Best Selling Books by Ross Lockridge

Il monumentale racconto di un singolo giorno a Raintree, immaginaria contea dell’Indiana, nel quale si intrecciano molti dei momenti salienti della storia americana. La vita di John Wickliff Shawnessy, insegnante cinquantenne e aspirante scrittore, si alterna alla Guerra civile, al dibattito sulla schiavitù, alla Rivoluzione industriale, in un’atmosfera sognante e vivida che minuto dopo minuto compone un classico da molti indicato come il vero “grande romanzo americano”, opera prima di un autore che Pablo Neruda paragonò a Melville, Whitman, Dreiser e Wolfe. Di questo fortunato romanzo venne realizzata nel 1957 una celebre versione cinematografica con Montgomery Clift ed Elizabeth Taylor dal titolo L’albero della vita.

Collection consists primarily of correspondence from author Ross Franklin Lockridge, Jr., 1914-1948, to various individuals. The Lilly Library acquired these letters to complement the manuscript files for Lockridge''s book, Raintree County. Many of the letters discuss the success of Raintree County as well as Lockridge''s untimely death. Lockridge was born on April 25, 1914 in Bloomington, Indiana. The family moved to Fort Wayne for several years, but later returned to Bloomington. Lockridge attended Indiana University in Bloomington, where he was known for his impressive academic record. In 1937, he married Vernice Baker and together the couple had four children, Ernest, Jeanne, Ross, and Lawrence. Lockridge died on March 6, 1948 in Bloomington, Indiana, several weeks after the publication of Raintree County. The novel was his only book. Published in 1948, Raintree County is considered by some to be the "Great American Novel." The story follows the character John Shawnessey during the course of a single day, July 4, 1892, and features flashbacks to the time period after the Civil War. It is set in the fictional Raintree County, which is in part based on Henry County, Indiana, where Lockridge spent his childhood summers at his grandmother''s home.

Consists of letters to Donald Frederic Blankertz, from author Ross Franklin Lockridge, Jr. Lockridge writes from Massachusetts as he was a visiting professor at Simmons University during this period. The discussions are of matters literary, the war, with several mentions of progress on "the novel" (Raintree County).