#Erskine Caldwell

[abatelunare]

- Nulla ho combinato ieri. Nulla ho combinato ieri l'altro. Nulla di nulla ho combinato prima di ieri l'altro. E nulla sto combinando nemmeno oggi. (Erskine Caldwell, Il piccolo campo).

#narrativa #letteratura americana #narrativa americana #erskine caldwell #il piccolo campo

[lisamarie-vee]

#erskine caldwell #tobacco road #book cover #1930s #hatshop

[oktobercountry]

It has been weeks and weeks since anything strange happened, and so I thought I was finished with this haunting business. 

As usual, let’s call this fiction, so I can tell you the truth.

With all of the dust-stuck doors, lights that act like beacons, or antique toys leading me to the last tbr of some dear departed to be finished… it has been a little distracting from the daily running of the bookshop.

When this idea of selling books first reared its head, I realized that I had been fantasizing about something like this nearly all my life in one form or another- a coffee shop, or vintage or oddities shop- but always surrounded by books!

So, as I told you before, I rented space in this big 1800s Dairy to open my bookshop.  Shortly after moving in Covid bloomed like a corpse flower, whose putrid perfume caused me to never open my doors but to a few scheduled browsings and then to sell completely online. 

Surprisingly it was enough, although I worried that the people were simply stuck in their homes and had finally tired of Tik Tok and Zooming their newfound twirking skills. I feared that readers would decide that books were objects that hold down shelves- but you didn’t, because you are readers.

So there I was- selling books and records, surrounded by the best stories in the world, and dealing with the best people- you, the readers.  Then came doors stuck shut with dust.  The lights that I would discover still burning dully after I had switched them off- and other things, now that I look back.  Hindsight 20/20 and all that.  But then it seemed to stop.  You hold your breath, you know? What’s next?

But it grew quiet, and I worked in seclusion but for the dog and phone calls and texts from friends and family.  And the zoom chats, which were useful but never felt comfortable. 

I have never been the paranormal type. I didn’t believe in ghosts before- if there’s Bigfoot- then where are the bones?, etc. But after all the happenings since I had moved into that place? There was something going on, but it didn’t occur until I moved into the Dairy, so I decided to move the bookshop back to my house on the other side of town and away from this building. 

This reading of peoples last tbr is not what I  signed up for. I love books and book people, and now I find myself perusing the old vintage copies of Unexplained Phenomena! UFOs- are they real? instead of reading what I want. But I suppose it is what it is.

So Oktober Country became and remains solely a .com, and all books and records were then sold through Etsy and Ebay.

I began the move, juggling inventory so that I could still pull and ship sold items as I orchestrated this slow motion move. Any paranormal activity seemed dormant, but I needed no revival of it. I hoped that there was something about the building that had led to these book hauntings, and that taking the business back home would distance me from that activity and things would go back to normal. Like Covid, apparently this was the new normal.

By the time I write again, I will have been moved back home and operating from my small house again.  Things will be back to normal, too. Right?

This is the last book haunting that occurred in that building.

Another light refused to stay off.

When this happened I had become accustomed to begin to look about. What is it that you want?  Where is the book?

In this case, I had fewer rooms with books now, and was mostly moved out.

So again with a persistent light. Walking towards it, I noticed a paperback book stack had fallen over. Annoying, but they're mostly bagged, so little harm can come to them if they're restacked in short order.

Sometimes times you have to stack them with the spines alternating to keep them level. A little bit of spine slant goes a long way in a bookstack.

I restacked them into their original neat tower, and waited. I no more thought to say ‘Well, let's have it.’ when the books slid plastic on plastic and toppled again, leaving a book I love revealed on top.

Andrew Rice's Local Color. Love, love this story.

“Okay then," I said and restacked them again, changing the order so that Local Color was in a different place than before.

Quite accommodating, they trembled, and the top book slid off onto the floor, leaving the second book exposed on top of the stack.

Andrew Rice. Local Color.

Thoughts of the character Razor Belle, and how you can “Only get so much justice.” came to mind.

 

I smiled, picked up the book, and unbagged it.

Some writing on the cover. This edition 1955. A 'First Edition' Dell. First Dell Paperback Edition, you mean. The original first printing is from 1947.

Regardless, I will be glad to finish this one for..  who? For a small paperback that fits inside a back pocket it is heavy, maybe two pounds. After it's been read, I bet it weighs four to six ounces. 

No previous owners name inside. No bookmark, either. Ah- but near the last chapter- a dog ear. Here we are.

I cracked open a beer and sat back, daschund in my lap and acting as book rest. She only minds a little.

I began to read aloud. “Forgiveness with a vengeance,” Miss Hattie said, and laughed.

I’ll see You on the Other Side,

Buster

#oktobercountry books and records #ghosts #ghost #ghost hunting #medium #booklr #vintage books #book lover #old books #book art #books #old book smell #southern #paranormal #erskine caldwell #andrew rice #razor belle #fiction #paperback love

[travsd]

Erskine Caldwell: Beyond Tobacco Road

A look today at the much-neglected progressive Southern author Erskine Caldwell (1903-1987), born 120 years ago today. Caldwell was decidedly not neglected in his own time; that’s the whole point. His most popular books and adaptations thereof broke records; we’ve had dozens of occasions to mention his most famous one on this blog. To sell that point, we’ll talk about the famous works first, and…

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#author #book #Erskine Caldwell #God&039;s Little Acre #novel #sharecroppers #south #Tobacco Road #writer #You Have Seen Their Faces

[pensarenmusaranyes]

No quiero molestarte, Griselda- dijo TyTy pero en cuanto empiezo a hablar de ti, no puedo parar. Sólo quiero alabar tu hermosura. Y creo que lo haría cualquier hombre que te haya visto como yo. La primera vez que te vi, cuando Buck te trajo de allá de donde vengas, me entraron ganes de arrojarme al suelo y ponerme a lamer cualquier cosa. Es una ensación muy rara para un hombre y, cuando me asalta, me enorgullezco de poder contarlo.

#la parcela de dios #ERSKINE CALDWELL #literatura

[yourcoffeeguru]

Vintage Georgia Boy by Erskine Caldwell 1961 || autradingpost

#books #paperback #western #vintage paperback #georgia boy #erskine caldwell #adventure books #adventure #adventure novels #vintage novels

[ronnydeschepper]

Erskine Caldwell (1903-1987)

Ik ben op dit moment “Tobacco Road” aan het lezen, het bekendste werk van de Amerikaanse schrijver Erskine Caldwell (foto Giorgio Lotti (Mondadori Publishers) – http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/, nu behorend tot het publiek domein). Continue reading Untitled

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#Erskine Caldwell

[psikonauti]

James Avati (American,1912-2005)

Paperback cover for "The Humorous Side of Erskine Caldwell", 1951

#upl #va #art #painting #illustration #James Avati #women #men #animals in art

[libriaco]

Basta una parola

Scriveva Abatelunare, una decina di giorni fa, che spesso leggendo un libro si imparano delle parole nuove, e faceva riferimento a un toscanismo: costassù, trovato in una vecchia versione de Il ragazzo di Sycamore di Erskine Caldwell.

A me occorre poco, appena una parola, per impantanarmi in una serie di percorsi da cui poi faccio fatica a uscire; così è stato anche questa volta.

Infatti, in sintesi:

Da toscano conosco e uso la parola costassù, così come anche gli altri avverbi costì, costà, costaggiù; ricordo bene come, una decina di anni fa, me ne chiese il significato una collega, di madrelingua inglese, da poco arrivata a Siena.

Più di recente, saranno passati tre o quattro anni, durante una lettura condivisa de La vita agra del grossetano Luciano Bianciardi, le due amiche con cui leggevo, una di origine siciliana ma da anni a Napoli, l'altra veneta, mi chiesero lumi su due strane parole in cui si erano imbattute in quel testo: costì e costassù.

Ho chiesto ad Abatelunare chi avesse tradotto il libro, sospettando appunto un toscano, e mi ha indicato Marcella Hannau. Il mio sospetto era ben fondato, anche se non corretto, perchè la Hannau era nata a Trieste ma ha avuto frequentazione lunga e anche intima con la Toscana.

Le ricerche fatte mi hanno portato subito in ambiente fiorentino; la Hannau, traduttrice dall'inglese di oltre una settantina di libri, figlia di uno stakholder della Standard Oil, di famiglia ebraica, sposò molto giovane [nel 1921] Corrado Pavolini, nato a Firenze: regista, drammaturgo, critico letterario, poeta, librettista e traduttore. Corrado era figlio del professor Paolo Emilio, traduttore e docente universitario di Sanscrito, nato a Livorno da padre dell'isola d'Elba. La coppia frequentava l'ambiente culturale italiano del tempo: ci sono ad esempio foto degli anni '30, sulla spiaggia di Castiglioncello, sempre in Toscana (Livorno) in compagnia di Luigi Pirandello, Nicola De Pirro, Marta Abba, Maria Stella Labroca e Silvio D'Amico; le due famiglie, Hannau e Pavolini, frequentavano spiaggia, locali e ville di amici nella zona, già dalla fine degli anni 10 dello scorso secolo.

Corrado Pavolini era il fratello del gerarca fascista Alessandro, Ministro della Cultura Popolare e segretario del Partito Fascista.

Alessandro si rifiutò di aiutare il fratello e la cognata Marcella nel momento della promulgazione delle leggi razziali e Corrado e Marcella scapparono a Cortona (Arezzo) rifugiandosi nella villa dell'amico Debenedetti. A Cortona trovarono un buon nascondiglio anche gli Hannau, i genitori di Marcella, a cui offrì riparo il Vescovo, Monsignor Franciolini, direttamente nella sua abitazione.

Cortona piacque così tanto alla coppia Pavolini-Hannau che fecero della villa "del Bacchino" un loro punto di riferimento a guerra finita e poi, dal 1961, la loro residenza. Ecco come, con tutte queste frequentazioni toscane, la Hannau abbia potuto utilizzare parole ancora in uso nell'italiano del tempo, adesso segnalate dalla Treccani come semplici "toscanismi" vista la loro odierna più ristretta circolazione.

Restano da citare, in questi miei giri intorno alla coppia, due notiziuole "rosa": l'infatuazione per Corrado Pavolini, prima da parte di Anna Maria Ortese, poi di una sua carissima amica, Helle Busacca. [Interessante e rivelatrice questa pagina di Dario Biagi]. Su questo ramo della ricerca mi sono fermato, perché infiniti altri percorsi mi si sono aperti, relativi ai personaggi della cultura italiana dell'epoca e dei loro rapporti di amicizia, rivalità od odio.

Nonostante le ricerche sul web, non sono riuscito a trovare informazioni certe sulle date di nascita e di morte di Marcella Hannau; ho pensato allora di utilizzare il Copilot di Microsoft Bing. L'Inintelligenza Artificiale si è data da fare ma le date che cercavo non me le ha recuperate; in compenso ha tratteggiato un profilo, sintetico ma efficace, del marito Corrado. Peccato, però, che, da brava Inintelligenza, si sia confusa e abbia scritto i dati relativi ad Alessandro Pavolini, il gerarca titolare del MinCulPop e Segretario del Partito Nazionale Fascista, che fu processato per collaborazionismo, fucilato e poi esposto, insieme a Mussolini e alla Petacci, a Piazzale Loreto...

*Aggiornamento del 29/03/2024: Corrado Pavolini e Marcella Hannau riposano ora l'uno accanto all'altra nel piccolo cimitero del Torreone al sommo della collina di Cortona.

#Hannau M. #Caldwell E. #Bianciardi L. #Pavolini #Ortese A. M. #Busacca H. #Lingua

[dozydawn]

Preliminary and final cover art by James Avati for Erskine Caldwell's "Gretta" (Signet Books #1342), 1956.

#james avati #art #1956 #1950s #fave art

[abatelunare]

Per l'autore che ha pubblicato una storia è una vera consolazione sapere che almeno una persona al mondo leggerà ogni sua parola: il tipografo. È pagato per questo (Erskine Caldwell, 38 racconti).

#narrativa #narrativa americana #letteratura americana #erskine caldwell #38 racconti

[lisamarie-vee]

#erskine caldwell #book cover #god's little acre #1930s

[oktobercountry]

Memento Mori, a Call 2 Axtion against Conspiracy Theories, Poor Mole, Lost in the Wild Wood, and Razor Belle, indomitable with a Day of the Week.

Some things passing through the photobooth.

#memento mori #fight evil read books #protest #j allen broyles #kenneth grahame #wind in the willows #ernest shepard #mole #rat #toad #badger #lost in the woods #razor belle #local color #erskine caldwell #john andrew rice #booklr #vintage books #book lover #old books #book art #oktobercountry books and records #books #old book smell #vellichor #vellichorom

[bilibliophl]

James Avati - cover art for A House in the Uplands by Erskine Caldwell

#book cover #cover art #pocket books #james avati

[travsd]

Robert Penn Warren and "All the King's Men"

The 20th century produced so many great Southern chroniclers of crackerdom (William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Tennessee Williams, Harper Lee and childhood friend Truman Capote, James Agee, Katharine Ann Porter, Flannery O’Connor) you will perhaps forgive me for placing Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989) at the back of the pack, near the likes of Margaret Mitchell and Erskine Caldwell. I remind you that…

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#All the King&039;s Men #author #book #Huey Long #movie #play #politician #Robert Penn Warren #Trinity Rep #Willy Stark

[yourcoffeeguru]

Vintage Georgia Boy by Erskine Caldwell 1961 Paperback

#vintage paperback #vintage western novel #georgia boy #erskine caldwell novels