Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald – we already know all there is to know about the trio of American literary giants, right?
Not so, says NIU English Professor Keith Gandal.
In his new book, “The Gun and the Pen: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and the Fiction of Mobilization,” newly released from Oxford University Press, Gandal identifies something all three authors had in common: a failed military career. And he offers up this shared background, as men frustrated not by the horrors of war but by their trivialized roles, as a motivating force behind some of their masterpieces.
“I didn’t discover the biographies of these guys – they’re all well known,” Gandal says. “But nobody has examined their works together in light of these shared military experiences. And nobody has examined their military frustrations in the context of a revolution in the Army’s personnel policies during World War I. This dramatic transformation in the military is little known.”
In “The Gun and the Pen,” Gandal brings to light previously unexamined archival Army records, chronicling the unprecedented procedural changes that occurred in the military as the United States mobilized for World War I. During this time, the U.S. military instituted a system that, for everyone except African Americans, based rank and promotions on merit instead of class and privilege – a shift that helped destroy the hopes of Hemingway, Faulkner and Fitzgerald.
Hemingway and Faulkner – who both would later inflate their war records and even acquire bogus uniforms to pass themselves off as veterans – couldn’t get commissions in the air corps because of physical disqualifications. Hemingway ended up joining a Red Cross ambulance unit and was famously wounded, albeit while delivering cigarettes and chocolate to troops. Faulkner joined the Canadian Royal Air Force but never saw combat.
Meanwhile, Fitzgerald did pass an officers’ exam, but his military career stalled because of poor performance.
In light of these military experiences – or lack thereof – Gandal explores the central characters in Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury” and Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” The postwar novels have strange similarities.
“It’s almost like they have the same plot,” says Gandal, who has taught the books in English courses for many years at NIU.
“They feature similar love triangles. You have a central promiscuous Anglo female, an Anglo narrator who doesn’t get the girl and a social outsider or ethnic American who does get the girl. I always felt that if I could look behind these books and see the historical context, then I would know why they had similar story lines.”
The military history of the authors helps to fill in the blanks, he says.
“The mournful tinge of these books is not about the loss of life during war, but about the loss of class privilege in light of the rise of meritocracy in the military,” Gandal says. “In some ways, the American military was very progressive in its treatment of ethnic minorities, the exception being its continued appalling discrimination against African-Americans.”
In the past, critics have dismissed anti-Semitic and anti-ethnic comments and sequences in the works of these authors as a reflection of the prevailing attitudes of a xenophobic era. But Gandal argues that the passages were motivated by the authors’ own prejudices against minorities who were able to achieve success in military ranks.
“They scapegoated ethnic Americans, and to a lesser degree demonized promiscuous Anglo women who slept with class outsiders who had military experience,” he says.
“These guys all felt emasculated,” Gandal adds. “Their disillusionment comes not from the horrors of war but from not experiencing the horrors of war.”
Professor Gandal lives in Chicago and has been teaching at NIU since 2000. He is also the author of “The Virtues of the Vicious: Jacob Riis, Stephen Crane and the Spectacle of the Slum” and “Class Representation in Modern Fiction and Film,” as well as a novel, “Cleveland Anonymous.”
Friends of NIU Libraries will mark its 25th anniversary with a celebration featuring an appearance by Peter Sagal, host of National Public Radio’s popular program, “Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me!”
The event will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center, 231 N. Annie Glidden Road. A reception with a cash bar and hors d’oeuvres will be held prior to Sagal’s 7:45 p.m. talk, which will be followed by a book signing.
Tickets to the event cost $25 and can be purchased by calling Angie Schroeder at (815) 753-8091.
Sagal has been the host of “Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me!” since May 1998. The program attracts 2.5 million listeners each week, as Sagal, NPR veteran newscaster Carl Kasell and well-known guest panelists discuss and review current events of the week in the form of a quiz. Sagal also travels the country with his quiz show playing at sold-out theaters.
Additionally, Sagal is the author of “The Book of Vice (Naughty Things and How to Do Them),” a series of comic essays about people who misbehave and why. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during Sagal’s NIU appearance courtesy of Arcadia Discount Books, 203 E. Locust St., which also will have displays of the book at its store in anticipation of the event.
A native of Berkeley Heights, N.J., Sagal attended Harvard University and has worked as an actor, literary manager, stage director, travel writer, essayist and ghostwriter. He also has penned numerous plays that have been performed in large and small venues across the country and abroad. He now lives in Chicago with his family.
The Friends of NIU Libraries was founded in 1983 as an association of library supporters interested in developing and supporting the resources of University Libraries. Through membership, gifts and bequests, the group provides funds for the purchase of materials that the library is unable to acquire. Throughout the year, the Friends also hosts speakers, programs and book appraisal fairs open to the public.
For more information on the event, call (815) 753-8091 or e-mail aschroeder@niu.edu.
What better way to show Huskie spirit than by sharing it?
Michael Stang, executive director for Housing and Dining, invites the university community to participate in this year’s Welcome Days from Thursday, Aug. 21, through Tuesday, Aug. 26. Any and all efforts are appreciated.
Opening Day: Volunteers assist students and their families beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, by driving golf carts of student belongings from family vehicles to the residence halls and/or by moving the new students’ belongings to their rooms. As a sign of appreciation, each volunteer will receive a free T-shirt and a 50 percent discount for the annual Huskie Bash, which takes place at 4 p.m. that day.
Huskies Helping Huskies: Volunteers will be stationed at kiosks across campus Monday, Aug. 25, and Tuesday, Aug. 26, to answer students’ questions or direct them to particular destinations on campus.
House Calls: Volunteers will greet first-year students at assigned residence hall floors the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 26. Volunteers welcome students and answer any questions they have.
Volunteer registration is available online.
Members of the NIU Operating Staff who wish to participate can request release from their normal duties. Staff participation is subject to supervisory approval and should not interfere with normal operational needs of the university.
For more information, visit www.housing.niu.edu or contact Wendy Rodriguez at (815) 753-9651 or wrodriguez@niu.edu.
Construction of the new underground chilled water piping on campus will continue in the Anderson Hall and Campus Life Building parking lots this week.
The western portions of the Anderson Hall parking lot (at the intersection of Garden Street and Lucinda Avenue) will be the primary construction zone, with paving scheduled to take place around midweek. That area will be closed this week for digging and repaving.
The eastern portion of the Campus Life parking lot, which is being used as a staging area for construction equipment, will remain closed through September. Parking Lot 10, on Castle Drive, also will continue as a construction staging area with heavy equipment and truck traffic posing a hazard to pedestrian traffic in that area.
Anticipated work hours for the week are 6:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
The University Libraries are closed Saturday, Aug. 16, and Sunday, Aug. 17. Normal interim hours resume at 8 a.m. Monday, Aug. 18.
Penne McCabe, secretary in the NIU Office of Publications, will retire Friday, Aug. 29, after 27 years of service.
In lieu of a formal farewell reception, McCabe would appreciate cards or notes to include in a memory book. Send remembrances to Virginia Seymour, Gilbert Hall B105, by Friday, Aug. 22.
The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced its hours for the fall semester.
Fall hours begin Monday, Aug. 18. The library is open from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and from noon to 11:30 p.m. Sundays.
Exceptions include Labor Day weekend (open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, and from 2 to 10 p.m. Monday, Sept. 1) and the Thanksgiving recess (open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26, from noon to 11:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30, and closed in between).
The extended scheduled for College of Law reading/final examination period begins Monday, Dec. 1.
Call (815) 753-0505 for more information.
Media Services is offering training on using the audiovisual equipment in Provost-sponsored SMART classrooms. Both new and returning instructors should benefit from these brief seminars. Refreshments are provided.
These seminars are open-ended and run continually. A complete demonstration with hands-on practice could take 30 minutes. Those who cannot attend one of these sessions can contact Keith Bisplinghoff at (815) 753-0172 for other training opportunities.
Fall registration for the Community Dance School at NIU begins soon. Classes meet weekly from Monday, Sept. 8, through Saturday, Dec. 13.
The school is sponsored by the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education and is directed by Diane Rimmer. The Community Dance School’s mission is to reach all members of the NIU community and surrounding areas, teach fundamentals of various dance forms and to allow each individual to expand upon their own abilities. Its main focus is to explore the joy of movement through dance, instilling a strong appreciation and understanding for it.
Classes begin at age 4 and continue through teen and adult. Classes offered include creative movement, ballet, tap, Irish step dancing, jazz/hip-hop, modern as well as ballroom, Latin and swing. Students are taught by NIU faculty and instructors who hold degrees in dance education, have danced professionally or who are currently dance performance majors at NIU.
NIU faculty member Barbara Heimerdinger will teach the ballroom, Latin and swing classes.
Registration will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, in Anderson Hall Studio, Room 130. For more information, call (815) 753-0277 or (815) 756-4092.
NIU innovators have less than a month to submit proposals to the Technology Transfer Office for the further development of inventions for entry into the commercial marketplace.
Friday, Sept. 5, is the deadline to apply for up to $20,000 to support development of novel applied technologies which have the near-term potential for licensing and commercialization.
The Technology Development Fund is a new program offered by the Division of Research and Graduate Studies to
Exact funding guidelines and applications are available online at www.tto.niu.edu.
The fund, which does not support basic research, has a limit of $50,000 for Fiscal Year 2009. Money awarded is available for up to one year and is not renewable. The proposed work must have a reasonable chance of being accomplished in one year.
Awards can be used only for technical support, supplies and contracted services directed to the funded projects. The money is not meant to supplement investigator’s salaries.
Members of the university’s Intellectual Property Committee will review the submitted proposals for commercial feasibility with the assistance of technical evaluators and will make recommendations for award to the interim vice president for research.
For more information, contact Rita Yusko, acting manager of the Technology Transfer Office, at (815) 753-9281 or ryusko@niu.edu.
Two NIU professors are asking professors and departments to donate used textbooks and research journals to a university in Kenya.
Jane Rose Njue, from NIU’s School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences, and Moses Mutuku, from the Department of Teaching and Learning, are collecting the books to ship to Kenyatta University. Kenyatta’s professors and students, who cannot afford to buy text books often and who do not have much access to journals, will find great value in the donation.
Donations are needed quickly, however: Olive Mugenda, chancellor of Kenyatta University, will visit NIU this week through Wednesday, Aug. 13.
“It would be good for her to be presented with books that NIU community has donated,” Njue said. “Kenyatta University pays for the shipment of books.”
FCNS Chair Laura Smart is providing space to store the books before they are transported Aug. 13. Donations can be taken to Wirtz 122.
NIU faculty members have collaborated in recent years with colleagues from Iowa State University, the University of Minnesota and Hamline University to donate books to Kenya through Books for Africa.
Based in St. Paul, Minn., the non-profit organization established in 1988 is the largest shipper of donated books to African countries.
The organization believes that the greatest equalizer is to give individuals access to an education whether self taught or in a school to all people. Its staff works with organizations throughout Africa and the United States to end the country’s “book famine” by transporting more books and educational materials to areas in need.
After 27 years on the job, Leroy Mitchell will retire as director of the CHANCE program.
All are welcome to an open house celebration from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center.