To Reach Eternity: The Letters of James Jones

Edited with a biographical Introduction by George Hendrick. Foreword by William Styron. Includes index.

Of the trio of American writers on the big scale who emerged in the '50s--Mailer, Styron and Jones--the last is the one with the most problematic reputation. This is partly because he was the least educated of them and his writing was, to put it kindly, less eloquently shaped; but also in part because he seemed insufficiently self-critical and sometimes, particularly in Go to the Widow-Maker , Some Came Running and The Merry Month of May , wrote large chunks of what seemed like barely digested naturalism. This collection of his letters, with an eloquent, sympathetic but not uncritical introduction by Styron, shows, however, how deeply involved in his art Jones was. Despite the playboy reputation of his Paris years, he worked endlessly at his writing, thought deeply about every book and wrote letters to Max Perkins and later to Burroughs Mitchell, his Scribners editors, that are more revealing of a writer's travails than most. It is fascinating to watch the callow youth of the first letters grow into the considerably sophisticated, worldly figure bantering with professors of literature about his work. Hendrick has done his editing unobtrusively, and supplies an excellent biographical note.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

These 115 letters chart the growth of the novelist's mind from his life in a World War II army barracks to his death on Long Island in 1977. They contain a good deal of biographical material, including accounts of Jones's wartime exploits, his tempestuous love affair with Lowney Handy, and his marriage to Gloria Mosolino. The most interesting letters, though, are those written to Scribner editors Maxwell Perkins and Burroughs Mitchell and to fellow writers William Styron and Norman Mailer. Jones loved writing above all else, and these professional letters reveal much about his working habits and the seriousness with which he treated his craft. Recommended for all literature collections.
- William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.