He gave me a copy of his as yet unfinished novel - it was in manuscript form - double-spaced, front only of each page.
I read it, and liked it, and got it back to him, with comments / observations.
We exchanged a few letters the first couple of years I was in Boston, going to school.
(All these memories came back to me, as I remembered other parts of it - some things I had not thought of in quite a while.)
There was a new book out, a biography of Maxwell Perkins, who was editor of Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, and other major authors from the early part of the 20th Century. I remember I recommended it to him, and maybe I even sent him my copy of it when I was finished reading it - I'm not sure....
And I sent him a paper I had written for American History class - would have been my sophomore year, I think. The paper was about Huey Long, governor of Louisiana from 1928 - 1932, and U.S. Senator from 1932 until his assassination in 1935.
He wrote back to me - the paper had a "B" grade on it, and he took a firm stand, saying it was "an 'A' paper." He was a little ticked at the professor! LOL.
I didn't send it to him to get his judgment on what the grade should have been - I only wanted to share it because I had fun writing it, and I guess I was proud of it, and just wanted him to see it.
Did not expect him to take umbrage about the grade!
It was funny.
Next time I wrote to him, I said I was glad he thought it was an A paper, but not to be concerned, because I wasn't worried about getting a "B."
357 Beacon Street, apartment building where I lived, sophomore year at B.U.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment