Carl Jonas

Carl Jonas (22 May 1913 – 1 October 1976)[1] was an American author who is known for his 1952 novel Jefferson Selleck which was a finalist for the National Book Award.[2]

Biography

Jonas was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1913 and attended secondary school at the Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and The Governor's Academy in Massachusetts before graduating from Williams College.[3] He taught English at the Municipal University of Omaha (which later became the University of Nebraska Omaha).[1] He worked as a writer for The Omaha World Herald newspaper and a writer for radio broadcasts before becoming a novelist.[3]

He died in 1976 at the age of 63 from a heart attack.[3]

Career

Many of Jonas' novels were set in the American Midwest, often in the city of Gateway, which was believed to be a fictionalized version of Omaha, Nebraska.[1]

In Jefferson Selleck, the titular character has a heart attack during his daughter's wedding and is left to recover. For the next few months, during his recovery period with which the pace of his life has significantly slowed, Selleck reflects upon his life, asking existential questions such as "What does it all mean?", "Who am I?", "Why am I here, and where am I going?" Earlier, Selleck had been an owner of a musical auto-horn company called Yaw-Et-Ag, in the fictional midwestern town of Gateway. He soliloquizes his thoughts on a tape recorder as he looks back upon his life and reflects on his loved ones. Eventually, Selleck decides that his dedication to work is more important than the other themes he explored, he decides to return to work and dies soon afterwards.

Jefferson Selleck was a Time magazine Book-of-the-Month Club choice for February 1952.[4]

Reviewing the novel Lillian White Deer in the New York Times, Conrad Knickerbocker stated that the work "contains enough material for good fiction — even though too much of it reads like a first draft". Knickerbocker also stated that Jonas will be remembered for his previous work Jefferson Selleck, "a far better novel."[5]

Bibliography

Novels

Source:[1]

  • Beachhead on the Wind (1945)
  • Jefferson Selleck" (1952)
  • Lillian White Deer (1964)
  • The Observatory (1966)
  • Our Revels Now are Ended (1957)
  • Riley McCullough (1954)
  • Snowslide (1950)
  • The Sputnik Rapist (1973)

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Jonas, Carl". archives.nebraska.edu. University of Nebraska.
  2. ^ "Carl Jonas". Nationalbook.org. National Book Foundation.
  3. ^ a b c "CARL JONAS, 63, AUTHOR OF 'JEFFERSON SELLECK'". Nytimes.com. The New York Times. October 2, 1976.
  4. ^ "Books: Latter-Day Babbitt". TIME.com. Time Magazine. February 4, 1952.
  5. ^ Knickerbocker, Conrad (February 23, 1964). "Lillian White Deer". NYTimes.com. The New York Times.
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