The INTERNET WRITING WORKSHOP: 4/1/23

Friday, April 28, 2023

Notes For April 28th, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 28th, 1926, the legendary American writer Harper Lee was born. She was born Nelle Harper Lee in Monroeville, Alabama. The youngest of four children, her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was a lawyer.

He also served in the Alabama State Legislature from 1926 to 1938 and was a former newspaper editor. As a child, Harper Lee was a precocious tomboy and a voracious reader. Her best friend, neighbor, and classmate was the legendary writer Truman Capote.

After graduating from Monroe County High School, Harper Lee enrolled in the Huntingdon College for women, then transferred to the University of Alabama to study law.

She wrote for several student newspapers and edited the campus humor magazine, Rammer Jammer. After studying for a year in Oxford, she left college without obtaining a law degree.

In 1950, Harper moved to New York City and took a job as reservation clerk, first for Eastern Airlines, then BOAC. She divided her time between her cold water flat in New York and her family home in Alabama, where she cared for her ailing father.

By 1956, determined to become a writer, she began writing stories and found herself an agent. In December of 1956, she received a year's wages and time off from work as a Christmas present.

The gift came with a note that said, "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Harper Lee used her time off to write a novel. Within a year, she completed the first draft.

Working with Tay Hohoff, an editor for J.B. Lippincott & Co., she completed her final draft in the summer of 1959. A year later, in July of 1960, her novel was published. It was called To Kill A Mockingbird.

Set in 1930s Alabama, the semi autobiographical novel is narrated by eight-year-old Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, a precocious tomboy. She lives with her older brother Jeremy "Jem" Finch and their widower father, Atticus Finch, a prominent, liberal attorney.

Scout's best friend is Charles Baker "Dill" Harris, who, although small for his age, has a big imagination. Together, they spend their days fantasizing about a mysterious neighbor - an enigmatic recluse named Arthur "Boo" Radley who never comes out of his house.

Wondering if Boo really is a monster, the kids try to draw him out. Meanwhile, a poor black man named Tom Robinson is falsely accused of raping a white woman, and Atticus Finch agrees to defend him. His determination to see justice done inflames the community against him.

As the trial progresses, the once respected and loved Atticus becomes the most hated man in town. As Scout's big brother Jem reaches adolescence, the climate of violent racism and the injustice meted out by a bigoted all-white jury disturbs him greatly.

Tom Robinson is convicted of rape despite the truth uncovered by Atticus Finch: when Tom's accuser, the lonely, abused Mayella Ewell, was caught making sexual advances to a black man, she falsely accused him of rape out of fear of her father Bob, a violent racist and alcoholic.

Later, Tom Robinson is shot and killed while trying to escape from prison. (Earlier, Atticus, Scout, Jem, and Dill had prevented a mob from lynching him.) Meanwhile, Bob Ewell, humiliated by Atticus' public revelations about his daughter, vows revenge.

He spits in Atticus' face and later attacks his children on their way home from a school Halloween pageant. Jem defends his little sister and gets his arm broken. Suddenly, someone appears out of the shadows and saves the kids.

Bob Ewell is attacked and killed by a strange, silent man who then scoops up the injured Jem and carries him home. Scout realizes that their savior is none other than Boo Radley. He finally came out of his house.

To Kill a Mockingbird became an overnight sensation - an immediate bestseller that received rave reviews from both readers and critics. The following year, Harper Lee was stunned when her novel won her the Pulitzer Prize.

She moved on to her next project, accompanying her childhood friend Truman Capote to Kansas for what they had originally planned to be an article about a small town shocked by the murders of a local farmer and his family.

Capote later turned the true story into an acclaimed nonfiction book, In Cold Blood (1966). In 1962, a feature film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird was released. The highly acclaimed film starred Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and featured an incredible performance by eight-year-old newcomer Mary Badham as Scout Finch.

Harper Lee loved the film and called Horton Foote's screenplay "one of the best translations of a book to film ever made." The movie would win Gregory Peck the Best Actor Oscar and Horton Foote the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Peck and Harper Lee would become lifelong friends; his grandson Harper Peck Voll is named after her. In June of 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson named Harper Lee to the National Council on the Arts.

That same year, she experienced one of the first attempts at censoring her novel. A school board in Richmond, Virginia voted to ban To Kill a Mockingbird from classroom study and school libraries, denouncing the novel as "immoral literature."

Lee wrote the following response in a letter to the editor of Richmond's largest newspaper:

Recently I have received echoes down this way of the Hanover County School Board’s activities, and what I’ve heard makes me wonder if any of its members can read.

Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that “To Kill a Mockingbird” spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners. To hear that the novel is “immoral” has made me count the years between now and 1984, for I have yet to come across a better example of doublethink.

I feel, however, that the problem is one of illiteracy, not Marxism. Therefore I enclose a small contribution to the Beadle Bumble Fund that I hope will be used to enroll the Hanover County School Board in any first grade of its choice.

Over the years, To Kill a Mockingbird, which is a staple of study for eighth grade English classes, has faced similar attempts by disgruntled would-be censors to remove it from school libraries and classrooms.

Harper Lee originally planned to write another novel, but her manuscript for The Long Goodbye would be filed away unfinished. During the mid 1980s, she began writing a nonfiction book about an Alabama serial killer, but she gave up on that as well.

Her writing output since To Kill a Mockingbird consisted of just a few essays and articles. In 2006, she wrote a letter to legendary talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey, which would be published in O, the Oprah Magazine.

In it, she spoke of her childhood love of books and her dedication to the written word. She wrote: "Now, 75 years later, in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books."

In November of 2007, Harper Lee was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush at a ceremony in the White House. It appeared that To Kill A Mockingbird would be her only novel.

Then, on February 3rd, 2015, Harper Lee announced that she would be publishing another novel. The book, titled Go Set A Watchman and published a few months later in July, was a sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird that follows Scout as a grown woman.

Watchman was actually written before Mockingbird, which was intended to be its prequel. Lee thought the manuscript had been lost forever, but it was found by her lawyer in a safe deposit box in 2011. The manuscript was published exactly as written, with no revisions.

It's 20 years later, and the Civil Rights movement is just starting to become a major force for change. With racial tensions escalating across the country, especially in Scout Finch's home state of Alabama, she can't help but recall the lessons she learned in childhood.

Scout, now going by her proper name Jean Louise, joins the Civil Rights movement and is stunned to discover that her now elderly father Atticus, whom she idolized and who risked everything to defend an innocent black man from racist injustice, is opposed to civil rights.

What's more, he's determined to fight school integration and has been consorting with the Ku Klux Klan. For the first time, Jean Louise begins to see her father through the eyes of an intelligent grown woman instead of the rose colored glasses of a naive, adoring little girl.

She finds that Atticus is flawed like any other person and, like other white Southerners, fears the sudden end of the only way of life he's ever known. Can it really be true? Will Jean Louise's relationship with her father be shattered forever?

The announcement of a second Harper Lee novel came as quite a shock to the literary community. The 88-year-old author had been residing in a nursing home, having suffered a stroke a while back. Her vision and hearing were deteriorating.

The timing of Watchman's publication made some wonder if Lee, perhaps senile, was being exploited by her publisher. Suspicion of elder abuse led the state of Alabama to conduct an investigation. They interviewed Lee and determined that no abuse had taken place.

Her longtime friend, historian Wayne Flynt, said that the "narrative of senility, exploitation of this helpless little old lady is just hogwash. It's just complete bunk."

Needless to say, the publication of Go Set A Watchman caused quite a stir. Many readers believed that Lee had betrayed them and soiled the legacy of one of America's most beloved literary characters.

Others, like this writer, found Watchman to be a powerful read and a worthy successor to To Kill A Mockingbird that truthfully explores the insidious nature of intolerance.

Harper Lee died in February 2016 at the age of 89.

Quote Of The Day

"I never expected any sort of success with Mockingbird. I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected." - Harper Lee

Vanguard Video

Today's video features an episode of Duke University's DukeReads TV series, with Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird the subject of discussion. Enjoy!

Thursday, April 27, 2023

Notes For April 27th, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 27th, 1759, the famous Anglo-Irish writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft was born in London, England. She was born into an upper middle class family.

At first, the Wollstonecrafts had a comfortable income, but then Mary's father squandered most of their money away on bad investments. As a result, the family moved frequently to avoid creditors.

Mary Wollstonecraft's father was also a violent alcoholic and often beat his wife in drunken rages. As a teenager, Mary would stand guard outside her mother's door to protect her from her father.

She would continue to be a protector, later convincing her sister Eliza to leave her husband. Unfortunately, at the time, divorce was considered disgraceful by society, so even though Eliza was able to escape her husband, her decision to leave him doomed her to a life of poverty and hard work.

Mary would have two close relationships that shaped her early life, philosophy, and writings. The first was with her friend Jane Arden. The two women developed a love of reading and read voraciously.

They also attended lectures by Jane's father, a philosopher and scientist. The insecurities of Mary's childhood, being caught in the middle of her parents' volatile marriage, led her to be emotionally possessive of her friend and prone to mood swings and depression.

Mary's next great friend was Fanny Blood. Together, they envisioned living in a female utopia free from the control and influence of men. The economic realities of the day made that dream impossible.

So, to support themselves, Mary, Fanny, and Mary's sisters set up a school for girls in Newington Green, which at the time was a community of Dissenters - English Protestants who had broken away from the Church of England.

Not long after the school was in operation, Fanny became engaged. She had been in chronically poor health, so after they were married, Fanny's husband took her on a trip through Europe in the hopes of restoring her health. Unfortunately, after she became pregnant, Fanny's health began to deteriorate.

Mary Wollstonecraft nursed her ailing friend, and was devastated when Fanny died. Meanwhile, during her absence, her school failed. These experiences would play a part in her first novel, Mary: A Fiction (1788) which was a fictionalization of her life.

After Fanny Blood's death, Mary took a job as governess for a family in Ireland. She loved the children that were placed in her care, but she couldn't stand their mother, so she eventually resigned. This experience resulted in Mary's only children's book, Original Stories from Real Life (1788).

After leaving her job as governess, Mary became frustrated by the few options available for a poor but respectable single woman to support herself. She wrote about it in her first work of feminist philosophy, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787).

While living in London, Mary fell in love with the artist Henry Fuseli, with whom she had struck up a friendship. Unfortunately, Fuseli was married. When Mary proposed a platonic living arrangement where she would move in with Fuseli and his wife, Mrs. Fuseli was outraged. Henry broke off all ties with Mary.

Hurt and humiliated by his total rejection, she decided to travel to Paris. She supported the French Revolution and had written a political pamphlet, Vindication of the Rights of Men (1791), where she attacked the aristocracy and the monarchy.

She promoted the constitutional republic form of government in a scathing retort to an essay by British conservative Edmund Burke where he defended the rule of the monarchy and the aristocracy.

Mary would use her ideas of freedom, equality, and civil rights as the backbone of her next work, which would be her most famous book. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) is considered to be one of the first major works of feminist philosophy.

In it, Mary proclaimed men and women equal in the eyes of God and called for equal rights for women, including the right to an education and the right to work. She believed that women should neither deny their natural sexual impulses nor allow themselves to be enslaved by them. A woman should be sensible, and sensibility meant do what you will, but harm none - including yourself.

Contrary to popular belief, Mary Wollstonecraft's feminist manifesto was mostly well received when it was published, as the subject of women's rights was a prominent issue at the time - it was even being debated in Parliament. Of course, Mary was loudly derided by conservatives, including conservative women.

When she arrived in Paris in December of 1792, Mary found France in turmoil, as King Louis XVI would be guillotined a month later. Nevertheless, she decided to stay and joined in the community of British and American expatriates living in Paris.

Later, she met and fell in love with American adventurer Gilbert Imlay. She became pregnant with his child and gave birth in May of 1794, naming her baby daughter after her old and dear friend, Fanny Blood. Unfortunately, Imlay had no intention of becoming a husband and father.

After England declared war on France, British subjects living in France found themselves in danger. Though they weren't married, Imlay registered Mary as his wife to protect her and the baby.

Some of her friends, including legendary writer Thomas Paine, weren't as lucky. They were arrested and some were even guillotined. Eventually, Imlay left Mary. He promised he would return, but never did.

Mary returned to England in 1795 and found Imlay living in London, but he rejected her. She attempted suicide - most likely by an overdose of laudanum (tincture of opium) - and Imlay saved her life. When her last attempt at winning Imlay back failed, Mary tried to drown herself in the Thames.

Her desperate act was thwarted when a stranger saw her jump into the river and rescued her. Though she had deemed suicide a rational solution to her predicament, she gave up on the idea of killing herself.

Gradually, Mary resumed her writing career and rejoined Joseph Johnson's literary circle, which at the time included novelist and philosopher William Godwin. Their slow courtship soon blossomed into a passionate love affair. When Mary became pregnant, they decided to marry so that their child would be legitimate.

Their marriage would reveal the fact that Mary had never been married to her daughter Fanny's father, Gilbert Imlay. They lost many friends in the ensuing scandal. William Godwin didn't care; no stranger to controversy, he was an outspoken anarchist who had advocated the abolition of marriage in his philosophical treatise, Political Justice (1793).

Mary and William Godwin's marriage would prove to be happy, loving, and stable. Sadly, it would also be tragically cut short. After she gave birth to their child, a daughter she named after herself, Mary suffered serious complications.

She contracted a severe infection when the placenta broke apart during delivery, which was a common occurrence in the 18th century. After enduring several days of agony, Mary Wollstonecraft died in September of 1797 at the age of 38. Her husband was devastated.

Though she wouldn't live to see it, her new baby daughter Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin would grow up to marry legendary poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and become a famous writer like her mother, authoring the classic horror novel, Frankenstein (1818).

Quote Of The Day

"The being cannot be termed rational or virtuous who obeys any authority but that of reason." - Mary Wollstonecraft

Vanguard Video

Today's video features a complete reading of Mary Wollstonecraft's classic work of feminist philosophy, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Notes For April 26th, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 26th, 1914, the famous American writer Bernard Malamud was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. He had a younger brother named Eugene.

In 1932, Malamud graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn. He worked as a teacher-in-training before enrolling at City College of New York on a government loan. From there, he attended Columbia University.

After completing his education, Malamud taught high school English, mostly to adult night school students. He later taught freshman composition at Oregon State University.

Although he had earned a Master's degree in literature at Columbia, Oregon State would not allow him to teach literature because he lacked a Ph.D.

In 1942, Malamud met an Italian Catholic girl named Ann De Chiara. They fell in love and married, despite the strong opposition of their respective parents. They had a happy marriage. Ann bore him two children (Paul and Janna) and served as his typist and editor.

Bernard Malamud completed his first novel in 1948. Published four years later, the book would prove to be his most popular novel. The Natural, inspired by the life of a real baseball player, (Chicago Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges) takes a haunting look at the dark side of America's national pastime.

The novel opens with 19-year-old pitching phenom Roy Hobbs en route to Chicago for a tryout with the Cubs. On the train with Hobbs are his manager Sam, sportswriter Max Mercy, superstar slugger Walter "The Whammer" Whambold, and a beautiful, mysterious woman called Harriet Bird.

When the train stops at a carnival, The Whammer challenges Hobbs to strike him out. The equally arrogant Hobbs accepts the challenge - and strikes The Whammer out, humiliating him. Harriet Bird comes on to Hobbs and later invites him to her hotel room.

What Hobbs doesn't know is that she's a homicidal maniac determined to kill the best player in the game. The Whammer was her original target. When the womanizing Hobbs goes to Harriet's room, she shoots him.

The novel then flashes forward 15 years. Roy Hobbs, now in his mid-thirties and past his prime as a player, has just been signed as the new right fielder for the New York Knights, a slumping National League team.

As the new player on the team, Hobbs is subjected to mean spirited practical jokes by his teammates, including the theft of his favorite bat, Wonderboy. Hobbs gets a chance to reclaim his past glory when team manager Pop Fisher chooses him to pinch hit instead of slumping slugger Bump Bailey.

On his first at-bat, Hobbs smacks a triple. A few days later, Bump Bailey, now an outfielder, is killed when he crashes into the outfield wall while trying to catch a fly ball.

Sportswriter Max Mercy, who had known Hobbs as a young pitching phenom, arrives and tries to get him to talk about his troubled past. He even offers him five thousand dollars for the story.

Hobbs turns Mercy down, telling him that "all the public is entitled to is my best game of baseball." When the arrogant Hobbs fails to persuade the Knights' ruthless co-owner Judge Banner to grant him a raise, Mercy writes about it in his column, resulting in a fan uprising.

Hobbs falls into a slump, then breaks out of it and plays brilliantly, leading his team to a 17-game winning streak. With the Knights one game away from winning the National League pennant, Hobbs goes to a party, binges on food, and collapses.

He wakes up in a hospital bed, and the doctor tells him that he must retire after the league championship game if he wants to live. Judge Banner had been offering Hobbs increasing amounts of money to throw the championship game because he wants to fire Pop Fisher as manager.

Facing the prospect of early retirement and no way to support the family he wants to build with love interest Memo Paris, Hobbs makes Banner an offer: he'll throw the game for $35,000. Although his conscience troubles him, it can't save him from self-destruction.

The Natural was adapted as a feature film in 1984, starring Robert Redford in the title role. Widely panned by critics, including the late great Roger Ebert, who denounced it as "idolatry on behalf of Robert Redford," as a novel adaptation, the film is a travesty.

With a completely different ending, it sacrifices Malamud's dark, mythological story of one man's downfall at the hands of his own hubris in favor of a typical Hollywood happy ending.

And yet, the film remains one of the most popular sports movies of all time. Surprisingly, Malamud himself liked it. The film's producers later claimed that it was never meant to be a literal adaptation of the novel.

While his first novel made his name as a writer, Bernard Malamud's fourth novel, The Fixer (1966) won him both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Inspired by both the author's own experiences with anti-Semitism and a true story of anti-Semitic persecution in Tsarist Russia, the novel tells the tale of Yakov Bok, a Jewish fixer (handyman) living and working in Kiev - without the proper papers.

When a Christian boy is murdered during Passover, the police assume that the killer is a Jew. This is what's known as the blood libel - the hateful false accusation that Jews murder Christian children as part of their religious practices and celebrations. Yakov Bok is soon rounded up for questioning.

When asked about his political views, he claims to be apolitical. Although there is no evidence against him, because he's an undocumented Jew, Bok becomes the prime suspect. He's arrested on suspicion of murder, jailed indefinitely without being charged, and denied counsel or visitors.

As he spends many months in jail, Bok contemplates his entire sad life in particular and human nature in general. Despite his fate, he finds himself growing spiritually, and is at last able to forgive his wife, who had left him just before the opening of the novel.

The novel ends with Bok finally being charged and brought to trial. In the last scene, as he's being taken to court, Bok has an imaginary conversation with the Tsar.

Bok rebukes him as the ruler of the most oppressive and backward regime in Europe, famously concluding that "there is no such thing as an apolitical man, especially a Jew."

The Fixer was adapted as an acclaimed feature film in 1968, starring Alan Bates as Yakov Bok and directed by John Frankenheimer, working from a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo. Bates's excellent performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

Though he wrote seven novels, Malamud was also known as a master of the short story. He published several collections of short stories, including The Magic Barrel (1958) and Pictures of Fidelman (1969). His classic short story Man in the Drawer (1969) won him the O. Henry Award.

Flannery O'Connor once said of him, "I have discovered a short-story writer who is better than any of them, including myself." In 1988, the PEN/Malamud Award was established in the author's memory. The award recognizes excellence in the short story.

Bernard Malamud died in 1986 at the age of 71.

Quote Of The Day

“A writer is a spectator, looking at everything with a highly critical eye.” - Bernard Malamud

Vanguard Video

Today's video features a tribute to Bernard Malamud, recorded live at The Center for Fiction. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Notes For April 25th, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 25th, 1719, Robinson Crusoe, the classic novel by the legendary English writer Daniel Defoe, was published. Although he wrote other classic novels such as A Journal of the Plague Year and Moll Flanders, Robinson Crusoe would be his most famous book.

This classic adventure novel was inspired by the true story of a shipwrecked Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk. It tells the story of the title character, who as a young man, first hears the call of the sea.

Against the wishes of his parents, Robinson Crusoe sets sail on his first ocean voyage. In a prelude to the events to come, Crusoe's first vessel is shipwrecked in a storm. He survives, but the ordeal fails to silence the call of the sea.

On his next voyage, his ship is captured by Moroccan pirates. Crusoe is made a slave. After two years of slavery, he manages to escape in a boat.

Rescued by the captain of a Portuguese ship, Crusoe is befriended by the man, who helps him become the owner of a plantation. Years later, Crusoe joins an expedition to procure and transport slaves from Africa.

Once again, Crusoe is shipwrecked. This time, however, he finds himself the sole survivor, marooned on a deserted island in the West Indies. With only the captain's dog and two cats for company, Crusoe names his new home the Island of Despair.

Overcoming his despair, he bucks up and determines to survive. He gathers arms, tools, and supplies from his ship before it sinks, then stakes out a stretch of land near a cave.

There, Crusoe survives by hunting game, growing barley and rice, and storing fruit for the winter. He also raises goats, adopts a parrot as a pet, and learns to make pottery. Taking solace in his bible, Crusoe is thankful for his survival instead of bemoaning his fate.

Years pass, and Crusoe discovers that the island is not deserted after all. He finds natives and discovers that a cannibal tribe visits the island occasionally to hunt them and take them prisoner.

Crusoe considers killing the cannibals, but changes his mind, realizing that they are so primitive, they don't know what they're doing. A native prisoner of the cannibals escapes, and Crusoe befriends him.

Naming the man Friday, Crusoe teaches him English, converts him to Christianity, and makes him his personal servant. When Crusoe and Friday happen upon another tribe about to partake in a cannibal feast, they kill most of the cannibals and save two of their prisoners.

One of the prisoners is Friday's father, the other is a Spaniard who tells Crusoe that other Spaniards were shipwrecked on the mainland. A plan is made wherein the Spaniard and Friday's father will return with the other Spaniards, then they'll all build a ship and sail to a nearby Spanish port.

Before the Spaniards return, a British ship arrives at the island. Mutineers have taken control of the ship and are planning to abandon the captain on the island. Crusoe helps the captain and his loyal men take back the ship.

In exchange for their help, the captain takes Crusoe and Friday to England. Back home, Crusoe discovers that his family believed he was dead, so his father left him nothing in his will. Crusoe goes to Lisbon to reclaim the wealth he'd accumulated from his plantation.

Afterward, he and Friday return - via land - to England, and in one last adventure, fight scores of starving wolves while crossing the Pyrenees mountains.

For nearly three hundred years, Robinson Crusoe has inspired countless tales of castaways - everything from Johann David Wyss's novel The Swiss Family Robinson (1812) to the TV series Gilligan's Island, whose theme song's lyrics state, "Like Robinson Crusoe, it's primitive as can be."

The novel has been adapted numerous times for the screen and is rightfully considered one of the all time classic works of English literature.

Quote Of The Day

"I hear much of people's calling out to punish the guilty, but very few are concerned to clear the innocent." - Daniel Defoe

Vanguard Video

Today's video features a complete reading of Daniel Defoe's classic novel, Robinson Crusoe. Enjoy!

Friday, April 21, 2023

Notes For April 21st, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 21st, 1947, the legendary American children's book writer Barbara Park was born. She was born Barbara Lynne Tidswell in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

In 1969, after graduating college with a degree in education, Barbara married her husband, Richard A. Park, with whom she had two sons, Steven and David. She planned to teach history and political science in high school, but found her calling in writing.

When she was a high school senior, her classmates had voted her Wittiest. Later recalling this, she said, "So several years later, I decided to try my hand at writing humor and see if I could be witty enough to make some money." It turned out that she could.

After a few rejections, her first children's story, Don't Make Me Smile, was published in 1981. The following year, she published two books: Operation: Dump the Chump and Skinnybones. It was the latter that made her name and became one of her most popular books.

Skinnybones is narrated by its main character, Alex Frankovitch, an awkward and unpopular gradeschooler with a big mouth. He's been playing Little League baseball for six years but he's "really stinky" at it, and is constantly berated by his nemesis T.J. Stoner, who's a great ballplayer.

Alex lets his big mouth get the best of him and he challenges T.J. to a pitching contest. Can he talk his way out of it, or will he be humiliated again by the biggest jerk in school? This novel established Barbara Park's talent for combining the hilarious and the heartwarming.

The Kid in the Red Jacket (1987) told the funny and poignant story of Howard Jeeter, a 10-year-old boy who struggles to make friends after his parents move him across the country. The other kids act like he's invisible - except Molly Vera Thompson.

Molly is the annoying yet endearing six-year-old chatterbox who lives next door. Her constant attempts to befriend Howard drive him to the point of exasperation. He wishes that he were invisible to her. But he could really use a friend. And so could Molly...

In 1990, Park published Maxie, Rosie, and Earl - Partners in Grime, the first book of her Geek Chronicles trilogy featuring three very different grade school outcasts who become friends.

Maxie Zuckerman is the smartest boy in school, and everyone hates him for it. Rosie Swanson writes detailed notes about her classmates and gives them to her teacher. They hate her for being a snitch.

She doesn't see it as snitching; she wants to be a detective like her grandfather, and that's what detectives do - observe and report. Meanwhile, Earl Wilber is an overweight wimp.

The three kids meet in the principal's office. Maxie got sent there for striking back at his bullying classmates, Rosie for passing notes to her teacher again, and Earl for refusing to read in front of his class.

The principal is too busy to see them, so he excuses them from his office until Monday. The three kids see the perfect opportunity to escape - literally, as they team up to skip school...

Barbara Park's most popular and longest running series of children's books began in 1992 with the publication of Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus.

Juniper Beatrice "Junie B." Jones is a brash, adorable, opinionated, funny, and sometimes rude five-year-old girl known for her Runyonesque wisecracks and for taking expressions literally.

Her adventures began with this classic opening:

My name is Junie B. Jones. The B stands for Beatrice. Except I don’t like Beatrice. I just like B and that’s all.

Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, narrated by its young protagonist, opens with Junie about to face that scary and surreal experience that all young children must go through - the first day of Kindergarten. She already met her teacher, whom she just calls Mrs., though the woman has a last name.

Junie hates having to ride the bus alone. She finds school buses loud and smelly, and meets an obnoxious boy named Jim who turns out to be in her class. There, she makes a friend, Lucille, who lives with her wealthy grandmother - her "richie Nana" - and carries herself like a pint-sized Paris Hilton.

Later, not wanting to ride the bus home, fearing that older kids will pour chocolate milk on her head, Junie hides in the classroom supply closet at the end of the day. When everyone is gone, Junie has the whole school to herself. She pretends to be her teacher and the school nurse.

When she needs to use the bathroom, she finds that the girls' bathroom doors are locked. So are the boys' bathroom doors. Fearing that she's going to have an accident and not knowing what else to do, she calls 911. When the school janitor finds her, he opens the girls' bathroom door just in the bare nick of time.

Junie avoids an accident, but her happiness is short-lived when the school is beseiged by firefighters and police officers responding to her call for help. There are 28 books in the Junie B. Jones series, but with the release of the 19th book, Junie B., First Grader (at Last!) in 2001, the series became known as Junie B., First Grader.

In her Junie B. Jones books, Park used impressionistic language to convey the point-of-view of her very young heroine. This language, though hugely effective, often included misused words and bad grammar, causing some parents and teachers to hate the books.

This, along with Junie's naturally sassy personality and use of words like stupid and dumb, have earned the Junie B. Jones books a place on the American Library Association's list of the most banned and challenged books in America, with Junie labeled a bad role model.

In reality, the impressionistic language accurately depicts a very young child trying to figure out the world around her and cope with the fears, confusion, and frustration that come with it. In doing so, she proves her mettle and shows that she has a good heart.

A good example of this is in the series' 10th book, Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook (1997). In this entry, Junie's grandfather buys her a new pair of furry mittens - which are stolen while she's playing with her friends at recess.

Junie goes through the school Lost and Found box, but her mittens aren't in there. She thinks they're gone for good, and they were the last pair at the store. Later, after getting a drink at the water fountain, Junie finds a pen on the floor that can write in four different colors.

Thinking the owner was careless, Junie wonders if the "finders keepers, losers weepers" rule should apply. Then her grandfather tells her how he once lost his wallet. He was devastated, but then someone - he never found out who - returned it, with all of his money and credit cards still inside it.

In the end, Junie catches the thief who stole her mittens, gets them back, then drops the pen she found into the school Lost and Found box, explaining to the principal's secretary, "I am not a crook."

When Junie enters the first grade in Junie B., First Grader (at Last!), either due to the complaints or because she's learned more about words, her grammar has improved considerably. She's still her old sassy self, though. She has a male teacher, Mr. Scary, who isn't scary at all.

He introduces the class to journaling, giving out notebooks to use as class journals and assigning the kids to write in them every day. In her first grade year, Junie deals with missing old friends, making new ones, and having to wear glasses.

May, a new girl in class and obnoxious narcissist who shamelessly brown noses the teacher, becomes Junie's nemesis. Junie calls her "Tattletale May" and nobody likes her, but in the classic Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May) (2005), Junie's attitude changes.

It's Christmastime, and Mr. Scary has decided that the class Christmas party will be a "Secret Santa" party. Each kid will choose a name at random and buy that person a present. But the person won't know who the present is from.

Junie B. Jones, who has just enough money for a cheap Secret Santa present and the expensive Squeeze-A-Burp toy she wants, is appalled when she picks May's name. But she has the perfect gift in mind for May - a lump of coal, or rather, a charcoal bricquette.

Later, Junie discovers why May acts the way she does - no matter how hard she tried to make friends, nobody ever wanted to be her friend. At the Secret Santa party, Junie feels terrible when she puts May's gift with the rest of the presents.

May has been hoping like crazy that someone would want to give her something nice for Christmas. As she goes to get her present, Junie has a sick feeling inside. When May unwraps her gift, she's absolutely shocked and says, "I can't believe someone would do this!"

She shows her present to the rest of the class - it's the Squeeze-A-Burp, the best toy ever! Junie really wanted it, and can't understand what made her give it to May, but she feels good that she did. It was a merry Christmas after all.

A huge hit with boys and girls alike, the Junie B. Jones books have sold tens of millions of copies. Despite the controversy surrounding them, they're still beloved by readers of all ages, as parents who grew up with them now read them to their own children.

The books, which include whimsical cartoon illustrations by Denise Brunkus, were all released as unabridged audiobooks perfectly narrated by Lana Quintal, who gives each character a distinct personality in her dramatic readings.

Though the Junie B. Jones books and other novels succeeded largely thanks to Barbara Park's wit and talent for comedy, she was never afraid to tackle difficult subjects in children's books, as seen in her standalone novels Mick Harte Was Here (1995) and The Graduation of Jake Moon (2000).

In Mick Harte Was Here, 13-year-old Phoebe Harte's family is devastated when her younger brother Mick dies from a head injury in a bicycle accident. He chose not to wear his bike helmet that day, and their father blames himself for not making Mick wear it.

Phoebe struggles with her own guilt as his older sibling, her anger at Mick for not wearing his helmet, and her grief over his loss. As she explores her memories of him, she tries to overcome her pain and anger enough to participate in a school assembly on bicycle safety.

The Graduation of Jake Moon tells the story of the title character, a boy about to graduate eighth grade. Jake Moon has always been close to his grandfather, Skelly, who has always been a source of wisdom, strength, and stability in his life.

Then Skelly is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and Jake watches his mind slowly disintegrate. To make matters worse, most of the responsibility for Skelly's care is placed on Jake's shoulders, which he begins to resent. Finally, he rebels - and something terrible happens...

Barbara Park's final book, Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten (and Other Thankful Stuff), the last entry in the Junie B. Jones series, was published in 2012. She died the following year at the age of 66, after a long battle with ovarian cancer.

Quote Of The Day

"There are those who believe that the value of a children’s book can be measured only in terms of the moral lessons it tries to impose or the perfect role models it offers. Personally, I happen to think that a book is of extraordinary value if it gives the reader nothing more than a smile or two. In fact, I happen to think that’s huge."

- Barbara Park

Vanguard Video

Today's video features a reading of Barbara Park's classic first Junie B. Jones book, Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus. Enjoy!

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Notes For April 20th, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 20th, 1953, the famous English writer Sebastian Faulks was born in Newbury, England. His father Peter Faulks was a lawyer and decorated World War II veteran who became a judge. His maternal grandfather was a decorated veteran of World War I.

Sebastian Faulks would not follow in the family tradition and become a lawyer or a judge. His first ambition was to be a taxi driver.

Then, at the age of fifteen, he read George Orwell and was determined to become a novelist. He first attended Wellington College, then studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he would later be elected as an honorary fellow.

After university, Faulks took a teaching job at the Dwight-Franklin International School. He also took up journalism, becoming a features writer for the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.

Later, he would be recruited as Literary Editor by The Independent, then become Deputy Editor of its Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday. He would also write columns for The Guardian and The Evening Standard.

Sebastian Faulks' first published novel was released in 1984. It was titled A Trick of the Light. Had it not been published, Faulks claimed he would have given up on writing, as two previous novels had been rejected.

While A Trick of the Light wasn't hugely successful, it did get the author noticed. His next novel, The Girl at the Lion d'Or (1989), made his name as a writer.

The first in a trilogy of novels - the French Trilogy - The Girl at the Lion d'Or was set in 1930s France. It told the story of Anne Louvert, a French girl left orphaned and homeless when her legal guardian abandons her after she refuses to be his mistress.

This so-called guardian was a Nazi sympathizer who moved to America, deserting his right wing comrades as well as Anne. She finds work at the village inn, The Lion d'Or, where she meets Charles Hartmann, a kind, sensitive, wealthy older Jewish man.

Hartmann is a decorated veteran of the Great War, where Anne's father was executed for mutiny, an event that drove her mother to suicide. Although Hartmann is married, he and Anne have a passionate love affair.

When Hartmann ends the affair, Anne is devastated but refuses to commit suicide like her mother did. Instead, she courageously faces the dark days ahead, as the rise of the Nazis threatens France.

The second novel in Sebastian Faulks' French Trilogy, Birdsong (1993), proved to be a huge commercial success, selling three million copies. Ten years after its publication, it would be ranked at #13 on the BBC's "Big Read" list of Britain's 200 best loved novels.

Birdsong told the story of Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman living in France just before the outbreak of World War I, as his granddaughter Elizabeth researches his experiences during the Great War.

The third volume of the French Trilogy, Charlotte Gray, was published in 1998. The tale of a young Scotswoman's involvement with the French Resistance during World War II was adapted as an acclaimed film in 2001, starring Cate Blanchett in the title role.

Faulks' 2001 novel On Green Dolphin Street was a Cold War drama set in the 1950s. The main character, Mary van der Linden, is the wife of a British diplomat stationed in Washington. Her husband Charlie is a talented and effective diplomat.

Unfortunately, he's also a self-loathing alcoholic suffering from existential angst. When Mary meets American journalist Frank Renzo at a party, he becomes attracted to her. They have an affair, which troubles Mary deeply, as she still loves her husband. She finds herself torn between both men.

Faulks continues to write great novels. In 2007, he was commissioned by the trustees of the Ian Fleming estate to write an official James Bond novel. The result, Devil May Care, was published in 2008 to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Fleming's birth.

Set in the 1960s, the novel pitted the legendary British secret agent against the evil Dr. Gorner, a manufacturer of legitimate pharmaceuticals who plans to flood Europe with cheap narcotics and launch a terrorist attack against the Soviet Union, the retaliation for which would devastate the UK.

Faulks' most recent novel, Snow Country, was published in September of 2021. Set between the Great War and Hitler coming to power, it followed three main characters who ultimately meet at the Schloss Seeblick, a humane, progressive, and successful sanitarium in early 1930s Austria.

The three characters are Anton Heideck, a noted journalist and shell shocked Great War veteran who has come to write an article on the Schloss Seeblick, Martha Midwinter, the amazing woman who runs the santitarium, and Lena, who escaped a life of poverty and despair when she fled to Vienna, only to encounter more hardship and leave to work at the sanitarium.

Quote Of The Day

"The difference between a peasant community in fourteenth-century Iran and modern London, though, is that if with their meager resources the villagers occasionally slipped backward, it was not for lack of trying. But with us, here in England, it was a positive choice. We chose to know less." - Sebastian Faulks

Vanguard Video

Today's video features Sebastian Faulks discussing his literary career and his most recent novel, Snow Country, on The Telegraph Live. Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Notes For April 19th, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 19th, 1824, the legendary English poet Lord Byron died in Aetolia-Acarnania, Greece, at the age of 36. Born George Gordon Byron in January of 1788 in Dover, England, he established himself as one of the greatest English Romantic poets of all time.

He was also a master of dramatic verse, and his epic poems, such as The Corsair (1813), The Siege of Corinth (1816), and the unfinished Don Juan (1819-1824), are among his most memorable works.

In life, Byron proved to be as romantic and flamboyant as his poetry. He was brilliant, most likely bipolar, and a militant agnostic. Although a nobleman himself, he had little use for the British aristocracy and even less use for the monarchy.

He once gave a stirring speech before Parliament condemning the Church of England (the official clerical body of the British Empire) for its intolerance of other faiths.

An outspoken liberal and libertine, Byron's intellect, literary talent, charisma, flamboyance, excesses, and scandals made him a huge celebrity - a rock star of his time. Openly bisexual though he preferred women, Byron criticized the persecution of homosexuals by British law.

He also condemned the pro-Christian legal system's discrimination against atheists. His best friend, the legendary poet Percy Shelley, was denied custody of his children because he didn't believe in God.

Of his many female lovers, Lord Byron's most notorious relationship was with the married Lady Caroline Lamb, who had famously described him as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" - yet it was she who went mad after Byron ended their relationship.

Refusing to take no for an answer, she began stalking him, both privately and publicly, resulting in a huge scandal. It wouldn't be the only scandal to plague him.

He was also accused of homosexuality (considered both a disgrace and a crime in 19th century England) and having an incestuous affair with his older half-sister Augusta Leigh, resulting in her pregnancy.

While Byron was openly bisexual, the idea that he had an affair with his half-sister, to whom he was very close, is highly debatable. When he wasn't writing poetry, Lord Byron dedicated himself to political causes.

In 1809, he took a seat in Parliament's House of Lords, which he used to strongly advocate for social reform. He opposed capital punishment and laws that compromised one's civil liberties and / or encroached on the private lives of British subjects.

An animal lover, Byron kept many exotic pets, including a fox, an eagle, a crocodile, and an Egyptian crane. He kept a bear as a pet while studying at Trinity College, Cambridge, in response to the college's prohibition of keeping dogs as pets.

He publicly suggested that the bear should apply for a fellowship at Trinity. Byron's favorite pet was his dog - a Newfoundland called Boatswain.

When the dog contracted rabies, Byron nursed him until he died, unafraid of contracting the disease himself. He eulogized Boatswain in a poem called Epitaph to a Dog (1808).

By 1816, embittered and plagued with scandal, (thanks to Lady Caroline Lamb's public smear campaign) Byron left England and lived throughout Europe, mostly in Italy and Greece, until his death in 1824.

A year earlier, he'd left his home in Genoa to join the famous Greek statesman Alexandros Mavrokordatos in his fight for Greece's independence from the Ottoman Empire. It would not be Byron's first voyage to Greece or his first conflict with the Ottoman Empire.

Byron had visited Athens several years earlier, interested in both Greek culture and the country's acceptance of homosexuality. While staying there, he met a handsome French boy named Nicolo Giraud who became his friend, traveling companion, and lover.

While living in Venice in 1816, Byron became acquainted with a Mechitarist (Armenian Catholic) priest who introduced him to Armenian culture. Fascinated, Byron attended lectures on Armenian history and learned the Armenian language.

He would help introduce Armenian culture to Western Europe and publicly support Armenia's struggle for independence against the Ottoman Empire. Since the Armenians were largely Christian, the Muslim Ottomans oppressed them ruthlessly.

So, in August of 1823, when Byron learned of Greece's struggle against the Ottomans, he set sail for Kefalonia in the Ionian Islands. His first mission was to help rebuild the Greek naval fleet, and he spent £4000 of his own money (the equivalent of nearly £400,000 in today's money) to prepare the fleet for war.

By December, he joined Alexandros Mavrokordatos, to whom the Greek military was loyal, in Messolonghi. After he and Mavrokordatos supervised the training of the troops, Byron was given command of a regiment. The plan was to attack the Turkish-held fortress of Lepanto, located at the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth.

Before the fleet could set sail for Lepanto, Byron fell ill. Although the bloodletting treatment (it was thought that draining a patient of small quantities of blood would speed up the healing process) weakened him further, he began to recover. By April, he caught a nasty cold which was aggravated by more bloodletting.

Lord Byron lapsed into a violent fever and died on April 19th. He was 36 years old. It is believed that Byron contracted sepsis (blood poisoning) as the result of bloodletting treatments performed with unsterilized medical instruments.

After he died, Greece's national poet, Dionysios Solomos, wrote a poem in his honor called To the Death of Lord Byron. His body was embalmed, his heart and lungs were removed, and the rest of his remains were sent to England.

The fate of Byron's heart and lungs is unclear. An urn containing the ashes of both organs was supposedly lost when the city of Messolonghi was sacked by the Ottomans in 1825. Some believe that the urn only contained the ashes of Byron's lungs, and that his heart is still in Messolonghi.

To this day, he is considered a national hero in Greece. It has been said that had he lived and led his men to victory against the Ottomans, he might have become the King of Greece, but that's highly unlikely.

When news of Lord Byron's death reached England, people were shocked and saddened despite the scandals that had plagued him in life. Huge crowds came to pay their respects as he lay in state in London. Byron was denied a Christian burial at Westminster Abbey for reason of "questionable morality."

He would later be buried at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottingham. At her request, Ada Lovelace, the love child he never knew, was buried next to him. She became famous in her own right for her collaboration with Charles Babbage on the analytical engine, a precursor to the computer.

After Byron's burial, his friends raised a thousand pounds for a statue of him to be made by legendary Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, who was an admirer of Byron's.

The statue would languish in storage for ten years, as most British institutions refused to host it on their premises. Finally, his alma mater, Trinity College, Cambridge, agreed to place the statue in its library.

Quote Of The Day

"Those who will not reason are bigots, those who cannot are fools, and those who dare not are slaves." - Lord Byron

Vanguard Video

Today's video features a reading of Lord Byron's classic poem, Darkness. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Notes For April 18th, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 18th, 1958, a federal court ruled that the famous American poet Ezra Pound be released from a hospital for the criminally insane in Washington, DC. It would mark the third act in a life drama of genius tempered by insanity - and ignorance.

Pound had been committed to the psychiatric hospital in 1946 after doctors found him not competent to stand trial for treason. During the war, Pound, who had lived in Italy for twenty years, had recorded propaganda radio broadcasts for the Mussolini regime.

After his arrest, Pound was sent to a brutal military prison where he was put in one of its "death cells" - a 6x6 foot cage perpetually lit by floodlights.

There, he spent three weeks in isolation, denied a bed, reading material, physical exercise, and communication with everyone but the chaplain. To prevent him from killing himself, his belt and shoelaces were confiscated.

Pound lost what little sanity he had left. Diagnosed as a schizophrenic with narcissistic personality disorder, he was sent back to the United States and committed to the St. Elizabeth hospital for the criminally insane, where he would languish for over a decade.

Ezra Pound was born in Idaho in 1885, but grew up in Pennsylvania. He came from a fiercely conservative Protestant family whose religion was steeped deep in anti-Semitism. His grandfather was a powerful Republican congressman.

As a boy, Pound attended military school, where the erratic, self-destructive pattern of behavior that governed his life took root. There, he learned well the importance of discipline and submission to authority for the greater good.

And yet, he was also an intelligent, conceited, and independent young man who believed that discipline and submission were tools with which to shape the unwashed, barely literate masses into a decent orderly society - not for superior people like him. He wanted to be a poet.

When it came to his own liberty, the young fascist in training took great pleasure in challenging authority. In 1907, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he taught Romance languages at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Although fiercely conservative himself and teaching at a conservative college, Pound described the conservative town of Crawfordsville as "the sixth circle of Hell" - he loathed conservative small towns.

Pound's landladies caught him in flagrante delicto with a stranded chorus girl he'd invited to stay in his apartment and kicked him out. When word of this scandalous act got back to the college, he was fired.

Finding his own country hopelessly provincial, Pound went to Europe, which he loved. When he was thirteen, he'd gone on a European tour with his mother and aunt. On his return, he settled in London, where he struck up friendships with the great poets of the day.

Pound also burst onto the literary scene himself. Along with his old girlfriend, the famous poet Hilda Dolittle, he founded the Imagism movement, the opposite of Romantic poetry. He aimed for verse with clear imagery and devoid of unnecessary wordiness.

During the first world war, Pound championed the works of James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, and other authors whose works were considered too experimental for publication. He helped get Joyce's classic debut novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man published.

Pound also began writing his most famous work - an unfinished epic poem called The Cantos, the first volume of which was published in 1924. It's rightfully considered one of the most important works of 20th century modernist poetry - and one of the most controversial.

The horrors of the Great War led Pound, who was already an anti-Semite, to believe in the anti-Semitic mythology spawned by the conflict. He believed that the war had been engineered and manipulated - on both sides - by Jewish bankers for their own profit.

Regarding the English as the willing slaves of the Jews, he moved to Paris in 1921. There, he connected with the great writers of the Lost Generation, including Tristan Tzara and Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway and Pound became good friends.

Like most of Ezra Pound's literary friends, Hemingway admired his talent and liked him as a friend, but had no use for his politics. Another of Pound's friends, the famous poet Marianne Moore - who was herself conservative - also deplored his fascism.

After living in Paris for three years, Pound's physical health was deteriorating, and he had suffered what Hemingway called "a small nervous breakdown." He moved to the warmer climate of Italy, where he became enamored with dictator Benito Mussolini.

In 1927, Pound launched his own literary magazine, which would feature the works of his friends, including Hemingway, E.E. Cummings, William Carlos Williams, and William Butler Yeats. Yet, the magazine ultimately flopped because of Pound's own writings.

As his mental state worsened, so did his writing. His editorials were often rambling, incoherent, and just plain bizarre. The man who championed fascism also praised Lenin and Confucius in his editorials!

When war came to Europe again, Ezra Pound, now totally demented and paranoid, believed that if the Allies won, the world would be enslaved by the Jews. So, he wrote and recorded propaganda radio broadcasts for which he was paid well.

These ten-minute broadcasts, filled with anti-Semitism and paranoid rants, aired on English language radio stations in Italy and Germany. After Mussolini was overthrown and executed, Pound and his mistress were seized by armed partisans, but later released.

Fearing for their lives, they turned themselves in at a nearby U.S. military post. While Pound awaited trial in a military prison, a reporter for the Philadelphia Record managed to get an interview with him.

He described Mussolini as an "imperfect character who lost his head" and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who had just committed suicide following Germany's defeat, as a modern day male Joan of Arc - "a saint."

Ezra Pound would spend more than ten years in a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. His release in 1958 came about mostly due to letter writing campaigns launched by his friends, including Ernest Hemingway, who used his clout as a recent Nobel Prize winner.

Pound's friends all agreed that he was just a poor, sick, nasty yet harmless old man who should be pitied. The psychiatrists agreed that he was no longer a danger to himself or others. After his release, he moved to Naples. When he arrived, he gave the press the fascist salute.

Prior to his release, Pound publicly claimed to have renounced his anti-Semitism, but privately, he had corresponded with John Kasper, a prominent Ku Klux Klan leader who was later jailed for bombing a school because it allowed a black girl to attend.

In his later years, Pound tried to finish his magnum opus, The Cantos, but found that his talent had dried up. He couldn't write anymore, so he abandoned the work. One of the finest poets of his time, yet his legacy was forever tarnished.

Ezra Pound finally found clarity of thought and genuine repentance in his old age. In 1967, at the age of 82, he met with legendary poet Allen Ginsberg in Venice. During their talk, Pound summed up his personal and artistic failings:

My own work does not make sense. A mess... my writing, stupidity and ignorance all the way through... the intention was bad, anything I've done has been an accident, in spite of my spoiled intentions the preoccupation with stupid and irrelevant matters... but my worst mistake was the stupid suburban anti-Semitic prejudice, all along that spoiled everything... I found after 70 years that I was not a lunatic but a moron. I should have been able to do better... it’s all doubletalk... it’s all tags and patches ... a mess.

Quote Of The Day

"Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree." - Ezra Pound

Vanguard Video

Today's video features a rare recording of Ezra Pound reading from his classic epic poem, The Cantos. Enjoy!

Friday, April 14, 2023

Notes For April 14th, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 14th, 1939, The Grapes of Wrath, the classic, Pulitzer Prize winning novel by the legendary American writer John Steinbeck, was published.

Steinbeck had previously scored a literary triumph with his acclaimed and controversial novella, Of Mice and Men (1937). The Grapes of Wrath would also court controversy.

The Grapes of Wrath - the title comes from a line in the song The Battle Hymn of the Republic - told the story of the Joads, a poor family of Oklahoma sharecroppers.

Driven from their home by the Great Depression and the dust storms, the Joads go to California hoping to improve their fortunes. Instead, they encounter more hardship. The novel opens with son Tom Joad being paroled after serving time in prison for manslaughter.

On his way home, he meets Jim Casy, an ex-preacher he once knew. Casy, who shares the same initials as Jesus Christ, lost his faith after having affairs with his congregants and realizing that religion can provide no real answers or solace for the difficulties that people are experiencing in the Depression.

Tom and Casy go to Tom's uncle's house, where Tom finds his family loading their truck with their belongings. Their crops were destroyed by the dust storms and their farm has been repossessed by the bank.

So, the Joads have decided to go to California after an advertisement convinces them that the Golden State holds the key to prosperity. Leaving Oklahoma would violate Tom's parole, but he believes that it's a risk worth taking.

They head out on Route 66, and soon realize that their prospects in California may not be as good as they thought. The road is full of other families on the same journey and the makeshift camps in which they live.

The Joads hear many stories of hardship from people who have been to California, but they feel they have no choice but to continue their journey.

When they finally arrive in California, the Joads find no hope of making a decent living. There's an oversupply of labor and no rights for workers, thanks to a collusion of big corporate farmers. Smaller farmers are suffering from a collapse in prices.

The Joads find hope at Weedpatch Camp, a clean camp operated by the Resettlement Administration, one of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal agencies. Since the camp is a federal facility, the poor migrant workers are protected there from the sadistic California state policemen.

The vigilante cops had been constantly harassing and brutalizing migrant workers, trying to drive them out of the state. Unfortunately, there's not enough money and space at Weedpatch to care for all the needy.

The novel reaches its apex when the Joads end up working (unknowingly) as strike breakers at a peach orchard. A strike turns violent and Tom Joad's friend Jim Casy is murdered. Tom witnesses the crime and kills the attacker to avenge his friend's death.

Now a fugitive, Tom says goodbye to his mother and flees, vowing that wherever the road takes him, he'll act as a defender of the oppressed.

The publication of The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 was described as "a phenomenon on the scale of a national event. It was publicly banned and burned by citizens, it was debated on national radio hook-ups; but above all, it was read."

Loved by most and denounced as communist propaganda by some, The Grapes of Wrath would become one of the most thoroughly discussed and studied novels of the twentieth century.

Though author John Steinbeck had been accused of exaggerating the camp conditions to make a political point, he had actually underplayed conditions that he knew had been much worse than what he'd described in his novel. He did this to avoid being labeled a propagandist, but he was denounced anyway.

In 1940, the legendary filmmaker John Ford directed a feature film adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad and John Carradine as Jim Casy.

Though the ending of the film differs greatly from the novel, it's still rightfully considered one of the greatest films ever made. It won big at the Academy Awards, taking the Oscars for Best Actor (Fonda), Best Director (Ford), Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The legendary American folksinger Woody Guthrie was a big fan of the film. After he saw it, he wrote a song summarizing the plot for people who couldn't afford to see the movie. The result, Guthrie's classic song Tom Joad, turned out to be so long that it had to be broken into two parts.

In 1962, John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature. The prize committee cited the brilliance of The Grapes of Wrath as one of their main reasons for giving Steinbeck the award.

Quote Of The Day

"The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true." - John Steinbeck

Vanguard Video

Today's video features a lecture by Dr. Gary Hylander on John Steinbeck's classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Enjoy!

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Notes For April 13th, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 13th, 1909, the famous American writer Eudora Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi. Her parents were both schoolteachers. They didn't come from the Deep South.

Her father moved to Mississippi hoping to improve his fortunes, as a schoolteacher's salary was meager in those days. He tried his hand at bookkeeping and worked his way up, eventually becoming President of an insurance company.

Eudora Welty and her two brothers grew up in a happy, close-knit family. Her parents' favorite evening pastime was reading books aloud to each other.

The Weltys were a liberal, intellectual upper-middle class family living in the fiercely conservative, racially troubled Deep South, an experience that would have a profound effect on Eudora and her writings.

After completing her education in the Jackson public schools, Eudora Welty enrolled at the Mississippi State College for Women, then transferred to the University of Wisconsin, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in liberal arts.

She had always dreamed of becoming a writer, but it was the Great Depression, and her father discouraged her from writing because he didn't believe she could make a decent living as a writer.

In 1921, when she was twelve years old, Eudora had entered an advertising jingle writing contest held by the Mackie Pine Oil company and won the $25 grand prize, so her father encouraged her to take up a career in advertising. She enrolled at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York City.

It was 1930, and the Harlem Renaissance was in full swing. Eudora and her friends danced to jazz at black nightclubs and went to black theaters to see plays and musicals. Her love of the theater led her to see plays and musicals throughout New York City, both on and off Broadway.

When her father died in 1931, Eudora returned to Jackson. She found a job as a journalist, copywriter, and photographer for the Works Program Administration.

The WPA helped writers find work during the Depression. Eudora's work as a photographer took her on assignments throughout Mississippi, experiences she would use as fodder for her short stories.

Her first published story Death of a Traveling Salesman appeared in the literary magazine Manuscript in June of 1936. Within a couple of years, her stories would be published by respected national publications such as the Atlantic Monthly and the Southern Review.

In 1941, Eudora's first book was published. It was a short story collection titled A Curtain of Green. It received rave reviews. Her next collection, The Wide Net and Other Stories (1943) received mixed reviews.

She spent the next few years developing her skill and style, the results of which - her third short story collection, The Golden Apples (1949) - established her as a master of the form. In 1954, she won the William Dean Howells Medal of the Academy of Arts and Letters for her novella, A Ponder Heart.

For the next fifteen years, from 1955-1970, Eudora's writing output slowed to nearly a grinding halt, as she became occupied with teaching, traveling, and lecturing. She also nursed her mother through a long, fatal illness. Tragedy would continue to befall her, as she lost both of her brothers.

She did find time to work on her first novel, Losing Battles, which would be published in 1970. Far from a comeback novel, it received mixed reviews. But her next novel would win her the Pulitzer Prize.

The Optimist's Daughter (1972) tells the story of Laurel Hand, a widow who leaves her home in Chicago and goes to New Orleans to care for her aging father, Judge Clint McKelva, whose health is deteriorating following complications from an eye operation.

Laurel had been estranged from her father since he remarried after her mother died. Judge McKelva's new wife, Fay, turned out to be younger than his daughter Laurel, who is his only child.

When she's not caring for her father and reading Dickens to him, Laurel rediscovers New Orleans, the city she grew up in, and finds love and friendship in her community. Meanwhile, her stepmother Fay's antagonistic personality is the polar opposite of the warmhearted people of New Orleans.

Fay is an outsider from Texas, and she shows her true colors as her husband's health fails. After she throws a violent fit in the hospital, Judge McKelva dies from the shock of her outburst.

Later, Laurel is stunned when Fay's mother, siblings, and other relatives show up to attend her husband's funeral - Fay always claimed to have no family. Eventually, Laurel confronts Fay about her lie, but finds that she can feel only pity for the lonely, sullen Fay, who decides to go back to Texas with her family.

Laurel spends a few more days in her father's house, remembering her parents and the life she once had. She gains a new understanding of life and what influences it the most - family and friends. Mostly, she comes to understand herself.

Eudora followed her Pulitzer Prize winning novel with The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty (1980), which renewed interest in her short fiction and brought her more praise. In the 1980s, Eudora lectured at Harvard and published several works of nonfiction, including an autobiography, One Writer's Beginnings.

She retired in the early 1990s. Around this time, American software designer Steve Dorner named his new, breakthrough Internet e-mail client software after her. He was inspired by her famous short story, Why I Live at the P.O.

Eudora Welty's last published book was Country Churchyards (2000), which contained excerpts from her writings, a collection of her photographs, and essays by other writers on her work.

Two months after it was published, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. She died in July of 2001 at the age of 92.

Quote Of The Day

"Great fiction shows us not how to conduct our behavior but how to feel. Eventually, it may show us how to face our feelings and face our actions and to have new inklings about what they mean. A good novel of any year can initiate us into our own new experience." - Eudora Welty

Vanguard Video

Today's video features Eudora Welty being interviewed on the Dick Cavett Show in 1979. Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Notes For April 12th, 2022

This Day In Literary History

On April 12th, 1916, the legendary American children's book writer Beverly Cleary was born. She was born Beverly Atlee Bunn in McMinnville, Oregon. Her parents were farmers. She had no brothers or sisters. When she was six years old, her parents gave up farming and moved to Portland, Oregon.

As a little girl, Beverly loved books and reading, but when she entered first grade in Portland, she hated both her nasty teacher and the dreadful primers she was required to read in class.

After spending the first six years of her life on a farm, city living took a toll on her health, which also affected her reading skills and classwork.

In the second grade, Beverly's new teacher and the school librarian, both of whom she loved, helped her get her schoolwork up to par and rekindled her love of reading. The librarian encouraged her love of learning and natural curiosity, helping her to find good books on subjects that interested her.

At the age of eighteen, Beverly began her college education at Chaffey College in Ontario, California. She would later attend the University of California at Berkley and the University of Washington in Seattle, earning degrees in English and library science. While studying at Chaffey, she worked as a substitute librarian.

It wasn't easy paying for a college education during the Great Depression; while studying at the University of Washington, she worked through the university's cooperative education program. While doing so, she met her future husband, Clarence Cleary.

They had to elope because Clarence's Presbyterian parents were fiercely opposed to their son marrying a Catholic girl. They married anyway, and she bore him a twin son and daughter, Malcolm and Marrienne. Clarence's parents would always disapprove of his marriage to Beverly.

After graduating from the University of Washington, Beverly Cleary became a full time librarian in Yakima, Washington. Her favorite part of the job was interacting with the many children who came to borrow books.

The children often complained that there were few books written about modern children like them. Knowing that many children's books at that time were either old-fashioned, dated, or unrealistic, Beverly sympathized with the kids. She decided to try writing her own children's books.

Beverly Cleary's first children's book, Henry Huggins, was published in 1950. The novella introduced the protagonist, Henry Huggins, and his friends, who live on Klickitat Street in Portland, Oregon.

In his first book, Henry meets and adopts a skinny stray dog whom he calls Ribsy. Boy and dog become the best of friends and get involved in adventures and mischief.

Henry Huggins became a huge hit with children, and critics loved the book as well, calling Henry a "modern Tom Sawyer." Beverly Cleary would write a series of Henry Huggins books, which would introduce other popular characters.

In the second book, Henry and Beezus, we get to know Henry's best friend, Beatrice "Beezus" Quimby. She hates her nickname, Beezus, which was given to her by her little sister, who as a toddler couldn't say Beatrice.

Beezus's spunky, impish little sister Ramona, originally a minor but memorable character in the Henry Huggins series, would become Beverly Cleary's most popular character and the star of her own series of books.

The first book, Beezus and Ramona, was published in 1955. In this classic book, the precocious, irrepressible 4-year-old Ramona Quimby displays her talent for mischief as she annoys her sister, throws a party for her friends without her mother's permission, and ruins two birthday cakes.

Other memorable Ramona books include Ramona the Pest (1968), Ramona the Brave (1975), Ramona and Her Father (1977), Ramona and Her Mother (1979), Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (1981), and Ramona Forever (1984).

Fifteen years later, in 1999, Beverly Cleary came out of retirement at the age of 83 and published her last entry in the series, Ramona's World. It would also be her last published book.

Ramona's World finds the now preteen Ramona awaiting her tenth birthday. Her older sister Beezus, now 15, has started high school and is becoming a mature young woman, which irks Ramona. Meanwhile, Ramona finds herself playing a more active role in looking after her baby sister, Roberta.

As the novella progresses, Ramona deals with her own increasing maturity, as her longtime feud with her nemesis, the snobbish Susan, comes to an end, and her relationship with her old pal Danny, whom she famously nicknamed Yard Ape, is off to a new beginning - they have an obvious crush on each other.

In 1988, the Ramona books were adapted as a ten-episode TV series for Canadian public television. The brief yet memorable series featured an outstanding performance by a then unknown child actress named Sarah Polley as Ramona. The series would be picked up by American public television and released on video.

Over twenty years later, in July of 2010, Disney's Walden Media division released Ramona and Beezus, a feature film adaptation of Beezus and Ramona, but it wasn't exactly a straightforward adaptation of that book. It included plot elements from all the Ramona books.

Some complained about the film's patchwork quilt of plot elements and others criticized the casting of teen pop singer Selena Gomez as Beezus, but the movie received mostly good reviews from critics and fans, as the script did capture the spirit of the Ramona books and the film featured a winning performance by young Joey King as Ramona.

In addition to her series novels, Beverly Cleary has written many fine standalone children's novels, including Mitch and Amy (1967), Socks (1973), and Dear Mr. Henshaw (1983).

Mitch and Amy, inspired by the author's own twin children, told the story of 10-year-old twin brother and sister Mitch and Amy Huff. The Huff twins are polar opposites and bicker endlessly, each wishing to be an only child. But deep down, they really love each other - and stand up for each other when they're both victimized by the neighborhood bully.

Socks, part comedy and part drama, is the endearing tale of a spunky cat who is adopted by a young married couple. Then his loving, doting humans have a baby, and his whole world turns upside down. Socks doesn't like playing second fiddle to the annoying infant.

The Newbery Award winning Dear Mr. Henshaw told the heart wrenching story of second grader Leigh Botts, who struggles to deal with his parents' divorce, his strained relationship with his father, his loneliness, and the mysterious thief at school who keeps stealing his lunch.

As part of a class assignment, Leigh writes a letter to his favorite author, Boyd Henshaw. He and the writer become pen pals and close friends. Henshaw encourages Leigh to keep a diary of his thoughts and feelings. The narrative switches from letters to diary entries as Leigh chronicles his life.

Dear Mr. Henshaw was followed by a sequel, Strider (1991), in which Leigh and his friend Barry find a stray dog on the beach whom they name Strider. They decide to adopt Strider and share custody of him the way that most divorced couples share custody of their children.

Beverly Cleary died in March of 2021 at the age of 104. Her work continues to win new generations of fans and influence new generations of children's writers.

Quote Of The Day

“As a child, I very much objected to books that tried to teach me something. I just wanted to read for pleasure, and I did. But if a book tried to teach me, I returned it to the library.” - Beverly Cleary

Vanguard Video

Today's video features an Oregon Public Television documentary on Beverly Cleary. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Notes For April 11th, 2023

This Day In Literary History

On April 11th, 1931, the legendary American writer Dorothy Parker resigned as drama critic for the New Yorker magazine.

Best known as a poet, Dorothy began her career as a magazine writer in 1914 when Vogue hired her as an editorial assistant after one of her poems appeared in its sister magazine, Vanity Fair.

After working at Vogue for two years, Dorothy was transferred to Vanity Fair to work as a staff writer. By 1918, she had become the magazine's guest drama critic, filling in for the vacationing P.G. Wodehouse.

It was in this capacity that Dorothy Parker began developing the rapacious wit that would make her famous. Her reviews were often brutal. She offered this advice to potential audiences of one particular musical comedy: "If you don't knit, bring a book."

She reviewed a production of Leo Tolstoy's Redemption by saying, "I went into the Plymouth Theater a comparatively young woman, and I staggered out of it, three hours later, twenty years older."

Infuriated by Dorothy's scathing reviews of their plays, the wealthy, powerful producers flexed their considerable muscle to get her fired. Her friends and fellow Vanity Fair writers, Robert Benchley and Robert E. Sherwood, resigned in protest.

Together, they formed the Algonquin Round Table, a famous group of New York City writers, actors, critics, and wits. Another founding member of the group was Harold Ross, who would found the New Yorker magazine in 1925.

He named Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley as members of the magazine's board of editors, which made his investors happy. Over the next fifteen years, Dorothy would reach her peak of productivity and success.

Her first poetry collection, Enough Rope, was published in 1926. It sold nearly 50,000 copies and received great reviews. The Nation newsmagazine described her poetry as "caked with a salty humor, rough with splinters of disillusion, and tarred with a bright black authenticity."

Within the next four years, Dorothy would publish over 300 poems in the New Yorker and many other national magazines. In addition to her poetry, she also wrote humorous pieces, essays, columns, and book reviews for the New Yorker.

She also served as the magazine's drama critic for over five years. Then she tired of drama - and of the drama her scathing reviews created - and resigned as drama critic. She continued writing book reviews - under the byline Constant Reader - until 1933.

Dorothy Parker's writing talent and sparkling wit was noticed by Hollywood, and she became a screenwriter. In 1937, she co-wrote the hit film, A Star Is Born and earned an Academy Award nomination. Her political activism would eventually derail her Hollywood career.

She served as a correspondent for the communist magazine New Masses, reporting on the Spanish Civil War. In 1936, before her success with A Star Is Born, she founded the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.

During the McCarthy era of the 1950s, Dorothy protested the government's relentless and mostly illegal persecution of suspected communists and communist sympathizers. She never joined the Communist Party, but did declare herself a sympathizer.

The FBI deemed her a subversive and compiled a dossier on her that would reach 1,000 pages in length. She was never charged with a crime, but her former Hollywood studio bosses blacklisted her for years. In 1957, she moved back to New York City and served as a book reviewer for Esquire magazine.

Dorothy died of a heart attack in June of 1967 at the age of 73. She left her estate to civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. After his assassination the following year, it was passed on to the NAACP.

In 1988, the NAACP interred Dorothy's ashes in a memorial garden outside its Baltimore headquarters. The plaque in the garden reads as follows:

Here lies the ashes of Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) humorist, writer, critic. Defender of human and civil rights. For her epitaph, she suggested Excuse my dust. This memorial garden is dedicated to her noble spirit which celebrated the oneness of humankind and to the bonds of everlasting friendship between black and Jewish people. Dedicated by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. October 28, 1988

Four years later, to celebrate Dorothy's 99th birthday, the United States Postal Service honored her with a commemorative postage stamp.

Quote Of The Day

“The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.” - Dorothy Parker

Vanguard Video

Today's video features a rare recording of Dorothy Parker reading her poem, Inscription for the Ceiling of a Bedroom. Enjoy!

Friday, April 28, 2023

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