Donald Windham: A Bio-Bibliography

(Hardback)

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Description

Bruce Kellner worked directly from the collection of relatively overlooked novelist Donald Windham to produce this reference work. Entries on books, pamphlets, articles and criticism provide a comprehensive record of Windham's literary development, critical reception, failures, and achievements. Kellner introduces the bio-bibliography with a discussion of Donald Windham's background, writing style, and reception by publishers and readers. He likens Windham's exacting, subtle style to the quiet eloquence of E.M. Forster, and he suggests that America's action-oriented culture lacks patience for Windham's offerings, which are sexual but not erotic, gay but not titillating, Southern but not cliched. The book, which includes an addendum to the introduction by Windham himself, is divided into five parts. This book is aimed at students, scholars, and general audiences of literature.

Reviews

Donald Windham has had a steady, if quiet literary career which spans five decades. A long time intimate of Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote (he even coauthored one play with Williams), he has never attained the name-recognition achieved by his more flamboyant fellow Southerners. Kellner, an admirer of Windham's work, has compiled painstaking descriptions of Windham's novels, plays, short stories, journal articles, published letters, and ephemera.... There is a section that contains an annotated list of critical reactions to Windham's work in journals and newspapers: quotes from the reviews are mixed with Kellner's editorial comments. This slim volume begins with a short introductory essay on Windham's life and career. Windham himself provides an amiable commentary to the compiler's introduction. The few photographs include a manuscript page with Tennessee Williams's written suggestions. A short, serviceable index concludes the book. Kellner's biobibliography will be most useful for collectors of Windham's writings.-Choice
Kellner is both explicit in discerning several factors contributing to the relative neglect of Windham and also persuasive in making the case for why Windham's novels and stories should not remain neglected.... If you are familiar with the writings of Donals Windham, you will want to look into this reference work. If you look into this reference work, you will want to become familiar with the writing of Donald Windham.-Journal of American Culture
"Kellner is both explicit in discerning several factors contributing to the relative neglect of Windham and also persuasive in making the case for why Windham's novels and stories should not remain neglected.... If you are familiar with the writings of Donals Windham, you will want to look into this reference work. If you look into this reference work, you will want to become familiar with the writing of Donald Windham."-Journal of American Culture
"Donald Windham has had a steady, if quiet literary career which spans five decades. A long time intimate of Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote (he even coauthored one play with Williams), he has never attained the name-recognition achieved by his more flamboyant fellow Southerners. Kellner, an admirer of Windham's work, has compiled painstaking descriptions of Windham's novels, plays, short stories, journal articles, published letters, and ephemera.... There is a section that contains an annotated list of critical reactions to Windham's work in journals and newspapers: quotes from the reviews are mixed with Kellner's editorial comments. This slim volume begins with a short introductory essay on Windham's life and career. Windham himself provides an amiable commentary to the compiler's introduction. The few photographs include a manuscript page with Tennessee Williams's written suggestions. A short, serviceable index concludes the book. Kellner's biobibliography will be most useful for collectors of Windham's writings."-Choice

Author Bio

BRUCE KELLNER is Professor of English at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, where he teaches Shakespeare and Afro-American literature. He has published eight books, including Carl Van Vechten and the Irreverent Decades, The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era (Greenwood Press, 1984), A Gertrude Stein Companion: Content with the Example (Greenwood, 1988), and The Last Dandy, Ralph Barton: American Artist, 1891-1931.