HERGESHEIMER (Joseph, 1880-1954, American Writer known for his naturalistic novels of decadent life among the very wealthy)

Typed Letter signed to James D. Wood in Bristol thanking him for his "review of The Lay Anthony in the Poet and the further interest of your letter to me. The Lay Anthony wasn't re-written but an unreasonable number of mistakes mostly, I am afraid, due to my really amazing ignorance, were corrected singly. That is, words and absolutely incorrect phrases were changed but nothing else. Personally I am too much in the middle of what I am doing to yet be so phiosophical as to regard my first work with my latest ... I have the strongest possible necessary feeling that the damned things get better all the time ...", 1 side 4to., with original typed envelope, The Dower House, West Chester, Pennsylvania, 21st September

Hergesheimer established an early reputation with his first novel The Lay Anthony in 1914. His reputation fluctuated wildly in his own lifetime, from a peak of acclaim and popularity in the 1920s to almost total obscurity by the time of his death. Java Head, a miscegenation story told from multiple viewpoints that is generally considered his best novel, was a considerable popular success, and his flamboyant, ornate, highly descriptive style (which can be seen to best effect in works like the travelogue San Cristobal de la Habana) was considered elegant and powerful. His manner of writing, known at the time as the "aesthetic" school, remained in demand throughout the 1920s, with F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby being the most durable example of a book written in this style.

Item Date:  1921

Stock No:  39130      £150

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