Chapter 7: John O'Hara (1905-1970)
John O'Hara's
reputation as a major novelist and short story writer has suffered greatly for
a variety of reasons. As the title of the most recent biography of him implies,
O'Hara was a past master at making permanent enemies, and his commensurate inability
to make friends in literary circles may well have cost him supremely, in as
much as he was very outspoken in his pursuit of the highest accolades. But the
fact that so many people have gone to such lengths to explain why he should not
be placed among the top rank does say something about his gift for getting
under people's skins. This may also provide vital clues to his rare ability to
document social distinctions among the broadest cross-section of Americans over
a wide period of history.
O'Hara was born, the eldest of eight children, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. His
parents were prominently upper-middle class, father Patrick a gifted surgeon.
But the family was also Irish Catholic, which at the time precluded them from
real distinction in a highly stratified community. John was further denied
access when the sudden death of his father in 1925 meant that he had to abandon
ambitions to attend an Ivy League university and work to help support the large
family.
This work took the form of journalism, first locally and eventually in New York
City, where O'Hara worked for many of the major dailies, which also fired him
for tardy habits due to his late-night drinking in speakeasies. This also
fuelled his earliest literary efforts, including an impressive series of short
stories for the burgeoning New Yorker magazine and the ground-breaking novel, Appointment
in Samarra, reckoned by many to be a Great Gatsby for the 1930s and
still included on many a best-novel list. The story of Julian English's
three-day descent toward suicide represented something entirely new in
fictional verisimilitude. Brand names were used to an unprecedented degree, and
the dialogue was some of the most intimately accurate ever recorded. Indeed,
the amount of dialogue in an O'Hara novel far exceeds that of most novels, a
feature which eventually led detractors to dismiss O'Hara's talent to mere
"writing by ear". A related complaint was that he pays too much
attention to social detail, without sufficient in-depth analysis of character
or of society.
O'Hara defended himself by saying that the human being's relationship to
society is crucial to our understanding of society and that what may be
generally observed is the only definite source of the truth. As his career
progressed, he would take increasing pride in being able to give the impression
of going inside a character's mind even though everything could be observed and
overheard.
O'Hara's career (spanning more than 40 years) can be divided into three distinct
phases. The pre-World War II phase produced Samarra, Butterfield 8
and enough New Yorker stories that he was said to have invented the magazine's
cryptic, detached style. This period also saw the creation of Pal Joey
from a series of inter-related stories which O'Hara later developed into the
libretto for the Rogers and Hart musical, starring Gene Kelly.
After the war, O'Hara embarked on his major novel-writing period, with a series
of four Pennsylvania-set tomes that exceeded anything else he wrote. These
novels are A Rage to Live (1949), Ten North Frederick (1956), From
the Terrace (1958) and Ourselves to Know (1960). These feature upper
middle class protagonists in pursuit of wealth and influence over a substantial
period of American history and can be likened favourably to Theodore Dreiser's Cowperwood
novels and to the work of James Gould Cozzens, though detractors would now
point to an absence of social critique coupled with a preoccupation with sex to
dismiss O'Hara as a commercial blockbuster, a title he always reviled.
During the final decade of his life, O'Hara combined a return to medium-length
novels with a prodigious amount of often-novella length stories, which he
collected in seven bestselling volumes, including the stunning trilogy Sermons
and Soda-Water (1960). His aim was always expansive social history allied
to an acute atomisation of relations between men and women. In this respect,
his theme is more love than crude sex, an ambition he shares with D.H.
Lawrence, among others. There is nary a sex scene described; but the
consequences of love and betrayal are rendered exhaustively in the most
intimate dialogue ever published. In an age when other authors were placing
monumental store in our inability to communicate, O'Hara recorded a whole
generation of people communicating with blistering honesty. The frankness that
made Samarra and Butterfield 8 daring innovations sustained their
author to the end of his career in work that remained nationally popular,
despite a growing taste for anti-naturalism and a politically iconoclast
viewpoint.
Though O'Hara has fallen into general neglect, he was esteemed in his day,
sharing the editorial services of Albert Erskine with William Faulkner and
enjoying the endorsement of authors like John Updike, Tom Wolfe and the
historian Shelby Foote.
Primary Works
Appointment in Samarra, a novel. NY: Harcourt, Brace 1934. PS3529.H29 .A7
A rage to live. NY: Random House, 1949. PS3529.H29 R3
Ten North
Frederick. NY: Random House, 1955. PS3529.H29 T4
A family party. NY: Random House, 1956. PS3529 .H29 F3
From the
terrace, a novel. NY: Random
House, 1958. PS3529.H29 .F7
Sermons and
soda-water. 3 vols. NY: Random House,
1960. PS3529 .H29 S4
Appointment in
Samarra ; BUtterfield 8 ; Hope of heaven. NY: Random House, 1960? PS3529 .H29 A7
Ourselves to
know, a novel. NY: Random House, 1960.
PS3529 .H29 09
Assembly. NY: Random House, 1961. PS3529.H29 .A8
Five plays. NY: Random House, 1961. PS3529.H29 A19
The Cape Cod
(lighter stories). NY: Random
House, 1962. PS3529.H29 .C3
The big laugh, a
novel. NY: Random House, 1962. PS3529.H29 .B5
The hat on the
bed. NY: Random House, 1963. PR3529.H29 .H3
Elizabeth
Appleton, a novel. NY: Random
House, 1963. PS3529.H29 .E4
The horse knows
the way. NY: Random House, 1964. PS3529.H29 .H65
The instrument;
a novel. NY: Random House, 1967. PS3529.H29 I5
And other
stories. NY: Random House, 1968. PS3529 H29 A15
(Barred.--The broken giraffe.--The farmer.--A few trips and some poetry.--The
gangster.--The gunboat and Madge.--How old, how young.--A man on a porch.--Papa
Gibraltar.--The private people.--The strong man.--We'll have fun.)
The O'Hara
generation. NY: Random House, 1969.
PS3529 H29 O35
Lovey Childs: a
Philadelphian's Story, 1969.
The Ewings, 1972 and the mimeographed 80-page, unfinished
"Ewings" sequel (date unknown).
The time
element, and other stories. NY: Random
House, 1972. PS3529 .H29 T5
John O'Hara: a
checklist. Compiled by Matthew J. Bruccoli. NY: Random House,
1972. Z8642.32 B7
Good Samaritan,
and other stories. NY: Random
House, 1974. PS3529 H29 G6 (The gentry.--The sun room.--Sound View.--Good
Samaritan.--A man to be trusted.--Malibu from the sky.--Harrington and
Whitehill.--Noblesse oblige.--Heather Hill.--Tuesday's as good as any.--George
Munson.--The journey to Mount Clemens.--The mechanical man.--Christmas poem.)
Selected letters
of John O'Hara. edited by Matthew J.
Bruccoli. New York: Random House, 1978. PS3529 .H29 Z48 1978
Two by O'Hara. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979.
PS3529.H29 M36 (The man who could not lose.--Far from heaven.)
Pal Joey sound
recording: highlights from the original 1980 London cast
recording / music by Richard Rodgers ; lyrics by Lorenz Hart. Showstoppers ;
St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada: Distributed by Madacy Music Group, 1995], p1991.
Compact Disc K PAL PJ P58
Selected Bibliography 1980-Present
Bruccoli,
Matthew J. ed. John O'Hara: A Documentary Volume. Detroit: Gale, 2006.
Cahill,
Christopher. ed. There You Are: Writings on Irish and American Literature
and History. NY: New York Review, 2004.
Eppard, Philip
B. ed. Critical essays on John O'Hara. NY: Maxwell Macmillan
International, 1994. PS3529 .H29 Z63
Goldleaf,
Steven. John O'Hara: a study of the short fiction. NY: Twayne
Publishers, 1999. PS3529 .H29 Z69
Long, Robert E. John
O'Hara. NY: Ungar, 1983. PS3529 .H29 Z75
MacShane, Frank.
The life of John O'Hara. NY: Dutton, 1980. PS3529.H29 Z76
Wolff, Geoffrey.
The art of burning bridges: a life of John O'Hara. NY: Knopf, 2003.
PS3529 .H29 Z93 (NY Times Review)
MLA Style Citation of this Web Page
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 7: John O'Hara." PAL: Perspectives
in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide.
URL:http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/ohara.html (provide page
date or date of your login).
4 comments:
Great piece, James. Pleased that you joined the 'conversation.' Richard.
Many thanks, Richard.
Many thanks, Richard.
Thank you very much, Richard.
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