James Jones and the Handy Writers' Colony / George Hendrick, Helen Howe, and Don Sackrider.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hendrick, George.

Contributor:

Howe, Helen, 1927-

Sackrider, Don.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jones, James, 1921-1977--Homes and haunts--Illinois--Marshall.

Jones, James.

Jones, James, 1921-1977.

Handy Writers' Colony.

Artist colonies--Illinois--Marshall--History.

Artist colonies.

Authors, American--20th century--Biography.

Authors, American.

History.

Illinois--Marshall.

Handy Writers' Colony--History.

Marshall (Ill.)--History.

Marshall (Ill.).

Handy, Lowney Turner.

Handy, Harry.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

x, 156 pages, 10 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, [2001]

Summary:

This story of James Jones and the Handy Colony is a popular account of one of the most unusual writing colonies ever established in the United States.

Between his army enlistment in 1939 and the wound that sent him to a Memphis hospital in 1943, James Jones suffered the loss of both his mother and his father, a victim of suicide. Psychologically precarious, Jones drank heavily, often brawling in bars. Concerned about his erratic behavior, his aunt took Jones to meet Lowney Handy, who took virtual control of his life, securing his discharge from the army and, with her husband, Harry, inviting him into their home. Lowney became Jones's writing teacher -- and his lover.

An aspiring but unpublished writer when she began the Handy Writers' Colony in Marshall, Illinois, Lowney Handy developed a reputation as an inspirational teacher of writing. Her husband, an oil refinery executive from nearby Robinson, supported her in this endeavor, which proved quite successful. The Handy Colony achieved national attention through the success of Jones, its most celebrated member and the author of From Here to Eternity and Some Came Running.

Lowney Handy believed that literally anyone could be trained to become a writer. Her unusual method of teaching writing -- having her students copy great works of literature -- was her way to show how the masters achieved their success. The method might have been dismissed as merely eccentric except that James Jones and others parlayed her artistic method into fantastic success.

Contents:

Introduction: Lowney, Harry, Jim, and the Colony 1

1. Lowney Turner Handy: The Early Life of a "Literary Angel" 6

2. James Jones: The Early Years of a Returning Soldier Who "Wants to Write" 19

3. The Beginnings of From Here to Eternity and of the Handy Colony 30

4. Planning for the Colony Compound and Completing From Here to Eternity 49

5. The Colony Gets Under Way in Marshall, Illinois 65

6. Real Life and Fiction at the Colony 84

7. Colonists Get Published and Jim Leaves for New York 103

8. Jim's Marriage and Its Consequences for the Colony 110

9. The Final Years 120.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-149) and index.

ISBN:

0809323656

0809323702

OCLC:

43945329