Devil's Elbow - Hardcover

Cheney, Brainard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0983936560 ISBN 13: 9780983936565

Publisher: Mmjw Bookhouse, 2012

Synopsis

Marcellus Hightower, the young boy in the novel, THIS IS ADAM, returns to his hometown as a grown man in DEVIL'S ELBOW. He seeks answers, turning for help to Adam Atwell, his surrogate father. Adam, a black man in the segregated South, shares with Marcellus the haunting memory of David Ransom's murder on the mighty Ocmulgee River. The memories interweave with a quarter century of Marcellus Hightower's quest for love and redemption, through his developing character, economic calamity and the turmoil of war. With Adam's sage guidance, he finds a way to "cleanse his heart" and face life anew. "DEVIL'S ELBOW is a powerful novel indeed. The old verities-a man's troubles with women, with himself, with love and guilt-are all treated as freshly as if Cheney had discovered them." Walker Percy (1969)

About this title

About the Author

Brainard Cheney published four novels in his lifetime, all based on historical and autobiographical events from the south Georgia river country. A fifth-generation native of the area, Cheney grew up in the small town of Lumber City on the Ocmulgee River. Cheney attended Vanderbilt University and as a young man settled in Nashville for the rest of his life. He began as a crime reporter and worked his way up to political reporting for the Nashville Banner. Among his friends were members of the Agrarian and Fugitive literary movements which coalesced around the poet John Crowe Ransom. His first novel, LIGHTWOOD, appeared in 1939. It covered a period from circa 1870 through 1890, retelling in fiction a story based on the Dodge Land Wars. Local landowners (“squatters”) battled northern investors who came to harvest the vast timber forests. His second novel, RIVER ROGUE, depicted the 19th century world of timber raftsmen who piloted timber log rafts to market on the rivers. Based on extensive research, the novel re-created a rough-and-tumble world now lost to history. It appeared in 1942 and received good reviews, earning Cheney a movie option from MGM though the film was never made. For the next twenty years, Cheney worked in Tennessee politics as a speechwriter and public relations operative for a Senator and a Governor. In researching his novels, he was assisted by Robin Bess, a man born into slavery. Cheney’s third novel, THIS IS ADAM, published in 1958, tells Robin’s heroic story in fiction. This inspiring work is set in the fictional town of Riverton, in Cheney’s south Georgia river country. A crooked land deal threatens the family’s timber holdings. The character Adam Atwell (inspired by Robin Bess) helps Lucy Hightower, a fictional version of Cheney’s mother, avoid catastrophe. Ten-year-old Marcellus (based on Cheney as a boy), turns to Adam for guidance in growing up. Mr. Cheney’s fourth novel, DEVIL'S ELBOW, appeared in 1969. It continued the story of Marcellus , covering from 1921 to 1945. The murder of his childhood friend haunts Marcellus into middle-age. With the love of his wife, Melanie, and guidance from Adam, Marcellus comes to an awakening of the spirit. Cheney continued writing plays and articles until the end of his life, . He and his wife, Frances Neel Cheney, enjoyed a wide circle of friends, including fellow authors Flannery O’Connor, Caroline Gordon and Robert Penn Warren. Brainard Cheney died in 1990 at the age of 89.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mmjw Bookhouse
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0983936560
• ISBN 13: 9780983936565
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 262
• Editor: Whigham Stephen