John writes a letter home, a few months after he’d left and hitchhiked to Greenwich Village to seek fame and fortune as a writer. He was 18 at the time. He notes Truman’s surprising election, and mentions work on a script and a novel. The script was for WJZ-TV, which had started broadcasting only a few months before. The novel was West of Washington Square, which he later told me was thrown out by his landlord. (He mentions it in this bio from that year.) And, like any teenager, he’s been quarreling with his girlfriend.
“I’m upset —can’t write.—” says Keel, after writing all that.
I don’t think I’ve ever met an eighteen-year-old who told me he was writing a novel. Usually you start by writing some short stories and maybe some poems, but Keel was more ambitious. Today, with kids distracted by their phones, it must be even rarer.
He was also politically engaged at eighteen. Different time.
Comment by Mestiere — June 8, 2023 @ 6:56 am
He seems to have gotten more upset as he wrote about Elynore. He was fine when he was writing about the election!
Eighteen-year-olds probably read fewer novels these days. Ambitious teenagers used to write novels; Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was 19. I guess kids who want to write nowadays work on screenplays. John, of course, had already written poems and stories, as well as a newspaper column back in Perry.
Comment by Doug — June 8, 2023 @ 9:21 am
I wonder if John changed his mind about Truman as time went on. In later years, as far as I could tell he was somewhat of a liberal.
Comment by John — June 21, 2023 @ 8:07 pm
He sounds more negative about Dewey here. But, like everyone else, he was surprised by Truman’s victory. He was, of course, too young to vote then. In later years, he was independent, as he was in most things.
Comment by Doug — June 22, 2023 @ 8:22 am
“He was, of course, too young to vote…”. Right, the minimum age to vote in New York and most other states was 21 until 1970. You could die for your country but not vote. He still was interested in the election.
Comment by Mestiere — June 22, 2023 @ 9:32 am