June 04, 2009
Carson McCullers debuts
On this day, Carson McCullers’ first novel “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” was published in 1940. The process of writing it didn’t come easily, she wrote.
"For a whole year I worked on “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” without understanding it at all. Each character was talking to a central character, but why, I didn't know. I'd almost decided that the book was no novel, that I should chop it up into short stories. But I could feel the mutilation in my body when I had that idea, and I was in despair. Suddenly it occurred me that Harry Minowitz, the character all the other characters were talking to, was a different man, a deaf mute, and immediately the name was changed to John Singer. The whole focus of the novel was fixed and I was for the first time committed with my whole soul to “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.”
Born: Harry Crosby, publisher, poet, Boston, 1898; Mabel Lucie Attwell, illustrator, London, 1879; Alvah Bessie, screenwriter, memoirist, New York City, 1904; Robert Anderson, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, New York, 1917.
Died: Giacomo Girolamo Casanova, memoirist, Dux, Bohemia, 1798; Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington, memoirist, Paris, 1849; Mildred J. Hill, Chicago, 1916 at midnight; Arna Bontemps, poet, novelist, children’s author, Nashville, Tenn., 1973.
Quick Links — All-ILLUSTRATED Edition
* Regal Ladies: Elizabeth Mahon’s “Scandalous Women” pointed me toward Alexis Sinclair’s portfolio “The Regal Twelve,” with her interpretation of the most fascinating women of history (Cleopatra, Catherine the Great and, above, Queen Christina of Sweden). Beautifully colored artwork, some semi-nudity.
* Return of the Rocketeer: Jog: the Blog mentions that Dave Stevens’ “The Rocketeer,” which ran in four comic books and two collections over a 13-year period, is finally being collected in one volume as The Rocketeer: The Complete Deluxe Edition
. It’ll be coming out in October. Jog also spends a bit of space discussion the comics “The Rocketeer” appeared in, with copious samples. 
* Murder in 1920s Hollywood: Rick Geary discusses the William Desmond Taylor murder case, in which the death of the Hollywood director with the mysterious past exploded into a sex scandal involving several actresses of the silent screen, as part of his next “Treasury of 20th Century Murder: Famous Players.”
If the case intrigues you, check out Sidney Kirkpatrick's A Cast of Killers
, in which the great director King Vidor researched the murder for a screenplay (never filmed) and uncovered some interesting facts. I'm looking forward to Geary's take on the case.* Finally, Non-Sequitor Theater: Because I just love taking photos out of context:
The answer can be found at Chris Sims’ dissection of an issue of the soft-p0rn fantasy comic book “Tarot”.
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