| dc.description.abstract | This dissertation, ''A Biographical and Critical Interpretation of George Sessions Perry (1910-1956)," includes a survey of Perry's published works in fiction and of some four unpublished novels and other unpublished data in the Academic Center at the University of Texas. The study also includes a discussion of My Granny Van and other works of non-fiction that provide insight into an understanding of Perry's philosophy. The bibliography makes available for the first time a relatively complete listing of Perry's writings in both fiction and non-fiction. From the beginning of his career Perry used as a setting for his fiction the area in and around Rockdale, Texas, where he was born and reared. His first novels, which were rejected by the publishers, were autobiographical in nature. In each plot the hero is a sensitive young man, usually frustrated by conflicting ambitions. In these novels, as well as in his later published works, Perry expressed a concern for the plight of the underprivileged, In "Edgar and the Dank Morass" and subsequent stories dealing with the adventures of one Edgar Selfridge, most of which he sold to the Saturday Evening Post, Perry displayed an understanding of folk humor Walls Rise Up, the story of three hoboes who take up residence in an abandoned fishing camp on the Brazos River, is another example of Perry's gift for humor. Hold Autumn in Your Hand, which won the National Book Award for 1941 and is generally considered Perry's highest achievement in fiction, is the story of a year in the life of 8am Tucker, a Texas tenant farmer. Tucker has returned to the land after a brief interim as a factory employee in the city. Like the hoboes in Walls Rise Up, he is seeking a richer life than an urban society offers; unlike the hoboes, however, Tucker is willing to accept the responsibilities as well as the privileges that a rural life entails. In other works besides these Perry emphasized the contrast between the demands of a conventional society and the personal freedom of a simpler society. Under the auspices of the Post Perry visited many of the best-known American cities in order to collect material for the Cities of America series. Upon concluding the tour, be reaffirmed bis personal preference for a life away from the urban complexes. Although he wrote virtually no fiction after World War II, Perry nevertheless expressed in his nonfiction the same ideals which be had expressed earlier in fiction. The disillusionment brought about by his experiences as a war correspondent during World War II and an attack of rheumatoid arthritis that affected him both mentally and physically only re-enforced his yearning for a lite less susceptible to the inroads of industrialization ¿ Although Perry did not earn for himself major status in national or world literature, his best works point toward such an estimate and place him in the forefront of American regional writers. | |
