Life and Selected Letters of Lyle Saxon, The,Used

Product DescriptionProfessor Harvey has researched the facts behind Saxon myths and presents the reality behind his legend.From the Inside Flap"Don't grieve for me. I've had a wonderful time."Lyle Saxon"It was Lyle Saxon and nobody else who saved the Quarter."Tess CragerHere is the first full biography of the legendary writer known as Mr. Louisiana and Mr. New Orleans. Lyle Saxon's life was colorful, busy, and full of contrasts. He presented himself as the perfect Southern gentleman, but he grew up fatherless in modest circumstances. As host of a French Quarter salon, Saxon dispensed drinks, anecdotes, loans, and advice to many friends, including William Faulkner, Oliver La Farge, and Sherwood Anderson, yet he was often lonely and retreated to his solitary cabin at Melrose Plantation. While Saxon was ambivalent toward his work with the WPA Writers' Project, begrudging the time it took from his own writing, the Louisiana division was, under his direction, the most productive in the United States. Saxon's history books bought him fame and a place in New York literary circles, but he was deeply insecure about his talent and mourned his inability to write more novels.A Southern literature scholar and a longtime fan of Lyle Saxon, Chance Harvey has researched the facts behind Saxon myths and presents the reality behind his legend. This volume also contains excerpts from Saxon's correspondence with family and friends, including letters to Grace King, William Spratling, and Sherwood Anderson.Chance Harvey received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Millsaps, Duke, and Tulane respectively. She currently teaches English at CopiahLincoln Community College in Wesson, Mississippi.Books by Lyle Saxon available from Pelican:Father MississippiOld LouisianaFabulous New OrleansLafitte the PirateChildren of StrangersThe Friends of Joe GilmoreGumbo YaYaFrom the Back Cover"He could take the dullest persons and bring out whatever latent charm or talent they possessed, and if there was really something theresome real talent, for instancesomehow it came to life after they had known Saxon for awhile, and they were never the same again."Robert TallantHere, for the first time, is the life story of one of the South's most beloved men of letters. Over the course of his literary career, Lyle Saxon was a journalist, novelist, historian, folklorist, editor, manager of the WPA Writers' Project, and recorder of local color. In his private life, he was a gracious host, preservationist, bon vivant, and mentor to young artists. However, behind Saxon's glittering social persona lay an oftentroubled soul. Drawing on his many books and private letters, Chance Harvey explores the real man memorialized as Mr. New Orleans.About the AuthorChance Harvey was a student at Tulane University when she came across a collection of letters addressed to Lyle Saxon. These letters began a fascination with Saxon that led her to a lifelong passion and resulted in Saxon's biography, The Life and Selected Letters of Lyle Saxon, also published by Pelican. Harvey resides in Tylertown, Mississippi.