In the literature of the Soviet period there is no shortage of works on the Second World War. And this is quite natural, since many of their authors themselves experienced its horrors and could not help but share the feelings they experienced. However, novels, short stories and tales telling about the exploits of people who fought against fascism and the Japanese militarists were created on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Due to ideological considerations, they were hardly published in our country and therefore are unknown to a wide range of Russian readers. Among the American writers whose works are worth getting to know are Jones James Ramon.
early years
The future writer was born on November 6, 1921 in the small town of Robinson, Illinois, in the family of Ramon and Ada Jones (nee Blessing). The boy’s childhood was during the period of the Great Depression, the most difficult in US history, and was not particularly happy.
As soon as a young man graduated from school, the Second World War broke out. In 1939, the young man was drafted into the army and sent to serve in the 25th Infantry Division, 27th Regiment. Soon he was sent to the Hawaiian island of Oahu as part of the second battalion of company F, where Jones James, along with his comrades, was exhausted from idleness in the Scofield barracks and knew all the "charms" of American hazing and the tyranny of senior officers.
Participation in hostilities
On the morning of December 7, Japanese aircraft attacked the ships anchored in Pearl Harbor and the airfields on Oahu, where the military unit in which James Jones served was located. He was shocked by the losses of the American army, which amounted to 2,403 people killed and 1,178 wounded. Then it was his turn to take part in hostilities. In particular, the young corporal Jones, along with his company on August 7, 1942, landed on one of the islands of Guadalcanal. There they had to repeatedly engage in a battle with the Japanese. Only in November did the enemy, convinced of the futility of his attempts to regain control of the large airfield located at Cape Lung, evacuate his soldiers on 20 destroyers.
Return to the USA
During the famous battle of Mount Austin, which lasted from mid December 1942 to January 23, 1943 and was fought in an impenetrable jungle, James Jones was injured in his ankle and awarded the Purple Heart medal. He was sent for treatment in the United States, and in July 1944 he was demobilized for health reasons.
Returning home, James Jones decided to continue his education and in 1945 entered the University of New York.
Literary debut
The first major work of the writer was the novel “Now and forever and ever”, which was published in 1951. The debut was more than successful, and in 1952, Jones James received a prestigious award - the National Book Award. I must say that although his rivals were J. D. Salinger with his famous work “The Catcher in the Rye” and Herman Wauck with the novel “The Rise on the Kane”, already awarded in 1951 by the Pulitzer Prize, the authoritative jury decided to mark the work an unknown writer.
In the work “From Now and Forever and Eternity” Jones described his still fresh impressions of the experience on the island of Oaha during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The success of the book was understandable, since the thousands of Americans who were notified that their son, husband or brother had been killed in Hawaii could learn from its pages about how their loved ones spent the last days of their lives. In addition, many veterans were glad that their compatriots were finally learning the truth about what they had to go through without embellishment.
Features of James Jones Prose
I must say that in American literature such a thing as a military or army romance appeared only in 1895, after the publication of the work of Stephen Crane “The Scarlet Sign of Valor”. After a long break, new literary works dedicated to people forced to kill their own kind, following a duty, became the property of American readers during the First World War and after it. Most of them were clearly anti-militaristic, reflecting the views of their authors J. Dos Passos, W. Faulkner, E. Hemingway and others.
Jones' first work was fundamentally different from these works. In the novel “From Now and Forever and Eternity”, he described the life of the “pineapple army”, which indulges in all conceivable and unthinkable vices in Hawaii. Its main character, Private Robert Lee Pruitt, who was a successful boxer prior to joining the service, professes pacifism throughout the story. However, having learned about the attack on his regiment, even after being wounded, the soldier seeks to return there in order to enter the battle with the enemy.
Further writing career
Jones' second novel, “And They Ran”, veiledly told readers about the author’s life after he returned to his native Robinson. In 1958, the United States released an adaptation of this work, directed by Vincent Minnelli, and the main roles were played by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine. The picture received 4 nominations for an Oscar and one for a Golden Globe. However, the book itself was literally torn apart by critics who found a lot of spelling and punctuation errors in it, because they did not understand that in this way the author wanted to emphasize the provincial character of the town where the events take place.
In 1962, James Jones, whose books had already been repeatedly reprinted in large editions by that time, presented his readers a new work called The Thin Red Line. It became in some way a continuation of the picture of the author’s first novel and made critics call him a writer who could replace Faulkner and Hemingway.
Last years
Unfortunately, the life of the writer was interrupted too early in 1972. In the course of work on the book “Just Call,” he already knew that he was seriously ill. Not wanting his last work to be left unfinished, he passed instructions to his friend Willy Morris, who completed the last chapters of the novel, which completed the army trilogy, which also included “From Now and Forever and Ever” and “The Thin Red Line”.
Personal life
Returning to Robinson after being injured, Jones began to drink often. His aunt decided to save his nephew and introduced him to social worker Loney Handy, who was married to the manager of a local oil refinery. She was supposed to help James cope with alcohol addiction, but soon they became lovers. The relationship between Loney and Jones lasted several years. When, in 1957, the writer, returning from New York, brought his wife Gloria with him to his hometown, a former lover made a scandal. As a result, James and his wife were forced to hurry away. Married to Jones and Gloria in 1960, the daughter of Kylie was born.
Interesting Facts
- The novel "The Thin Red Line" was filmed twice. In 1964, the film with the same name was shot by Andrew Marton, and in 1998 - Terrence Malik. The latter invited Sean Penn, Nick Nolte and John Travolta to his picture . His picture received the prize of the Berlin Festival, but lost in 7 Oscar nominations in which it was presented.
- The daughter of the writer - Kylie - also proved herself in the literary field. In 1990, she published the novel "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries," which tells the story of her family.
Now you know that Jones James Ramon is the writer who most faithfully described the lives of American soldiers who fought on the Pacific Front during World War II. His novels, as well as films made on them, are included in the ratings of the most significant literary and cinematographic works of the 20th century created in the USA, so you should definitely get acquainted with them.