What follows is a brief introduction to Mr. Flynn, his authorship of
these writings, and how this book came about. From my research on his
life, which I made available at //prabook.com/web/clarence.flynn/1084802,
Clarence Edwin Flynn (1886–1970) was an American Methodist Episcopal
clergyman, writer, hymnist and lecturer. He’s described as a “writer of
stories, articles and verse appearing in periodicals and anthologies”
and is “represented in anthologies of verse. General character writing,
religious, educational.” [1] [2] [3] His writings (sans poems) appeared
in more than 50 different domestic and international publications.
Were all of these writings authored by Clarence Edwin Flynn? I cannot
say that is true with certainty, but I’ll offer the following support.
Firstly, there’s moderate support in the fact that the middle initial
“E” is used in all but two bylines; two bylines have no middle name or
initial. Secondly, almost a third of the bylines offer strong support
through the attributes mainly of title (e.g. Reverend) and locations
that correspond with his biography. Thirdly, moderate to strong support
can be found in the writings’ content, which is the basis for including
more than half of the writings. Religious topics certainly offer strong
support. As for the wide variety of other topics covered, the reader
will find multiple cases where Reverend Flynn encourages preachers to
broaden their knowledge and experiences in order to better serve their
congregations. And if you find the content strong in the art of
persuasion, Flynn was a member of the college oratory team. In
conclusion, this brief analysis is limited by the absence of Clarence
Edwin Flynn’s personal papers (their status is unknown to me).
How did this book come about? In short, the writings were collected
during the primary process of collecting poetry. The longer explanation
is in the preface to the book cited in the third footnote. As with the
book of poetry, this is the inaugural collection of writings and is
limited to those published in 1929 or earlier in accordance with a
copyright rule governing works first published before 95 years ago.
[1] _Who’s Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable
Living Men and Women_. Vol. 24, 1946–1947, Two Years. Chicago:
The A. N. Marquis Co., 1946. p. 780
[2] Lawrence, Alberta, ed. _Who’s Who Among North American Authors_.
Vol. 5, 1931–1932. Los Angeles: Golden Syndicate Publishing Co., 1931.
p. 1089
[3] This collection of writings does not include poetry. I created
a separate book of his poetry: Flynn, Clarence Edwin. _Collected Poems
of Clarence Edwin Flynn_. First edition, 1929 and earlier. Jun 17, 2025.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76332