Order Nr. 94202 JOHN SANFORD: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY. Jack Mearns.

JOHN SANFORD: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY.

(Sanford, John).
  • New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2008.
  • 6 x 9 inches
  • cloth.
  • 168 pages
  • ISBN: 9781584562115

Price: $95.00  other currencies

Order Nr. 94202

First edition. Born Julian Shapiro in 1904 in Harlem, John Sanford was inspired to write by his childhood acquaintance Nathanael West. William Carlos Williams, Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce also were important early influences on Sanford's themes and style. But Sanford's work displays a style uniquely his own. Sanford authored 24 books, including novels, creative interpretations of history and several volumes of memoir and autobiography. His monumental five-volume autobiography was titled Scenes from the Life of an American Jew. Both Sanford and screenwriter Marguerite Roberts, his wife for over 50 years, were blacklisted during the McCarthy era in the 1950s. Just before Sanford's death in 2003, the Los Angeles Times called him "an authentic hero of American letters." Sanford's career as a writer was star-crossed. His first ten books were issued by ten different publishers. Sanford quarreled with editors and alienated people throughout the publishing industry. Each of his books represents the culmination of a struggle. Thus, for Sanford, perhaps more so than most writers, there is a story that goes with each book. This bibliography recounts those travails to chart Sanford's development into the unique writer he became. Annotations address style and content of the works described, as well as the often winding road these works took toward publication. There are three appendices, including indices of historical pieces and of his family members and acquaintances. This book will prove to be a valuable and interesting resource for scholars of American literature. Author Jack Mearns is professor of psychology at California State University, Fullerton. He has previously published Deadline News, a novel (iUniverse, 2006).