10th Annual James Jones Literary Society Symposium

   
        James Jones' legacy as one of the literary giants of 20th century
American literature will be celebrated  with the 10th annual James Jones
Literary Symposium to be held Saturday, Oct. 28 at the University of
Illinois Library.
        Attendance is free and open to the public.
        Gerald H. Linderman, history professor emeritus at the University
of Michigan and author of several books on the combat experience of men at
war, will give the keynote session, "James Jones and Two Wars: World War II
and Vietnam."
        Linderman's book, "The World Within War: America's Experience in
World War II" cites James Jones in 35 instances, more than any other
source, in defining how American fighting men dealt with combat in World
War II.
        James Jones Literary Society (JJLS) board member Carl Becker,
himself a World War II combat veteran and a retired Wright State University
history professor, said, "Linderman goes to Jones for support of his
principal argument (throughout the book.)
        "He has limned, I think, an accurate portrait of combat and uses
Jones effectively to illustrate his views. (Professor Linderman) should
make a good presentation on Jones' understanding of combat, a subject of
continuing interest among American scholars."
        Besides the World War II book, Linderman has written a similar book
on the Civil War and is currently working on a book about the combat
experiences of Americans in the Vietnam War.
        Beginning with registration at 8 a.m. in the UI Library's Rare Book
Room, where the original and unexpurgated manuscript of "From Here to
Eternity" and a copy of "The Pistol" manuscript Jones originally gave Judy
Garland are both housed with some of the author's other papers, the day
promises to be full of thoughtful insights and new discoveries about Jones,
his writing and the World War II era.
        Also a part of the program in the Rare Book Room will be the
continuous showing of the documentary "James Jones: From Reveille to Taps,"
co-produced by Society board member J. Michael Lennon when he was a faculty
member of what is now the University of Illinois at Springfield. The James
Jones Literary Society Web site will be up in the Rare Book Room with
Vincennes University librarian and JJLS board member Richard King, who
developed and maintains the site (rking.vinu.edu/j.htm), available to
explain how the site benefits Jones scholars and fans.
        The program begins with the introduction of 1999 James Jones First
Novel Fellowship Award (wilkes.edu/~english/jones.html) recipient Louise
Warham of Burlington, Vt. She will read from her novel, "Since You Ask,"
for which she received the award of $3,000 from among 472 entries. One of
the primary missions of the JJLS is to encourage young writers as Jones was
encouraged in the early part of his career by Lowney Handy, with whom he
co-founded the Handy Writers Colony in Marshall, Ill., after the 1951
publication of "From Here To Eternity."
        UI Rare Book and Special Collections librarian Barbara Jones and
UI-Springfield archivist Tom Wood will then talk about James Jones and the
Illinois connection. Besides the Jones collection in the Rare Book Room,
Wood maintains the Handy collection at the Springfield campus. The
collection includes a number of Jones photographs and other memorabilia.
        UI professor of English emeritus George Hendrick, also well known
for his scholarship on Carl Sandburg, edited a collection of Jones' letters
called "To Reach Eternity: The Letters of James Jones," published by Random
House in 1989. One of the society's founders and its first president, the
George Hendrick Research Award was established in the professor's honor.
        The last winner of the award was Steven Carter for his book, "James
Jones: An American Literary Orientalist Master," published by UI Pressin
1998. The press also published the recently re-issued "James Jones: A
Friendship" by longtime Jones friend, the late Willie Morris.
        A panel of Jones' early friends and colony members will round out
the morning session. Helen Howe, wife of Jones' boyhood friend, and former
Colony member Don Sackrider, co-authors of "James Jones and the Handy
Writers Colony" will talk about the colony with its last member, Jon
Shirota. While in Marshall, he wrote "Lucky Come Hawaii," a novel set
during the attack on Pearl Harbor from a Japanese-American's perspective.
Shirota's family was among the many Japanese who had immigrated to Hawaii
from Okinawa prior to the beginning of World War II.
        After a lunch break, Hendrick and two other Jones scholars and past
Society presidents Lennon, professor of English at Wilkes University, and
Judith Everson, English professor and department chair at UI-Springfield,
will give an overview of Jones' war writings in preparation for Linderman's
presentation.
        Topping off the day, Medicare 7, 8 or 9 Dixeland Jazz Band, which
was formed on the Illinois campus and played there during the
tension-filled times of student demonstrations and protest against the
Vietman War, will play the music of World War II and discuss the role of
music in the war. Several of the band members are veterans of the war,
including Jack May, an Army Air Corps crewman and a former prisoner of war
whose plane was shot down in the Pacific Theater.
        Kaylie Jones, the author's daughter and a novelist in her own
right, will conduct a writer's workshop on Friday at the UI Library from
1-5 p.m. Her most recent novel, "Celeste Ascending," was released last
spring. Another one of her novels, "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries," was
made into a movie with Kris Kristofferson and Barbara Hersey.
        The workshop is also given without charge, but only the work of the
first 25 registants will be critiqued. For more information on the
workshop, call Barbara Jones at 217 333-3777.

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10th Annual Symposium of The James Jones Literary Society
Saturday, October 28, 2000
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University Library Lecture Hall 66
1408 W. Gregory Dr.
Urbana, IL

Program Schedule (subject to minor changes)

8:00 - 8:50 a.m. - Registration - Rare Book Room, 346 Library
        (complimentary coffee and rolls)

9:00 - 9:40 a.m. - Society Board Meeting - 66 Library
        Ray Elliott, president

9:40 - 10:00 a.m. - Introduction of 1999 First Novel Fellowship Award Recipient

10:00 - 10:45 a.m. - "James Jones and the Illinois Connection"
        Barbara Jones, Rare Book and Special Collections librarian,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
        Tom Wood, archivist, University of Illinois at Springfield

10:45  - 11:30 a.m. - "The Colony in Marshall, Illinois"
        Helen Howe, co-author of The Colony
        Don Sackrider, former Colony member and co-author of The Colony
        Jon Shirota, last Colony member and author of Lucky Come Hawaii

11:30 - 1:00 p.m. - Lunch on your own
        (A map of nearby restaurants will be provided.)

1:00 - 2:00 p.m. - "James Jones' War Writings: An Overview"
        Judith Everson, professor of English, University of Illinois at
Springfield
        George Hendrick, professor emeritus of English, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
        J. Michael Lennon, professor of English, Wilkes University

2:00 - 3:00 p.m. - Keynote: "James Jones and Two Wars: World War II and Vietnam"
        Gerald Linderman, professor emeritus of history, University of
Michigan, and author of
        The World Within War: American Experience in World War II

3:00 - 3:15 p.m. - Break

3:15 - 4:15 p.m. - "The Music of World War II"
        Medicare 7, 8 or 9 Dixieland Jazz Band, featuring several World War
II veterans

Visit the James Jones Exhibit in the Rare Book Room (346 Library). Book
signings by authors present are available until 5:00 p.m. The exhibit will
remain open until 6:00 p.m.