This story of James Jones and the Handy Colony is a popular account of one of the most unusual writing colonies ever established in the United States. Between his Army enlistment in 1939 and the wound that sent him to a Memphis hospital in 1943, James Jones suffered the loss of both his mother and his father, a victim of suicide. Psychologically precarious, Jones drank heavily, often brawling in bars. Concerned about his erratic behavior, his aunt took Jones to meet Lowney Handy, who took virtual control of his life, securing his discharge from the army and, with her husband and Harry, inviting him into their home. Lowney became Jones's writing teacher - and his lover. An aspiring but unpublished writer when she began the Handy Writers' Colony in Marshall, Illinois, Lowney Handy developed a reputation as an inspirational teacher of writing. Her husband, an oil refinery executive from nearby Robinson, supported her in this endeavor, which proved quite successful. The Handy colony achieved national attention through the success of Jones, its most celebrated member and the author of From Here to Eternity and Some Came Running.
- ISBN10 0809323656
- ISBN13 9780809323654
- Publish Date 25 April 2001
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 19 October 2003
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Southern Illinois University Press
- Edition 3rd ed.
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 168
- Language English