Willie Morris on James Jones in Memphis
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Vol. 14, No. 2 Summer 2005 Memories of ‘Luxor’: Willie Morris on James Jones in Memphis After serving in combat on which he would fictionalize as too, lived with the knowledge Guadalcanal for about three Luxor, and later when he was on that as “retreads” they would months, James Jones was Limited Duty at Camp Camp- eventually be reassigned to new evacuated on account of an in- bell in Kentucky. He was still units and sent back to combat in jured ankle to the States., and reading extensively, and putting Europe, just as Sergeant Strange arrived at Kennedy Hospital in notes down on paper, a practice would be in Whistle. Memphis, Tennessee in May, he had continued on Guadalca- After a time the walking 1943. There he met other veter- nal. He had brought some of wounded would get passes from ans recovering from their these notes back with him, and the hospital to go into Memphis. wounds and traumas, and ex- later could hardly read them, Everything rankled them: the perienced the sometimes wild they were so caked with mud. unrealistic war movies which all environment of wartime Mem- There was one small notebook seemed to have rules like foot- phis. These experiences were which he kept in those days in ball games, the home-front con- the basis of Jones’s final novel, Memphis, with a long list of fidence. It was a different Whistle, which was completed girls and their telephone num- America altogether from the one with the assistance of his friend, bers, and a strange muted com- so many of them had left before Willie Morris. This account of ment on one of its pages: “The the war. There was an unex- Jones‘s time in Memphis is ex- Army is killing the creativity in pected affluence everywhere. cerpted from Morris’ 1978 book me.” Whatever mystery it is that Everyone had a cynical, know- James Jones: A Friendship, gets a man there, he was twenty- ing grin. Everyone seemed to be (currently available in a 1999 two years old and a writer. getting rich. In the summer of edition from the University of Il- The hospital in Memphis that year—1943—he was riding linois Press.) had a “grim and iron-clad on a street bus and heard one mood.” The men did not laugh plant worker say to another: “If very much about their wounds, this son-of-a-bitching fucking [Jones] was among the first the way they did in The Satur- war only lasts two more years, large waves of wounded day Evening Post. They knew I’ll have it made for life.” And shipped back from the Pacific to and talked of the less fortunate he could not get angry at the California, and then by hospital ones who were blind, or para- man. He felt he understood train to various points in the lyzed, or awaiting amputations. States. In what, many years There were two full wards of See page 11 for the th later, would become the novel foot and leg amputations alone program of the 15 Whistle, there are strong auto- from frozen feet in the Attu in- Annual James Jones biographical echoes in the vasion in the Aleutians, “where Literary Society months he spent in the Kennedy some forgetful planner had sent Symposium, General Hospital in Memphis, the troops in in leather boots.” Memphis, October 8, Many of the less serious cases, 2005 him—the man was just another walking down the corridors THE JAMES JONES worker who remembered the on the various floors until LITERARY SOCIETY Depression. Some of the over- you heard the noise. seas men went back on crowded Money was not much of a NEWSLETTER buses or trains to their towns on problem. Nor were women. There was always plenty of Vol. 14, No. 2 furlough, and often got drunk booze from somebody, and Summer, 2005 and in trouble be cause they there were also unattached could not talk with anyone, women at the hotel floor Editor most of all their families. And parties. You could always Thomas J. Wood they would return to the hospital go up to the Starlight Roof and find yourself a nice girl Editorial Advisory Board glad to be once again among and dance with her awhile Dwight Connelly those who had lived through the Kevin Heisler same things they had. The fu- and bring her down. Every- Richard King ture author knew about Grey- body screwed. Sometimes, it did not even matter if Michael Mullen hound rides home during these there were other people in Hugh Mulligan war years, and would write of the room or not at the swirl- David Nightingale one such journey in Whistle: ing kaleidoscopic parties. The James Jones Society News- Couples would ensconce The ride itself was a long letter is published quarterly to keep themselves in the bath- members and interested parties ap- half-waking nightmare of rooms of the suites and lock prised of activities, projects and up- heavy-smelling bodies, pa- the door. coming events of the Society; to pro- per-wrapped bologna mote public interest and academic sandwiches, swollen feet, When they could get away from research in the works of James toilet stops, beers, half pints the hospital, it was to the parties Jones; and to celebrate his memory of whiskey, oncoming head- and legacy. lights flashing uneasily over in the Peabody that the wounded Submissions of essays, features, the sleeping faces in the members from the old com- anecdotes, photographs, etc., per- darkened interior. pany—Winch, Prell, Strange, taining to the author James Jones Landers—would come in Whis- may be sent to the editor for consid- eration. Every attempt will be made to When they were out on passes, tle. return material, if requested upon they frequented the Peabody As with many of the over- submission. Material may be edited Hotel on Union Street (right seas men, he got eleven months’ for length, clarity and accuracy. Send back pay at a corporal’s rate. submissions to: down the way from the Gayosa, where Nathan Bedford Forrest With this, and an allotment he Thomas J. Wood had astounded the Northern of- had been sending home to a Archives/Special Collections, LIB 144 ficers during the occupation of bank for quite a few years to go University of Illinois at Springfield Memphis by riding his horse to college on when he got out of P.O. Box 19243 the Army, he had more than Springfield, IL, 62794-9423 through the lobby)—a place I [email protected]. myself remember well from my four thousand dollars. He and trips to Memphis when I was two others from the hospital Writers’ guidelines available upon re- growing up 150 miles away rented a suite in the Peabody at quest and online at the James Jones full rates for two months. When Literary Society web page: down in Yazoo City, Missis- sippi. they were unable to leave the http://jamesjoneslitsociety.vinu hospital, they gave the keys to .edu/ The great influx of ser- someone else. Their suite be- vicemen had taken it over came one of the big party spots. Information on the James Jones First from the local gentry, and at Most of the girls who flocked to Novel Fellowship: just about any time of day or their suite were defense plant http://www.wilkes.edu/humanities/ night there were always be- workers from small towns in the jones.html tween half-a-dozen and a middle South who had migrated dozen wide-open drinking to Memphis for the jobs and the parties going in the rooms and suites, where it was excitement. easy to get invited simply by continued on page 6 Page 2 – Summer 2005 James Jones Literary Society Newsletter Anne Campisi Wins “It also is a study of a scien- Thomas Horan tist seeking to demonstrate the First Novel Fellowship beneficial qualities of citrus Winner of the 2005 On Her Third Try plants for scurvy and other dis- Jones Creative eases. His cargo of lime trees Writing Award It’s an ancient motto and Anne represents a mission of enlight- Campisi of St. Paul, MN, put it ened hope while, beneath the Thomas Horan of Murphysboro, to good use this year: “If at first decks, another tale of betrayal Illinois, has been named the you don’t succeed, try again.” and debauchery as well as winner of the 2005 James Jones A former finalist in the an- amazing charity and friendship Creative Writing Award for his nual James Jones First Novel unfolds during the long sea short story entitled “Ivy” in the Fellowship competition, Ms. journey. contest co-sponsored by Lincoln Campisi now has been named “Campisi’s novel is a bril- th Trail College in Robinson, Illi- the 14 winner of the award for liant re-creation of a lost time nois, and the James Jones Liter- her work, “The Lime Tree.” presented via a rich tapestry of ary Society. She will receive the $10,000 voices.” The annual competition is first prize at the 2005 JJLS Runner-up in the 2005 First open to past, present and would- symposium in the Memphis Novel competition was Irwin be students at Lincoln Trail. Peabody Hotel on October 8. Greenstein of Baltimore, for his The 40-year-old Horan, who The fellowship contest, novel, “When The World Was was raised in Palestine, Illinois, which is co-sponsored by the Square.” Set on the West Coast and who once attended Lincoln Humanities Division at Wilkes in the 1950s, it’s a story of the Trail where he was named Out- University in Pennsylvania and Beat Generation, including Jack standing Literature Student of the James Jones Literary Soci- Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and the Year, currently is finishing ety, drew more than 600 entries Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and fol- work on his B.A.