James Ramon Jones (November 6, 1921 – May 9, 1977) was an American novelist known for his explorations of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and its aftermath. He won the 1952
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
for his
first published novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...
, ''
From Here to Eternity
''From Here to Eternity'' is a 1953 American drama romance war film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. The picture deals with the tribulations of three U.S. A ...
'', which was adapted for the big screen immediately and made into a television series a generation later.
Life
James Ramon Jones was born and raised in
Robinson, Illinois
Robinson is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,713 at the 2010 census, up from 6,822 in 2000.
Geography
Robinson is in the center of Crawford County at . Illinois Route 33 passes thro ...
, the son of Ramon and Ada M. (née Blessing) Jones. He enlisted in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
in 1939 at the age of 17 and served in the
25th Infantry Division,
27th Infantry Regiment
The 27th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the "Wolfhounds", is a regiment of the United States Army established in 1901, that served in the Philippine–American War, in the Siberian Intervention after World War I, and as part of the 25th Infantr ...
before and during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, first in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
at
Schofield Barracks
Schofield Barracks is a United States Army installation and census-designated place (CDP) located in the City and County of Honolulu and in the Wahiawa District of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, Hawaii. Schofield Barracks lies adjacent to the t ...
on
Oahu
Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O ...
, then in combat on
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the se ...
at the
, where he was wounded in his ankle. He returned to the US and was discharged in July 1944. He also worked as a journalist covering the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.
His wartime experiences inspired some of his most famous works, the so-called war trilogy. He witnessed the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...
, which led to his first published novel, ''
From Here to Eternity
''From Here to Eternity'' is a 1953 American drama romance war film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. The picture deals with the tribulations of three U.S. A ...
'' (1951). ''
The Thin Red Line'' (1962) reflected his combat experiences on Guadalcanal and ''
Whistle
A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a lar ...
'' (posthumous, 1978) was based on his hospital stay in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mo ...
, recovering from surgery on an ankle he had reinjured on the island.
Jones was the father of two children including
Kaylie Jones
Kaylie Jones (born 5 August 1960 in Paris, France) is an American writer, memoirist and novelist.
Biography
Jones is the daughter of National Book Award-winning novelist James Jones (''From Here to Eternity''), and Gloria Jones, a former actr ...
, an author best known for ''
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries'', a thinly veiled memoir of the Joneses' life in Paris during the 1960s. (The son Jamie Jones was adopted in France.) Kaylie Jones' novel was made into a film starring
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are " Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", " Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and " Help Me Make It Through the ...
,
Barbara Hershey
Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including weste ...
and
Leelee Sobieski
Liliane Rudabet Gloria Elsveta "Leelee" Sobieski (born June 10, 1983) is an American artist and former actress. She achieved fame in her teens with roles in films such as '' Deep Impact'', ''Eyes Wide Shut'', '' Joy Ride'', '' Here on Earth'', a ...
in 1998. The release of this film, along with the 1998 release of a new film version of ''The Thin Red Line'', directed by
Terrence Malick
Terrence Frederick Malick (born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. His films include ''Days of Heaven'' (1978), '' The Thin Red Line'' (1998), for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay ...
and produced by Robert Michael Geisler and John Roberdeau, sparked a revival of interest in James Jones' life and works. In 2011, Ms. Jones was instrumental in publishing an uncensored edition of James Jones' ''From Here to Eternity''.
Jones assisted in the 1950 formation of the
Handy Writers' Colony The Handy Writers' Colony, often called simply the Handy Colony or The Colony, was a writers' colony located in Marshall, Illinois, which operated from 1950–1964. The Handy Colony was founded in 1950 by Lowney Turner Handy and her husband, Harry H ...
in
Marshall, Illinois, by his then-lover Lowney Handy and her husband Harry Handy. It was funded partly by Harry and, after the financial success of ''From Here To Eternity'', partly by Jones. Originally conceived as a Utopian commune where budding artists could focus exclusively on their writing projects, the colony dissolved after only a few years, because James Jones relocated to France following his marriage to Gloria Mosolino after a fight with Lowney, leaving the colony back in a financially compromised situation in 1957.
Jones died in
Southampton, New York
Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stret ...
, of
congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...
and is buried in Poxabogue-Evergreen Cemetery,
Bridgehampton, New York
Bridgehampton is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on the South Fork of Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 1,756 at the 2010 census.
Bridgehampton is in the town of Southampton, on Long Island. Shortly after ...
. His papers are now held at the
Harry Ransom Center
The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...
at the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
. His widow, Gloria, died on June 9, 2006. Many of James Jones's books are still available in digital format, including excerpts from ''They Shall Inherit the Laughter'', published as ''To the End of the War''.
Work
Jones called his first novel ''They Shall Inherit the Laughter''. It was a thinly disguised autobiographical novel of his experiences in Robinson immediately after World War II. After several rejections—with various complaints and claims about the work being too shrill and lacking perspective—he abandoned it and began writing ''From Here to Eternity''.
Charles Scribner's Sons
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan R ...
published ''Eternity'' in 1951, and it won the annual U.S.
National Book Award for Fiction
The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...
.
["National Book Awards – 1952"]
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...
. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
(With essay by Harold Augenbraum from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)
The
Modern Library
The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...
Board later named it one of the 100 best novels of the 20th century.
[Modern Library]
"100 Best Novels"
Random House. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
His second published novel, ''
Some Came Running
''Some Came Running'' is a novel by James Jones, published in 1958. It was Jones's second published novel, following his award-winning debut '' From Here to Eternity''. It is the story of a war veteran with literary aspirations who returns in ...
'' (1957), had its roots in the abandoned first effort. In contrast to ''Eternity'', it was savaged by critics. They were especially harsh about the frequently misspelled words and punctuation errors; they did not recognize that such elements were a conscious style choice by Jones to evoke the provinciality of the novel's characters and setting. Jones apparently played around with this style in several short stories written at about the same time as ''Some Came Running'' (later collected in ''The Ice-Cream Headache and Other Stories''), only to abandon it by the time he finished ''The Thin Red Line'' in 1962, in favor of the blunt but more grammatically sound style most associated with him today. ''Some Came Running'' was immediately adapted as a film starring
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...
,
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
, and
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty, April 24, 1934) is an American actress, author, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, strong-willed and eccentric women, MacLaine has received numerous accolades over her seven-dec ...
, which was critically acclaimed and nominated for five
Oscars
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
.
His novella ''The Pistol'' (1959) was drawn from his military experience, not unlike ''From Here to Eternity'' and ''The Thin Red Line''.
Jones did not live long enough to finish his last novel, ''Whistle''; he knew he was dying of congestive heart failure while writing it. However, he left behind copious notes for
Willie Morris
William Weaks Morris (November 29, 1935 – August 2, 1999) was an American writer and editor born in Jackson, Mississippi, though his family later moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, which he immortalized in his works of prose. Morris' tradem ...
to complete the final section after his death, and ''Whistle'' was published a year later, in 1978. That completed Jones's war trilogy (the first parts being ''From Here to Eternity'' and ''The Thin Red Line''), of which he wrote: "It will say just about everything I have ever had to say, or will ever have to say, on the
human condition
The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed f ...
of war and what it means to us, as against what we claim it means to us."
Bibliography
Novels
*''
Some Came Running
''Some Came Running'' is a novel by James Jones, published in 1958. It was Jones's second published novel, following his award-winning debut '' From Here to Eternity''. It is the story of a war veteran with literary aspirations who returns in ...
'' (1957)
*''Go to the Widow-Maker'' (1967)
*''
The Merry Month of May'' (1971)
*''A Touch of Danger'' (1973)
;''From Here to Eternity'' trilogy
#''
From Here to Eternity
''From Here to Eternity'' is a 1953 American drama romance war film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. The picture deals with the tribulations of three U.S. A ...
'' (1951)
#''
The Thin Red Line'' (1962)
#''
Whistle
A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a lar ...
'' (1978) (completed by
Willie Morris
William Weaks Morris (November 29, 1935 – August 2, 1999) was an American writer and editor born in Jackson, Mississippi, though his family later moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, which he immortalized in his works of prose. Morris' tradem ...
)
Short fiction
;Collections
*''The Ice-Cream Headache and Other Stories'' (1968)
*''To the End of the War'' (2011)
;Stories
Non-fiction
*''Viet Journal'' (1974)
*''WW II'' (1975)
Adaptations
''From Here to Eternity'' was
adapted as a film of the same name in 1953; as a television
miniseries of the same name in 1979; as a
TV series of the same name in 1980. A
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...
adaption of the book opened in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 2013.
''Some Came Running'' was adapted as a
1958 film of the same name.
''The Thin Red Line'' was adapted as
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
and
1998 films of the same name. (Elements of ''The Pistol'' were included in the 1964 film adaptation of ''The Thin Red Line.'')
References
External links
The James Jones Literary SocietyJames Jones Papers Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
James Jones' Collectionat th
Harry Ransom Centerat
The University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
Handy Writers' Colony Collection Archives/Special Collections, Brookens Library, University of Illinois at Springfield.
*
Read Jones's interview with The Paris Review*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, James
1921 births
1977 deaths
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American novelists
American male novelists
Esquire (magazine) people
Military personnel from Illinois
National Book Award winners
Novelists from Illinois
People from Robinson, Illinois
United States Army non-commissioned officers
United States Army personnel of World War II