Madison Percy Jones (1925-2012) was a
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
born in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
. He published almost a dozen novels, and was considered "one of the major figures of contemporary southern letters".
Biography
Madison Jones was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 21, 1925. He was the son of a Presbyterian businessman, and spent his early years living in suburban Nashville. When Jones was 14, his father purchased Sycamore Farm in hill country 25 miles north of the city. At 17, Jones dropped out of
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
to become a farmer, moving to Sycamore Farm where he lived for a year and a half. He became associated with the
Southern Agrarians
The Southern Agrarians were twelve American Southerners who wrote an agrarian literary manifesto in 1930. They and their essay collection, ''I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition'', contributed to the Southern Renaissance, t ...
, which proved a great influence on his later work.
After graduating from Vanderbilt in 1949 (where he studied under
Donald Davidson) and getting a master's degree at the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
(where he was a student of
Andrew Nelson Lytle
Andrew Nelson Lytle (December 26, 1902 – December 12, 1995) was an American novelist, dramatist, essayist and professor of literature.
Early life
Andrew Nelson Lytle was born on December 26, 1902, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He graduated from V ...
), he taught English at the
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
before accepting a creative writing position at
Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
in 1956.
[ He retired from Auburn in 1987, having been a longtime writer in residence.]
Literary work
His first novel, ''The Innocent'' (1957), was favorably reviewed by Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the liter ...
, who praised him for his "basic seriousness of intention, and his deep, natural sense of fiction."[ Success came slowly; his 1967 novel ''An Exile'' (originally published in '']The Sewanee Review
''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism.
History
''T ...
''), for instance, was shopped around twice by Pat Kavanagh before André Deutsch
André Deutsch (15 November 1917 – 11 April 2000) was a Hungarian-born British publisher who founded an eponymous publishing company in 1951.
Biography
Deutsch was born on 15 November 1917 in Budapest, Hungary, the son of a Jewish dentis ...
, who had turned it down the first time, picked it up.
Allen Tate
John Orley Allen Tate (November 19, 1899 – February 9, 1979), known professionally as Allen Tate, was an American poet, essayist, social commentator, and poet laureate from 1943 to 1944.
Life
Early years
Tate was born near Winchester, ...
referred to him as a southern Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...
; other critics have also noted his "traditional social values and stern Puritanism."[ Though he is seen as a central figure in American literature, he is not well known; the first monograph on him wasn't published until 2005. He is regarded as having an "essentially religious outlook"; his later work is much darker than his earlier work, "primarily because he has seen the South losing the 'redemptive memory' which gives life meaning and substance."][
He received The Sewanee Review Fellowship for 1955/56,][ the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in 1968, and the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973. The historical novel ''Nashville 1864'', set during the ]American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, received the inaugural Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction in 1998. and the winner of the T.S. Eliot Award for Creative Writing.
Bibliography
*''The Innocent'' (1957)
*''Forest of the Night'' (1960)
*''A Buried Land (1963)
*''An Exile'' (Sometimes I Walk the Line) (1967)
*''A Cry of Absence'' (1971)
*''Passage Through Gehenna'' (1978)
*''Season of the Strangler'' (1982)
References
External links
Madison Jones
entry in the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Madison Jones papers, 1950-1989
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Madison
Vanderbilt University alumni
University of Florida alumni
Miami University faculty
University of Tennessee faculty
Auburn University faculty
1925 births
2012 deaths