It has been argued that the The Bastard (1929) and Poor Fool (1930) show hints of disturbed state of mind. In the 1920s Caldwell moved to Maine to devote himself to writing.Īfter several Spartan years, he had three stories accepted for For a time he was a cub reporter on the Atlanta Journal.

He played professional football and worked as mill-hand, cotton-picker,Īnd in other such occupations. Of eighteen Caldwell went on a gun-running boat to South America, William Saroyan and others in the U.S., Caldwell received his trueĮducation through the wide variety of jobs he took. Like Maxim Gorky in Russia, and Dreiser, Carl Sandburg and In 1925 he married Helen Lannigan, a fellow student they had threeĬhildren. He attended briefly Erskine College, Due West, South Carolina,Īnd the Universities of Virginia and Pennsylvania for some semesters. Sharecroppers, which later reflected in his best-known work, Tobacco Road (1932).Īs a young man, Caldwell took odd jobs and worked in the Southern These early years he acquired a deep knowledge of the impoverished Mother, Caroline Bell, a schoolteacher and dedicated educator. Sylvester Caldwell, was a Presbyterian minister who moved from church It's people like you who've got to wake up and realize that a manĬan't live a selfish life in this day and time.' (from 'Soquots' in Gulf Coast Stories, 1956)Įrskine Caldwell was born in White Oak, Georgia. It's time you to find out that you're not the only humanīeing in this world, and that millions of other people have rights, To me, 'is that you think you can run all of creation the exact way you Plots, grotesque humor, and a straightforward and powerful style.Ĭaldwell's attacks on poverty, ignorance, racism, and the tenantįarming system deeply influenced public opinion. Typical for his fiction are unpredictable In his time Erskine Caldwell struggled with censorship Relations of Georgian poor whites and blacks combined social realism

Ribaldry,' whose unadorned novels and short stories about the family A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Tobacco road novel review