{"id":3642,"date":"2017-07-16T23:34:45","date_gmt":"2017-07-16T14:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/?p=3642"},"modified":"2017-07-16T23:34:45","modified_gmt":"2017-07-16T14:34:45","slug":"this-weeks-re-review-thomas-boyd-lost-author-of-the-lost-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/this-weeks-re-review-thomas-boyd-lost-author-of-the-lost-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week\u2019s Re-Review \u2013 Thomas Boyd: Lost Author of the \u2018Lost Generation”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I write a weekly book review for the Daily News of Galveston County. (It is not the biggest daily newspaper in Texas, but it is the oldest.) I have been doing this for nearly a dozen years, and am reprinting some of the older reviews here. Books I feel are still worthwhile. Do you remember Thomas Boyd? Unless you have read\u00a0Through the Wheat<\/em> or study mid-twentieth century American literature, the answer is likely no. Yet Brian Bruce wrote a first-rate biography of Boyd.<\/p>\n

Why? Who knows? My theory is it was a graduate thesis. It is a fascinating book, though.<\/p>\n

Seawriter<\/p>\n

Subject limits book\u2019s appeal to masses<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Mark Lardas<\/strong>
\nThe Daily News<\/p>\n

Published October 22, 2006<\/p>\n

\u201cThomas Boyd: Lost Author of the \u2018Lost Generation<\/a>,\u2019\u201d by Brian Bruce, University of Akron Press, Akron, OH, 2006, 167 pages, $42.95.<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Thomas Boyd was one of the writers of the Lost Generation \u2014 men and women thrust suddenly into the adult world by the battles of World War I.<\/p>\n

As a teenager, Boyd enlisted in the U.S. Marines Corps after America\u2019s entry into that war. He fought with the 6th Marine Regiment at Belleau Wood, Soissons and Saint-Mihiel. Badly wounded in combat (he would later die from complications from his injury) he spent much of the rest of his military career in hospitals.<\/p>\n

After the war, Boyd married his third cousin, Peggy Smith, a future novelist. Through her influence, he became a reporter and discovered he liked writing.<\/p>\n

F. Scott Fitzgerald befriended Boyd, and used his influence to get Boyd\u2019s first novel published.<\/p>\n

The book was \u201cThrough the Wheat,\u201d a semi-autographical account of Boyd\u2019s Marine experiences. It became a bestseller. While unevenly written, it remains one of the best accounts of combat in World War I.<\/p>\n

Despite his friendship with Fitzgerald, Boyd\u2019s life more closely parallels Dashiel Hammett\u2019s. Both came from working class backgrounds, had health problems from World War I, depended upon writing for their livelihood and dabbled in communism. (Boyd ran for governor of Vermont as a communist.)<\/p>\n

After \u201cThrough the Wheat,\u201d Boyd spent his short life (he died at 38) churning out novels and biographies. Only two cracked the best-seller lists. All are largely forgotten. Only \u201cThrough the Wheat\u201d remains available.<\/p>\n

Brian Bruce, a local author, has written a well-researched, thorough and highly readable account of Thomas Boyd\u2019s life. It is one of the best-written biographies of 2006. Its only weakness is its subject.<\/p>\n

People generally read authors\u2019 biographies for three reasons: They like the writer\u2019s books, the author had a fascinating life or the writer had an impact on the books of the time.<\/p>\n

Boyd is a literary footnote. He wrote one near-great work. He lacks the enigma of a Patrick O\u2019Brien or the adventure of an Ernest Hemmingway. He did not, like William Faulkner or Flannery<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor, influence literature. His life, while filled with challenges, was pedestrian.<\/p>\n

That limits the book\u2019s appeal. Unless you have read Boyd\u2019s books, are interested in Ohio history, 1920s authors or simply enjoy reading about authors, the book may fail to catch your attention.<\/p>\n

Bruce\u2019s biography will interest scholars and contributes to the study of American letters. It seems a shame that an engagingly written work will only capture a small audience.<\/p>\n

Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, amateur historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is\u00a0<\/em>marklardas.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \r\n <\/i>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I write a weekly book review for the Daily News of Galveston County. (It is not the biggest daily newspaper in Texas, but it is the oldest.) I have been doing this for nearly a dozen years, and am reprinting some of the older reviews here. Books I feel are still worthwhile. Do you remember Thomas Boyd? Unless you have read\u00a0Through the Wheat<\/em> or study mid-twentieth century American literature, the answer is likely no. Yet Brian Bruce wrote a first-rate biography of Boyd.<\/p>\n

Why? Who knows? My theory is it was a graduate thesis. It is a fascinating book, though.<\/p>\n

Seawriter<\/p>\n

Subject limits book\u2019s appeal to masses<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Mark Lardas<\/strong>
The Daily News<\/p>\n

Published October 22, 2006<\/p>\n

\u201cThomas Boyd: Lost Author of the \u2018Lost Generation<\/a>,\u2019\u201d … Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3643,"href":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3642\/revisions\/3643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balldiamondball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}