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Eli Waldron (January 25, 1916 to June 9, 1980) was born Gerald Cleveland Waldron in Oconto Falls, Wisconsin. Waldron was an American writer and journalist whose primary work consisted of short stories, essays, and poetry. His writings were published in literary journals (such as ''The Kenyon Review'', ''Prairie Schooner'', and ''Story'') and popular periodicals (such as ''Collier's'', ''Holiday'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Saturday Evening Post''). From the 1950s to 1970s he contributed stories and essays to ''''The New Yorker'', and in the 1960s and 1970s, a number of his poems and experimental fiction works appeared in underground, alternative, and "counter-culture" publications, such as ''The Illustrated Paper'', ''Rat Subterranean News'', ''Underground'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''The Woodstock Times''. Much of Waldron's fiction and non-fiction reveals a strong interest in the "underdog" and the marginalized, disenfranchised individual, as well as a belief in the possibility of triumph over (often seemingly great) adversity. Making repeated use of satire and often introducing surprise endings, Waldron consistently questioned what he perceived to be the status quo and championed those who may have been viewed as "outsiders" by people in authority or by members of society's "mainstream." This outlook and approach may be seen vividly in such fiction pieces as "The Beekeeper" (published in ''Prairie Schooner'' in 1943) and "Zawicki the Chicken" (''Cross Section 1945: A Collection of New American Writing''), as well as in such non-fiction portraits as "The Death of Hank Williams" (''The Reporter'', 1955) and "The Lonely Lady of Union Square" (''The New Yorker'', 1955). Despite his literary achievement, he did not see a book published in his lifetime, nor has one appeared since. Nonetheless, his work continues to gain attention and recognition. In 2013, ''The Kenyon Review'', published his story "Do Birds Like Television?" along with six of his drawings featuring birds. His story, "The Death of Hank Williams" (1955) was included in excerpted form in ''The Hank Williams Reader'' issued by Oxford University Press in 2014. ==Biography== Waldron was born in 1916 in Oconto Falls, Wisc. where he grew up. He was the youngest of his parents Rose Cleveland and Jonathan Witcher Waldron's seven children. His mother was an amateur poet, and his brother Jonathan Gilbert Waldron (1910–1974) was an advertising manager and writer, whose short stories and articles were published in popular periodicals during the 1950s.〔"In Memoriam J.G. 'Gib' Waldron." ''Memco News''. Appleton, Wisc.: Miller Electric Mfg. Co., circa 1974.〕 Waldron's first literary efforts in the early 1940s resulted in some critical praise. Author Katherine Anne Porter, for example, remarked, in 1943, that Waldron possessed "the spark" and that his work was able to reveal the "deeper stratum of human suffering."〔Bayley, Isabel, selector and editor. ''Letters of Katherine Anne Porter''. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1980.〕 He attracted the attention of future literary agent, Donald Congdon in New York, who began representing him in 1943 on behalf of Lurton Blassingame's literary agency, and soon he was considered one of the most promising young writers in the United States. In 1945, he received a literary prize, the "Participation Award," from the publishing firm, Simon & Schuster for the completion of a novel.〔Hutchens, John K. "People Who Read and Write," ''New York Times'', "Book Review," March 17, 1946, p. BR13.〕 His resulting novella, "The Low Dark Road" received strong responses of praise as well as criticism from the firm's editors, and ultimately was not published. He did not rise to the same heights of fame as such contemporaries as James Baldwin, J. D. Salinger, and Herman Wouk. Waldron moved to Charlton Street in New York City in 1947 and became part of a literary circle that included Hollis Alpert, Josephine Herbst, S. J. Perelman, and J. D. Salinger. Following the publication in July 1951, of Waldron's review of J. D. Salinger's novel ''The Catcher in the Rye'',〔Waldron, Eli. "'The Catcher in the Rye': J. D. Salinger's Novel of a Lonely, Confused Boy of 16 Has Qualities of Lardner and Twain." ''Milwaukee Journal," "Books of the Week," July 15, 1951, p.4.〕 the author wrote his reviewer a warm note of thanks, adding "I hope one day somebody writes with that much perception and feeling about a book of yours."〔Salinger, Jerry. Letter to Eli Waldron. July 30, 1951. Eli Waldron Papers, New York.〕 Waldron continued publishing short stories in ''Collier's'' through the early 1950s. He went on to develop his career as a magazine journalist, publishing articles and stories in ''Holiday'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Saturday Evening Post'', and ''''The New Yorker''. His last piece for a major periodical, a profile of the artist Saul Steinberg, appeared in ''Publishers Weekly'' on May 7, 1973. Despite what writers such as Howard Mitcham,〔Mitcham, Howard. "Hot Flashbacks and Cool Cookies: Reminiscences of Greenwich Village in the 40's and 50's," ''Pulpsmith'', v. 5 (1985), p. 137–146.〕 and Richard Gehman, describe as bouts of writer's block, depression, and alcoholism, he wrote and published until his death in 1980, producing masterful works of literary fiction, striking journalism, irreverent travelogues, satirical flights of fancy, lively verse and even lyrics, as well as drawings. In his 1967 ''Chicago Tribune'' article, entitled, "Eli Waldron, Where Are You Now?," Gehman remarked that the suddenly difficult to locate Waldron, who had been part of Gehman's own Greenwich Village literary circle in the 1940s and 1950s, was "one of the best, and perhaps least appreciated, writers of my time."〔Gehman, Richard. "Eli Waldron, Where are You Now?," ''Chicago Tribune'', "Books Today," Sunday, July 2, 1967, p. 3.〕 Longtime ''New Yorker'' editor, William Shawn, echoed these words in a eulogy for Waldron on November 15, 1980, stating, "What () wrote gleamed, and gleams brighter with the passage of time."〔Shawn, William. Eulogy for Eli Waldron. Read at St. Marks Church-In-The-Bowery, November 15, 1980.〕 Shawn also stated, quite simply, that Waldron was "an original, an innovator," and "a writer of immense talent who wrote far too little, perhaps because the standards he set for himself were so high that even he could rarely reach them." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eli Waldron」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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