Home | Best Seller | FAQ | Contact Us
Browse
Art & Photography
Biographies & Autobiography
Body,Mind & Health
Business & Economics
Children's Book
Computers & Internet
Cooking
Crafts,Hobbies & Gardening
Entertainment
Family & Parenting
History
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Detective
Nonfiction
Professional & Technology
Reference
Religion
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports & Outdoors
Travel & Geography
   Book Info

enlarge picture

Erskine Caldwell: Selected Letters, 1929-1955  
Author: Erskine Caldwell
ISBN: 0786401087
Format: Handover
Publish Date: June, 2005
 
     
     
   Book Review

Book Description
"I'm just an ordinary writer," Erskine Caldwell once wrote. "I'm not trying to sell anything; I'm not trying to buy anything. I'm just trying to present my vision of life." His ostensibly unsolicitous vision of Southern grotesques, of the slack-jawed, pellagra-ridden sharecroppers, repressed farmwives, and oversexed nymphets, elicited, however, anything but an "ordinary" response. Hailed by the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Maxwell Perkins, reviled by others as a pornographer or sensationalist, Caldwell was once called "America's most popular author." Once the furor flagged, Caldwell was relegated to the "mansions of subliterature," where his reputation resides today. This book contains more than 150 previously unpublished letters, notes, telegrams, and postcards written between 1929 and 1955, at the peak of Caldwell's popularity and influence, all extensively annotated. The Introduction assays Caldwell's significance in American popular culture and literary studies and establishes the importance of Caldwell's correspondence as a means of understanding the intentions of a man who was otherwise terse and unforthcoming about his work.

About the Author
Associate professor of English Robert L. McDonald, director of Writing Across the Curriculum at the Virginia Military Institute, is on the executive committee for the Popular/American Culture Association in the South. He lives in Lexington, Virginia.




Erskine Caldwell: Selected Letters, 1929-1955

FROM THE CRITICS

Booknews

Presents over 150 previously unpublished letters, notes, telegrams, and postcards that southern US novelist Caldwell (1903-87) wrote during the peak of his popularity. Edits many of them for space, deleting such details as the times of trains. His poor typing and uncertain spelling have been retained, though the correct spelling is provided in brackets when his creativity crosses into obscurity. Footnotes make clarifications and refer to other writing; otherwise there is no bibliography. The introduction discusses his place in American literature. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

     



Home | Private Policy | Contact Us
@copyright 2001-2005 ReadingBee.com