Genius Denied The Life and Death of Max Ewing. This item is unavailable.Genius Denied The Life and Death of Max Ewing

Maxwell Anderson Ewing was the subject of whispered family conversation since at least 1934, and probably earlier. Usually his accomplishments as a pianist, composer, novelist, poet, sculptor, and photographer were overshadowed by his homosexuality and his unlikely friendship with a prize fighter named Jack Pollock. Max’s suicide in 1934, just after celebrating his 31st birthday, adds drama and sadness to this remarkable man’s mostly happy but short life. In his brief life span, Max mingled with dozens of artists, authors, composers, musicians, politicians, stage and movie stars, and wealthy families in Europe, New York, and Hollywood and he left at least a small mark on the literary and musical scenes in America. His only published novel, Going Somewhere, can be read today with the same quiet amusement and recognition of society’s foibles as it was 80 years ago. Max’s artistic skills blossomed when he was still a young man, but a series of tragedies snipped the flower before it could fully mature. First came the death of his father, John Caleb Ewing, at the age of 65. Two years later, in 1934, his mother, Clara Barto Ewing, became mentally and emotionally unstable, and soon she passed on. Congruent with both these losses was the Great Depression, which caused financial difficulties for the family, aggravated Clara’s decline, cut short the sales of Max’s novel, and created a job shortage for almost everyone in the country, including Max. Like the protagonist in a Greek drama, he seemed immobilized by this series of events, unable to recover from the shocks, too stunned to act. At the same time he was eerily aware of his lethargy. Ironically, Max spent the last few months of his life in his small hometown of Pioneer, Ohio, the community he saw as provincial, meddling, and stifling. On June 16, 1934, two months after his mother’s death, he drowned by walking into the Susquehanna River in Binghamton, New York. Max’s best moments and his worst moments—and much in between—are clearly revealed in his letters, written primarily between 1926 and 1934. Few of the letters are dated, although many of them include the day of the week in which they were written, and in a very few cases the envelopes—with postmarks—have survived. Where necessary, I used content to determine at least an approximate date of origin. Jack Pollock’s letters to Max were especially difficult to place in chronological order. Almost all of Max’s letters and many of Jack’s contain references to people and places that may be unfamiliar to today’s readers. A list of these references, with a line or two of biographical data or explanatory material, is located in Appendix B. Unfortunately, no information was uncovered regarding a few of the people and they remain merely names.

Wallace K. Ewing earned his bachelor and master degrees from Michigan State University and his doctoral degree from the University of Illinois. He was appointed to a Fulbright Lectureship at the University of Tehran in Iran, taught Peace Corps volunteers in West Africa, and trained master degree candidates in Puerto Rico to teach English in the public schools. After serving as Provost of Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire, he returned to his hometown of Grand Haven, Michigan. Dr. Ewing spent 2006-2007 at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics in Dalian, China teaching English writing and American literature. Since his return to Grand Haven Dr. Ewing has continued to research and write about local history and genealogy. He is the author of more than a dozen books.