PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/146138 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-10-09 and may be subject to change. HAMILTON BASSO (1904-1964) The Making Of A Novelist am later confided in me, H in open candor, that as a youth his dream was to be one day written about at book-length in American Literature. "Then I scaled my hopes down to a chapter, " he said. "Then to a paragraph. Now I'd settle for a footnote. " "Oh, for God's sake, " I said then, and clairvoyantly enough. A solid oeuvre stands clearly on the shelf and a scholar is writing a book. Table of Contents Acknowledgments ν Introduction viii Chapter I: New Orleans Beginnings 13 i. A Small Boy Sits on a Long Wharf 15 ii. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: From College Drop-out to Double Dealer Member 26 iii. New York Blues 45 iv. You Can't Go Home Again: Basso's Return to New Orleans 53 Chapter II ¡Innocence and Experiment 61 i. Relics and Angels (1929): A Formative Novel 63 ii. "Rain on Aspidistra" (1933): An Analysis 86 Chapter III: Scribbling on the Side: Basso the Biographer, Literary Critic and Epistolary Rebel 101 i. The View from Pisgah Forest A Life in the Mountains 103 ii. Ode to a Confederate Creole: The Life of P.G.T. Beauregard 107 iii. Literary Criticism: Defining the South 119 iv. More Literary Criticism: Defining Thomas Wolfe 128 v. Basso Politics: A Battle of the Pens with Matthew Josephson and Malcolm Cowley 144 vi. Leaving the South 158 Chapter IV: A Southern Renascence Temper The Thirties' Novels 167 i. The Southern Renascence: An Attempted Definition 169 ii. Cinnamon Seed (1934): A New South Adaptation of the Plantation Novel.... 175 iii. In Their Own Image ( 1935): Millionaires and Mill Towns 193 iv. Courthouse Square (1936): The Southerner in Conflict with His Hometown 199 v. Days Before Lent ( 1939): The Southerner in Conflict with Himself. 214 vi. Summing Up: Hamilton Basso and the Southern Renascence 234 Chapter V: The Middle Years: New Yorker Stories and Forties' Novels 237 i. The Forties: A War Within and Without 239 ii. The Move to Connecticut 243 iii. The New Yorker Years (1944-1961) 247 iv. Wine of the Country (1941): Portrait of a Marriage, Marshes and Madness.. 258 v. The Huey Long Articles and Sun in Capricorn (1942): Hamilton Basso's Lifelong Lobbying Against Longism 269 vi. The Greenroom ( 1949): Mystery and Manners on the European Continent... 279 Chapter VI: The Final Years: The Reward of Recognition 287 i. The Fifties: Belletnstic Best-Sellers 289 ii. The South Revisited: The View From Pompey 's Head (1954) 294 in. The light Infantry Ball (1959): Plantation Material Gone Wrong 305 iv. The Sixties: The Final Years 314 Conclusion 331 Bibliography of Hamilton Basso 337 Acknowledgments The composition of Hamilton Basso ( 1904-1964): The Making of a Novelist" was made possible by the financial support of the Catholic University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, the United States Government and the Thomas Wolfe Society: a grant from the University of Nijmegen, a Fulbright Fellowship and the William B. Wisdom Award greatly facilitated my research in the various rare book, manuscript and research libraries in the United States. To the libraries and librarians who assisted me in my research I extend my thanks: Beinecke Library at Yale University, New Haven; Harvey S. Firestone Library at Princeton University, Princeton; Houghton Library at Harvard University, Cambridge; Newberry Library, Chicago; Howard Tilton Library at Tulane University, New Orleans; Patterson Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Fletcher Library at Arizona State University-West, Phoenix and the University Library at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. While many people have contributed to this critical biography, I want to single out those individuals whose backing has been instrumental to the completion of this study. Of those who have known Hamilton Basso personally and who have so willingly shared their memories with me, I want to thank Keith Basso, Hamilton Basso's son; the late Mary McCrady-Basso, his sister; the late Cleanth Brooks and the late Peter de Vries. I could not have done any justice to the "man behind the writing," if 1 had not been able to meet and interview Etolia S. Basso, Hamilton Basso's widow. She answered my never-ending questions, made helpful suggestions, showed me letters and welcomed me many times in her home. She is a very special woman and she has become a very dear friend. ν While "Basso scholars" are a non-existent breed, Joseph Milhchap is one of the few experts with whom I could discuss Basso in detail. His informative letters, as well as his 1979 book, Hamilton Basso (Boston· Twayne), have been very useful Others, who took a deep interest in my subject, were Aldo Magi, editor of the Thomas Wolfe Review and David Madden, writer and en tic. As I was traveling through the United States in 1991 and 1992,1 enjoyed a great deal of hospitality from family and friends. They made my travel truly memorable and alleviated the loneliness I felt while I was on the road. I would like to remember especially Bonnie Bertram, John and Ann Burrows, Angela, John and Tony Calabro, Daphne Ebskamp, Dale Edmonds, Paul Fischer, Monique and Enc Foster, Cookie and Lester Gross, Janet and Peter Harckham, Christian and Micheline Kirsebom, Ingnd and Mary Lohr, Bud and Dot Lake, Chns and Gretchen Lake, Bonnie and Jack MacDonald, Manon and Jack McQuade, Kevin and Debbie McQuade and Robin and Jan McQuade. I am especially indebted to the warm hospitality the Holland family offered me (repeatedly) in their beautiful home in Winchester, Massachusetts; being true to their name, they provided me with a "Holland" away from home, thank you Alice, Dick, Henry, Sandy and Matthew. While my former professors at the English Department of Leiden University, The Netherlands, followed my progress with interest and encouraged me during some of my weaker moments, I want to mention Cednc Barfoot and Tjebbe Westendorp especially. I have really appreciated the infinite support and praise I received from dear colleagues across the Atlantic: John Calabro's funny letters always reassured me and so did those by Susan Davidsmeyer, Matthew Holland and Jerry Rosen. I feel especially fortunate to have met and befriended Richard Kennedy, Professor-Ementus at Temple University; he has been very generous with good advice and many letters of reference Of my colleagues at Nijmegen, Hans Bak, Jaap van der Bent, Emily Embree, Manan Janssen and Frank van Meurs come to mind immediately; Hans and Manan have been vi invaluable proofreaders, Jaap helped me rewrite my Dutch summary, Emily's e-mail was a true lifeline and Frank's loyal support was indispensable. Believing that research and teaching are forever linked, I would like to thank the groups of students I had m Nijmegen in the spring semesters of 1993 and 1994, as well as the students I taught at Glendale Community College in Phoenix in the spring semester of 1995. Their enthusiasm has been a great inspiration for my research and writing. My advisor, colleague and fnend, Ger Janssens, has taught me that patience is indeed a virtue; I am grateful for his expert advice, his knowledgeable insights, his dedication, his encouragement, his enthusiasm, his promptness and his fine sense of humor. My proofreader and dear fnend, Matthew Holland, has been invaluable in giving last- minute comments and advice. I hope this study will inspire him to finish his Ph.D dissertation, a work which will far outshine mine. My family has been particularly supportive and I want to thank them for being such wonderful company thank you Laurine, Paul, Matthijs, Laurine jr., Tim, Ellen, Arthur, Daan, Olivier, Minke, Marc, Julia, Manjke and last but not least, mom and dad; I will always remember the financial and emotional support you gave me. Finally, I want to dedicate this book to my biggest fan and husband, Jonathan Lake. He has always been there for me, on the road, at home and abroad. He has shared my little successes and he has seen my tears. I could not have finished this work without his unconditional love and affection. Denver, August 1995 Inez Hollander Lake vii Introduction At the ùme of his death in 1964, Hamilton Basso was a celebrated author. He received a lengthy obituary in the New York Times and, ten years earlier, his best known novel, The View From Pompey's Head (1954), survived the New York Times best-seller list for forty weeks The book was translated into seven languages and considered popular enough to be converted into a Braille version. In 1995, however, the name Hamilton Basso has left few traces m the public memory. In the thirty-one years since his death only two works have been written on this Southern novelist; one is an unpublished Ph.D. dissertation by Clarence Ikerd and the other is a volume in the Twayne senes by Joseph Milhchap.1 Both works appeared in the seventies and nothing of any substance has been wntten about Basso since. For a comprehensive assessment of Hamilton Basso's life and oeuvre I will resort to a biographical method in which records such as letters, dianes and interviews with relatives and fnends may illustrate, explain and reinforce the literary work.