His mother, Frances Amelia Bull. In 1879 Bangs entered Columbia University and for three years before his graduation was writing under pseudonyms for the Acta Columbiana. He also edited it from 1882 to 1883. He earned his Ph.B. in Political Science and went on to work with his father in his law office, though unlike his ancestors he would take neither religion nor law seriously. Around this time he had some of his sketches published in the popular humour magazine Puck and Life magazine, of which he was also Associate Editor.