“George R. Stewart: Unrestrained by literary borders,” Patrick T. Reardon’s fine tribute to George R. Stewart, was published yesterday in The Chicago Tribune‘s literary magazine, Printers Row Journal. Editorial Assistant Andreea Ciulac was kind enough to send the link. (The Journal is published online only.)
The essay gives a good introduction to Stewart’s vast literary output. As Reardon says, GRS wrote in many fields – history, geography, environmentalism, civil rights, and fiction – creating several new types of literature along the way.
Reardon highlights several of Stewart’s books – Earth Abides, Names On The Land, Pickett’s Charge, Storm, Ordeal By Hunger, and others. He quotes from the books to show Stewart’s style in each type of work, thus giving readers a sense of how the books read.
The portrait Andreea Ciulac chose for the article was taken in 1938, probably for East of the Giants. It shows Stewart as the distinguished scholar and author he was – in a time when the publication of a book by a company like Random House meant honor and a huge readership. (Thanks to Anna Evenson for permitting use of the photo.)
To see that portrait with its fine accompanying article in The Chicago Tribune is to feel immensely satisfied – this is the kind of honorable place where GRS belongs. In the literary magazine of one of the great newspapers of the country.
The article should encourage a new readership for Stewart’s work. As Andreea Ciulac writes, “… I think the article makes you jump from your seat and go read something written by GRS!” (Andreea is a pleasure to work with – cheerful, enthusiastic, efficient, a friend of literature, and now, we hope, of GRS. Printers Row Journal is lucky to have her on the staff.)
By the way – I wrote in the last post that you can subscribe to the Printers Row Journal; but no longer. On the other hand, you CAN subscribe online to The Chicago Tribune, and receive the Journal as part of the subscription, for a reasonable price. I was impressed with the Journal, and have subscribed for a few months to try The Tribune and the Journal.
the EARTH ABIDES project 