This year Florida Hemingway Society member and professor of English at the College of Dupage, Michelle E. Moore, published her book, Chicago and the Making of American Modernism. Moore takes an important look at the influence the history of Chicago has had on the literary community. She digs deeply into the connection between religion and business in the rebuilding of Chicago after the fire of 1871 destroyed the city. Through archival research she explains the influence this connection had on several great American modernists.
Moore’s book is split into two sections. Part One is entitled “The Fire, the Colombian Exhibition, and the Boosters” and includes a look at Henry Blake Fuller, Harriet Monroe, Edgar Lee Masters and Sherwood Anderson. Part Two is entitled “Making Modernism Out of Chicago” and looks at Willa Cather, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
While each of the chapters has much to offer, the Hemingway chapter was, of course, the one to draw me in immediately. Moore’s chapter on Hemingway is insightful. She sheds interesting light on Hemingway’s relationship with Henry B. Fuller and Edwin Balmer, as well as his connection with Frank Lloyd Wright. Moore particularly brings attention to Balmer’s influence on Hemingway’s “The Woppian Way,” “The Ash Heel’s Tendon—A Story,” and “The Mercenaries.” She also gives some attention to Chicagoan interpretations of “The Killers” and “Fifty Grand.” Overall, the book has much to offer. You can pick up a copy at the link below. There is also a version available on Kindle for a slight savings.