Glenway Wescott
Encyclopedia
Glenway Wescott was a major American novelist during the 1920-1940 period and a figure in the American expatriate
literary community in Paris
during the 1920s. Wescott was gay
. His relationship with longtime companion Monroe Wheeler lasted from 1919 until Wescott's death.
in 1901. His younger brother, Lloyd Wescott
, was born in Wisconsin in 1907. He studied at the University of Chicago
, where he was a member of a literary circle including Elizabeth Madox Roberts
, Yvor Winters
, and Janet Lewis
. Independently wealthy, he began his writing career as a poet, but is best known for his short stories and novels, notably The Grandmothers (1927). He lived in Germany
(1921–22), and in France
(c.1925–33), where he mixed with Gertrude Stein
and other members of the American expatriate community
;
Wescott was the model for the character Robert Prentiss in Hemingway's
The Sun Also Rises
.
Wescott and Wheeler returned to the United States and maintained an apartment in Manhattan
with photographer George Platt Lynes
. When his brother Lloyd moved to a dairy farm in Union Township
near Clinton
in Hunterdon County
, New Jersey
in 1936, Wescott along with Wheeler and Lynes took over one of the farmhand houses and called it Stone-Blossom.
His novel, The Pilgrim Hawk: A Love Story (1940), was praised by the critics. Apartment in Athens (1945), the story of a Greek couple in Nazi-occupied Athens
who must share their living quarters with a German officer, was a popular success. From then on he ceased to write fiction, although he published essays and edited the works of others. In her essay on The Pilgrim Hawk Ingrid Norton writes, "After...Apartment in Athens, Wescott lived until 1987 without writing another novel: journals (published posthumously as Continual Lessons) and the occasional article, yes, but no more fiction. The Midwest-born author seems to slide into the golden handcuffs of expatriate decadence: supported by the heiress his brother married, surrounded by literate friends, given to social drinking and letter-writing."
In 1959, when his brother Lloyd acquired a farm near the village of Rosemont in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
, Wescott moved into a two-story stone house on the property, dubbed Haymeadows. In 1987 Wescott died of a stroke at his home in Rosemont.
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
literary community in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
during the 1920s. Wescott was gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
. His relationship with longtime companion Monroe Wheeler lasted from 1919 until Wescott's death.
Biography
Wescott was born on a farm in Kewaskum, WisconsinKewaskum, Wisconsin
Kewaskum is a village in Washington and Fond du Lac counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 3,274 at the 2000 census. The village is located mostly within the Town of Kewaskum.-History:...
in 1901. His younger brother, Lloyd Wescott
Lloyd Wescott
Lloyd Bruce Wescott was an agriculturalist, civil servant, and philanthropist in New Jersey. Born and educated in Wisconsin, he moved to New York after college before settling in New Jersey where he served as a member of agricultural boards, chairman of the New Jersey State Board of Control of...
, was born in Wisconsin in 1907. He studied at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, where he was a member of a literary circle including Elizabeth Madox Roberts
Elizabeth Madox Roberts
Elizabeth Madox Roberts was a Kentucky novelist and poet, primarily known for her novels and stories about the Kentucky mountain people, including The Time of Man , The Great Meadow and A Buried Treasure . All of her writings are characterized by her distinct, rhythmic prose...
, Yvor Winters
Yvor Winters
Arthur Yvor Winters was an American poet and literary critic.-As modernist:Winters's early poetry, which appeared in small avant-garde magazines alongside work by writers like James Joyce and Gertrude Stein, was written in the modernist idiom, and was heavily influenced both by Native American...
, and Janet Lewis
Janet Lewis
Janet Loxley Lewis was an American novelist and poet.-Biography:Lewis was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was a graduate of the University of Chicago, where she was a member of a literary circle that included Glenway Wescott, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, and her future husband Yvor Winters...
. Independently wealthy, he began his writing career as a poet, but is best known for his short stories and novels, notably The Grandmothers (1927). He lived in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(1921–22), and in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(c.1925–33), where he mixed with Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
and other members of the American expatriate community
Lost Generation
The "Lost Generation" is a term used to refer to the generation, actually a cohort, that came of age during World War I. The term was popularized by Ernest Hemingway who used it as one of two contrasting epigraphs for his novel, The Sun Also Rises. In that volume Hemingway credits the phrase to...
;
Wescott was the model for the character Robert Prentiss in Hemingway's
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises is a 1926 novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway about a group of American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. An early and enduring modernist novel, it received...
.
Wescott and Wheeler returned to the United States and maintained an apartment in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
with photographer George Platt Lynes
George Platt Lynes
George Platt Lynes was an American fashion and commercial photographer.Born in East Orange, New Jersey to Adelaide and Joseph Russell Lynes he spent his childhood in New Jersey but attended the Berkshire School in Massachusetts. He was sent to Paris in 1925 with the idea of better preparing him...
. When his brother Lloyd moved to a dairy farm in Union Township
Union Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 6,160 people, 1,666 households, and 1,162 families residing in the township. The population density was 324.8 people per square mile . There were 1,725 housing units at an average density of 90.9 per square mile...
near Clinton
Clinton, New Jersey
Clinton is a Town in Hunterdon County, New Jersey on the South Branch of the Raritan River. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 2,719....
in Hunterdon County
Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 128,349. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Flemington....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in 1936, Wescott along with Wheeler and Lynes took over one of the farmhand houses and called it Stone-Blossom.
His novel, The Pilgrim Hawk: A Love Story (1940), was praised by the critics. Apartment in Athens (1945), the story of a Greek couple in Nazi-occupied Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
who must share their living quarters with a German officer, was a popular success. From then on he ceased to write fiction, although he published essays and edited the works of others. In her essay on The Pilgrim Hawk Ingrid Norton writes, "After...Apartment in Athens, Wescott lived until 1987 without writing another novel: journals (published posthumously as Continual Lessons) and the occasional article, yes, but no more fiction. The Midwest-born author seems to slide into the golden handcuffs of expatriate decadence: supported by the heiress his brother married, surrounded by literate friends, given to social drinking and letter-writing."
In 1959, when his brother Lloyd acquired a farm near the village of Rosemont in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 4,478 people, 1,643 households, and 1,302 families residing in the township. The population density was 121.9 people per square mile . There were 1,701 housing units at an average density of 46.3 per square mile...
, Wescott moved into a two-story stone house on the property, dubbed Haymeadows. In 1987 Wescott died of a stroke at his home in Rosemont.
Further reading
- Rosco, Jerry (2002) Glenway Wescott Personally: A Biography. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
- Phelps, Robert, with Jerry Rosco (1990) Continual Lessons: The Journals of Glenway Wescott 1937-1955. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.
- Diamond, Daniel (2008) Delicious: A Memoir of Glenway Wescott. Toronto: Sykes Press. [See: External links]
External links
- A Visit to Priapus, the only explicitly gay short story by Wescott (1938), has been reprinted with permission in the gay literary journal Ganymede, #3 issue (April 2009)
- Review of Jerry Rosco's biography and overview of Wescott's work
- The Loves of the Falcon Edmund WhiteEdmund WhiteEdmund Valentine White III is an American author and literary critic. He is a member of the faculty of Princeton University's Program in Creative Writing.- Life and work :...
essay on Wescott and a review of books by and about him, from The New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity... - http://www.ianyoungbooks.com/Delicious.htm source for DELICIOUS (Diamond)