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.The legal wrangling and internecine quarrels did little to ease Kirch-wey s strains, but McWilliams s editorial work was appreciated from theoutset.Shortly after McWilliams arrived in New York, executive editorHarold Field resigned, and McWilliams took over his responsibilities.In aFebruary 1952 letter to his son, Evans Clark wrote that Kirchwey has beenunder such terri9 c pressure trying to keep The Nation a: oat that shehasn t had time for anything else not even editing the paper.Luckily CareyMcWilliams is proving to be a very capable next-in-command (Alpern 1987,225).In fact, his editorial and fund-raising duties were consuming almost allhis energy.Although he still met with editors to discuss book ideas, he did notattempt another book-length work until the mid-1970s.LEAVI NG LOS ANGELESIn February 1952, McWilliams s title on the Nation s masthead changedfrom associate editor to editorial director, and the brief sojourn in NewThe Vile Decade 183 York was beginning to look more and more permanent.After subletting thedel Vayos apartment in Greenwich Village while they were in Europe,McWilliams and Iris had rented a large, two-bedroom apartment on WestSeventy-eighth Street, where Jerry could attend public school.They werejoined there that summer by Bill Carey, who had just 9 nished his freshmanyear at Berkeley.While in New York, he dated an intern at the Nation whowas also the daughter of a donor, prompting some simple advice from hisfather: Be careful. 5The irony of McWilliams s permanent move to New York is rich, espe-cially given his earlier complaints about the eastward migration of Westernwriters.In Young Man, Stay West (1930), for example, he argued that thismigration had impeded the development of California letters and failed toreward the authors who made the journey.Only Mary Austin, he wrote,had realized that her place was in the West.Her entire career is elo-quent proof that the West is, artistically speaking, habitable. (Austin wasunconvinced; she thought that some experience in New York was impor-tant and urged Adamic to make the move east.) Besides, McWilliamsremarked, New York is a vile place to live costly, vulgar, crowded, poly-glot.and essentially provincial. Iris probably agreed with some parts of this assessment.It took time forher to adapt to apartment living she objected in particular to the cock-roaches in Greenwich Village but she soon came to appreciate NewYork s superior art, music, and theater.When the McWilliams familyarrived in New York, painters Jackson Pollack and Mark Rothko were lead-ing the abstract expressionist movement in Greenwich Village.DizzyGillespie, Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus, and a young Miles Daviswere making jazz history in the city s nightclubs.Arthur Miller and EliaKazan were collaborating productively on Broadway, and Lee Strasbergwas directing the Actors Studio, whose members would soon include Mar-lon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, and Steve McQueen.Martha Graham,another New Yorker by way of Los Angeles, was the central force in mod-ern dance, and fellow California transplant Joe DiMaggio and rookieMickey Mantle were leading the Yankees to another World Series victory.A young Allen Ginsberg and the other Beats were starting out as writers,and Norman Mailer, back in the city after a short stint in Hollywood, hadjust published Barbary Shore, a novel that pre9 gured his emergent style.Amid this swirling cultural scene, McWilliams devoted most of his184 AMERI CA N P ROP HET energy to the Nation and his family.A typical day consisted of long hoursat the of9 ce and lunch with someone associated with the magazine.In theabsence of Fante and Wills, his nightlife also became tamer.He had meet-ings and conferences several evenings a week, and the family spent othernights watching television, going out to the movies, or browsing at Barnes& Noble Bookstore on the Upper West Side.As in Los Angeles, however,he and Iris socialized frequently, and their apartment became a salon andrefuge for New York progressives. Carey s apartment on the upper WestSide was a wonderful oasis in those days, recalled journalist Bernard Nos-siter. The intelligent and decent civil liberty types all drifted in, and as dis-couraging as the country seemed, the possibilities of an open and sane soci-ety seemed alive there (Downie 1976, 210).His lunch and eveningcompanions included journalists Edgar Snow, I.F.Stone, Matty Joseph-son, and Duncan Aikman; Hugh Wilson, a professor of political science atPrinceton University; philanthropist W.H.(Ping) Ferry; and left-winglabor lawyer and Marx scholar Louis Boudin.Boudin, whom McWilliamsdescribed as a good friend in the foreword to Southern California Country,died the year after McWilliams arrived in New York, but McWilliams alsocame to know his nephew Leonard as well as Leonard s law partner, VictorRabinowitz.Although impressive, this network was less diverse than theone McWilliams had assembled in Los Angeles, where he consorted withactors, screenwriters, architects, labor of9 cials, local politicians, and novel-ists as well as journalists, professors, attorneys, judges, and activists.As McWilliams predicted, the move to New York was dif9 cult for Jerry.A shy, bright, and intense eight-year-old, he left his few close friends in LosAngeles and found the beginning of each school year nerve-wracking.Thenight before Jerry started seventh grade, he was keyed up terribly; hardlyslept last night, and we didn t either, McWilliams noted in his diary (Sept.13, 1954).The following night was no better. Same old business.Everytime he starts school, he throws a 9 t a real emotional upset. Despitethese dif9 culties, McWilliams relished the company of his son.After Jerryspent a summer visiting his grandparents in California, McWilliams wasgrateful for his return: Wonderful to have the rascal home (Sept.9, 1954).The next month, McWilliams noted appreciatively in his diary, Jerry hasbeen reading The War of the Worlds by H.G.Wells and is totally enthu-siastic. One of the great writers, he reports (Oct.26, 1954).McWilliams was no less charmed by Bill Carey, who hosted him duringThe Vile Decade 185 a 1955 stopover in San Francisco.After lunch with campaign consultantsClem Whitaker and Leone Baxter and an afternoon with Robert Kenny atthe Press Club, McWilliams was collected by his son and his 9 ancée.Bill and Carol picked me up at hotel and drove to Berkeley.They Bill,I suspect 9 xed a 9 ne dinner.Bill is a truly wonderful guy; I haven tseen him in over a year.Wonderful in every way.Has his plans all madere wedding, future etc.(Apr.18, 1955)The next month, McWilliams noted their wedding day in his diary.Afterreceiving his degree in political science and history, Bill Carey, who hadsigned up for ROTC at Berkeley, joined the army in November 1955.Heand Carol spent his 9 rst Christmas with McWilliams and Iris before mov-ing to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he received his of9 cer training.Thenext year, he shipped out to Munich, where he completed his two-yeartour.As the McWilliams family settled in to New York, Fante lobbied jocu-larly but persistently against a permanent move.Having received a largepayment for the 9 lm rights to his latest novel, Full of Life, Fante purchaseda ranch house in Malibu and promptly wrote his old friend [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]
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.The legal wrangling and internecine quarrels did little to ease Kirch-wey s strains, but McWilliams s editorial work was appreciated from theoutset.Shortly after McWilliams arrived in New York, executive editorHarold Field resigned, and McWilliams took over his responsibilities.In aFebruary 1952 letter to his son, Evans Clark wrote that Kirchwey has beenunder such terri9 c pressure trying to keep The Nation a: oat that shehasn t had time for anything else not even editing the paper.Luckily CareyMcWilliams is proving to be a very capable next-in-command (Alpern 1987,225).In fact, his editorial and fund-raising duties were consuming almost allhis energy.Although he still met with editors to discuss book ideas, he did notattempt another book-length work until the mid-1970s.LEAVI NG LOS ANGELESIn February 1952, McWilliams s title on the Nation s masthead changedfrom associate editor to editorial director, and the brief sojourn in NewThe Vile Decade 183 York was beginning to look more and more permanent.After subletting thedel Vayos apartment in Greenwich Village while they were in Europe,McWilliams and Iris had rented a large, two-bedroom apartment on WestSeventy-eighth Street, where Jerry could attend public school.They werejoined there that summer by Bill Carey, who had just 9 nished his freshmanyear at Berkeley.While in New York, he dated an intern at the Nation whowas also the daughter of a donor, prompting some simple advice from hisfather: Be careful. 5The irony of McWilliams s permanent move to New York is rich, espe-cially given his earlier complaints about the eastward migration of Westernwriters.In Young Man, Stay West (1930), for example, he argued that thismigration had impeded the development of California letters and failed toreward the authors who made the journey.Only Mary Austin, he wrote,had realized that her place was in the West.Her entire career is elo-quent proof that the West is, artistically speaking, habitable. (Austin wasunconvinced; she thought that some experience in New York was impor-tant and urged Adamic to make the move east.) Besides, McWilliamsremarked, New York is a vile place to live costly, vulgar, crowded, poly-glot.and essentially provincial. Iris probably agreed with some parts of this assessment.It took time forher to adapt to apartment living she objected in particular to the cock-roaches in Greenwich Village but she soon came to appreciate NewYork s superior art, music, and theater.When the McWilliams familyarrived in New York, painters Jackson Pollack and Mark Rothko were lead-ing the abstract expressionist movement in Greenwich Village.DizzyGillespie, Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus, and a young Miles Daviswere making jazz history in the city s nightclubs.Arthur Miller and EliaKazan were collaborating productively on Broadway, and Lee Strasbergwas directing the Actors Studio, whose members would soon include Mar-lon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, and Steve McQueen.Martha Graham,another New Yorker by way of Los Angeles, was the central force in mod-ern dance, and fellow California transplant Joe DiMaggio and rookieMickey Mantle were leading the Yankees to another World Series victory.A young Allen Ginsberg and the other Beats were starting out as writers,and Norman Mailer, back in the city after a short stint in Hollywood, hadjust published Barbary Shore, a novel that pre9 gured his emergent style.Amid this swirling cultural scene, McWilliams devoted most of his184 AMERI CA N P ROP HET energy to the Nation and his family.A typical day consisted of long hoursat the of9 ce and lunch with someone associated with the magazine.In theabsence of Fante and Wills, his nightlife also became tamer.He had meet-ings and conferences several evenings a week, and the family spent othernights watching television, going out to the movies, or browsing at Barnes& Noble Bookstore on the Upper West Side.As in Los Angeles, however,he and Iris socialized frequently, and their apartment became a salon andrefuge for New York progressives. Carey s apartment on the upper WestSide was a wonderful oasis in those days, recalled journalist Bernard Nos-siter. The intelligent and decent civil liberty types all drifted in, and as dis-couraging as the country seemed, the possibilities of an open and sane soci-ety seemed alive there (Downie 1976, 210).His lunch and eveningcompanions included journalists Edgar Snow, I.F.Stone, Matty Joseph-son, and Duncan Aikman; Hugh Wilson, a professor of political science atPrinceton University; philanthropist W.H.(Ping) Ferry; and left-winglabor lawyer and Marx scholar Louis Boudin.Boudin, whom McWilliamsdescribed as a good friend in the foreword to Southern California Country,died the year after McWilliams arrived in New York, but McWilliams alsocame to know his nephew Leonard as well as Leonard s law partner, VictorRabinowitz.Although impressive, this network was less diverse than theone McWilliams had assembled in Los Angeles, where he consorted withactors, screenwriters, architects, labor of9 cials, local politicians, and novel-ists as well as journalists, professors, attorneys, judges, and activists.As McWilliams predicted, the move to New York was dif9 cult for Jerry.A shy, bright, and intense eight-year-old, he left his few close friends in LosAngeles and found the beginning of each school year nerve-wracking.Thenight before Jerry started seventh grade, he was keyed up terribly; hardlyslept last night, and we didn t either, McWilliams noted in his diary (Sept.13, 1954).The following night was no better. Same old business.Everytime he starts school, he throws a 9 t a real emotional upset. Despitethese dif9 culties, McWilliams relished the company of his son.After Jerryspent a summer visiting his grandparents in California, McWilliams wasgrateful for his return: Wonderful to have the rascal home (Sept.9, 1954).The next month, McWilliams noted appreciatively in his diary, Jerry hasbeen reading The War of the Worlds by H.G.Wells and is totally enthu-siastic. One of the great writers, he reports (Oct.26, 1954).McWilliams was no less charmed by Bill Carey, who hosted him duringThe Vile Decade 185 a 1955 stopover in San Francisco.After lunch with campaign consultantsClem Whitaker and Leone Baxter and an afternoon with Robert Kenny atthe Press Club, McWilliams was collected by his son and his 9 ancée.Bill and Carol picked me up at hotel and drove to Berkeley.They Bill,I suspect 9 xed a 9 ne dinner.Bill is a truly wonderful guy; I haven tseen him in over a year.Wonderful in every way.Has his plans all madere wedding, future etc.(Apr.18, 1955)The next month, McWilliams noted their wedding day in his diary.Afterreceiving his degree in political science and history, Bill Carey, who hadsigned up for ROTC at Berkeley, joined the army in November 1955.Heand Carol spent his 9 rst Christmas with McWilliams and Iris before mov-ing to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he received his of9 cer training.Thenext year, he shipped out to Munich, where he completed his two-yeartour.As the McWilliams family settled in to New York, Fante lobbied jocu-larly but persistently against a permanent move.Having received a largepayment for the 9 lm rights to his latest novel, Full of Life, Fante purchaseda ranch house in Malibu and promptly wrote his old friend [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]