Norman Mailer Sends Letter of
Support
for James Jones Chair in World War II Studies
at Eastern Illinois University;
Sept. 7 Kickoff Dinner Planned in Robinson
From Ray Elliot, Past President of the
James Jones Literary Society
August
8, 2007
Dear
Friends:
As
reported in the recent James Jones Literary
Society newsletter, the James Jones Chair in World War II Studies was
established at Eastern Illinois University
in Charleston
with a $10,000 contribution from the society from funds left by former
Handy
Colony writer Charles Webb in his will for such purposes. Part of the
$125,000
Robb bequeathal was combined with contributions from board members and
others,
including another former Handy Colony member and longtime Jones friend
Don
Sackrider, whose initial contribution set up the James Jones First
Novel
Fellowship endowment at Wilkes
University that
now
awards $10,000 to the winner of the annual competition. Eleven of the
13 annual
winners have been published.
And the other portion
of
the Robb estate has been
earmarked with other contributions for encouraging young writers and
society
expenses for the quarterly newsletter, the annual symposia, operational
expenses and other writing awards which include:
<>
·
The
annual James Jones Short Story Award through the Illinois Center
for the Book’s Emerging Writer’s Series
·
The
James Jones Story Award for Lincoln
Trail College
students and beginning writers in Clark and Crawford counties in Illinois
·
The
Valentine Short Story essay for Clark
and Crawford county high school students
With the establishment of the endowed chair in James
Jones’ name in the English and History departments in the College of Arts
and Humanities at EIU, it is necessary to call on Society members for
their
help to fulfill the endowment.
Lifetime member and Robinson businessman
Jack Chamblin
is hosting a kickoff dinner at Quail Creek Country Club in Robinson on
Sept. 7. The EIU development office is preparing the invitations and
identifying potential donors among EIU alumni as well as preparing
other material for the fundraising campaign.
“The College of Arts & Humanities, Eastern Illinois
University,
is both delighted and honored to house the James Jones Chair in World
War II
Studies,” Dean James K. Johnson said.
“James Jones is
one of the most significant American literary voices of his generation
who
wrote on subjects of such importance they defined that very generation.
Both
our English Department and our History Department are committed to
hosting the
very best young scholars in literary and historical studies of World
War II and
making them available or lectures at Lincoln Trail
College
and other area locations.
“It is
also
altogether fitting that the James
Jones Chair in World War II Studies should reside at Eastern Illinois
University — close to Jones’ birthplace in Robinson, and to the Handy
Writers
Colony in nearby Marshall, where he lived and which he so generously
supported
after the 1951 publication of ‘From Here
to Eternity’ and the 1953 film of the novel,” Johnson added.
Founding
member and past
president of the JJLS, Mike Lennon, whose documentary, “James Jones:
From
Reveille to Taps,” captures an extraordinary look at the author and
includes
interviews with those who knew him from childhood on, said, “I am
confident the
establishment of this endowed chair will be a key moment in the history
of the
JJLS — the day when we began the work of re-awakening academe to the
huge
significance of Jones' work.
“I
think that using some of the funds from
Charlie Robb's bequest for this purpose is a fine way to honor him, as
well as
Jones,” said Lennon, who was also an executor of Robb’s estate.
“Helping to
establish a chair, in my judgment, is consistent with the way he left
money to
various causes.”
Longtime friend,
World War
II veteran and another major American novelist Norman Mailer said,
“James Jones
is one of the few major American novelists to emerge here since the
Second
World War. He was an immensely talented man, and I think it is a
splendid idea
to endow a chair in his name at Eastern Illinois
University.
He would have grumbled, but I think it would have given him true
pleasure.”
And we think it will give
generations of students insight into the work of James Jones and a
knowledge of
the war that another longtime friend, the late writer Willie Morris,
called
“one of the most memorable events of mankind, more catastrophic perhaps
than anything
in the history of the human race…” with Jones being “the one person to
have
given us this stunning corpus of work which will be read and remembered
and
reread 500 years from now.”
Please
send your tax-deductible contributions for the endowment fund to Karla
Evans, Executive Director of Development, Eastern Illinois University
Foundation, 600 Lincoln Ave., Charleston, IL 61920-3099. Make checks
payable to the Eastern Illinois University Foundation, for theJames
Jones Chair in World War II Studies.
Best
regards and thanks for your support,
Ray
Elliott
Past President
James Jones Literary Society
2609 N. High Cross Road
Urbana, IL 61802