“Lawrence was an extremely complicated and contradictory young man when he wrote his first novel…” Prologue — Jessie Chambers Haggs Farm was Lawrence’s Second Home

“Steinbeck and Jean-Paul Sartre attempted to respond to this ideological choice and would differ in their political leanings: Sartre was an outspoken critic of American capitalist hegemony, whereas Steinbeck became an avid opponent of the communist bloc…” An Introduction of Sorts In 1954 John Steinbeck wrote a piece for Le Figaro, called ‘I Am…

Plus Agnes Von Kurowsky, Adriana Ivancich, and One or Two Others… Ernest Hemingway was never the serial lover that some writers have suggested. He was a serial marrier for sure. He could certainly charm women and fall in ‘love’ over a couple of drinks. …

A Book about Jazz and Jazz Musicians Back in 1962, when Whitney Balliett’s book, Dinosaurs in the Morning, was first published in the US, Jazz was serious stuff: an important part of life, and not just the musical side of life, but life, in fact it had become — with…

“I had to leave…” The Old Man at the Bridge A Short Story from 1938 “Did you leave the cage door open?” Over the last years I have written a good many pieces about Ernest Hemingway, including a play, and will never grow tired of doing so, for I believe him to be at the very…

Other American Writers & Death Part I — Arthur Miller “ After dinner Miller walked with Steinbeck up Sixth Avenue…” In 1943 Miller was working on a screenplay adaptation of war correspondent Ernie Pyle’s book, Here is Your War, and on the evening of the meeting with Steinbeck (this was early in 1943 before Steinbeck…

World War II Part 1 — Once There Was A War Steinbeck’s Collected Second World War Dispatches

“My name is Paul.” Prologue The Proud Valley — A Film by Penrose Tennyson Paul Robeson was my mother’s favourite actor and singer, with his film, The Proud Valley, one that never failed to move her. We saw that film together many times, with its subtle message about the futility of…

“Living well is the best revenge…” — Introduction Of course, all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work — the big sudden blows that come, or seem to come, from outside — the ones you remember and blame things on and, in moments of weakness, tell your…