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The Voice of Small-Town America: The Selected Writings of Robert Quillen, 1920–1948
A sampling of the popular wit and insights of the Garrison Keillor of his era
Deemed "the Sage of Fountain Inn" by Alexander Woollcott, newspaper publisher and editor Robert Quillen (1887–1948) used the forum of the Fountain Inn Tribune to bring his anecdotes and opinions from small-town upstate South Carolina to an international audience. The Mark Twain or Garrison Keillor of his day, Quillen developed a reputation as an authentic voice of small-town life, and his words were reprinted in Collier's, the Saturday Evening Post, Literary Digest, and other publications. At the height of his syndication, Quillen's writings could be found in more than four hundred newspapers in North America and Europe with a combined circulation above twelve million. Edited by historian John Hammond Moore, the essays, editorials, one-liners, fables, and random comments collected in this volume return to print Quillen's wit and insights after a decades-long hiatus.
A native of Kansas, Quillen became a converted Southerner over time, and his conservative opinions―especially concerning national politics, Depression-era reforms, and the war effort―reflect those circumstances. Presented in chronological order, the previously published and unpublished pieces collected in this volume include Quillen's rants against noisy neighbors, barking dogs, cats, birds, litter, bootleggers, lynching, sordid county politics, and the encroachment of the federal government. Here, too, are his most famous hometown characters, Willie Willis and Aunt Het, as well as "Letters to Louise," his comic public messages to his teenage daughter that proved wildly popular with everyone but the addressee.
In addition to Quillen's pieces, Moore also provides a brief biography and overview of his subject's career and literary aspirations beyond the venue of newsprint. Twelve p
Deemed "the Sage of Fountain Inn" by Alexander Woollcott, newspaper publisher and editor Robert Quillen (1887–1948) used the forum of the Fountain Inn Tribune to bring his anecdotes and opinions from small-town upstate South Carolina to an international audience. The Mark Twain or Garrison Keillor of his day, Quillen developed a reputation as an authentic voice of small-town life, and his words were reprinted in Collier's, the Saturday Evening Post, Literary Digest, and other publications. At the height of his syndication, Quillen's writings could be found in more than four hundred newspapers in North America and Europe with a combined circulation above twelve million. Edited by historian John Hammond Moore, the essays, editorials, one-liners, fables, and random comments collected in this volume return to print Quillen's wit and insights after a decades-long hiatus.
A native of Kansas, Quillen became a converted Southerner over time, and his conservative opinions―especially concerning national politics, Depression-era reforms, and the war effort―reflect those circumstances. Presented in chronological order, the previously published and unpublished pieces collected in this volume include Quillen's rants against noisy neighbors, barking dogs, cats, birds, litter, bootleggers, lynching, sordid county politics, and the encroachment of the federal government. Here, too, are his most famous hometown characters, Willie Willis and Aunt Het, as well as "Letters to Louise," his comic public messages to his teenage daughter that proved wildly popular with everyone but the addressee.
In addition to Quillen's pieces, Moore also provides a brief biography and overview of his subject's career and literary aspirations beyond the venue of newsprint. Twelve p
321 pages, Hardcover
First published December 31, 2007
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June 15, 2019
We are indebted to John Hammond Moore (1924-2017) for compiling and editing this fine collection of reportage, editorials, and one-liners written by the now obscure Robert Quillen (1887-1948), who, beginning in the 1920s, was for more than twenty years “one of the leading purveyors of village nostalgia” (xi) from his home in Fountain Inn, South Carolina.
Quillen was born in Kansas, and briefly worked in both the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest before creating the Fountain Inn Tribune in 1911. By 1932 his work was being syndicated in more than four hundred newspapers.
Quillen the adoptive southerner was a facile writer. But he was neither especially profound nor consistent in his political, economic, and racial views. (Moore advises that some of Quillen’s words “may shock or dismay the modern reader.”) Not surprisingly as well, some of Quillen’s humor—especially pieces using colloquialisms of the early twentieth century—seem dated eighty-five years later.
Nevertheless, there are many fine paragraphs in this anthology, well-constructed pieces that can take their place with the best American journalistic writing. I was especially moved by Quillen’s obituaries.
Those interested in the history of the early twentieth-century South would also do well to peruse this book. Without even considering the gaping racial divide, Quillen’s work emphasizes how different was the Fountain Inn of his era from exurb of today. Quillen constantly alludes to passages in the King James Version—some of them obscure. He suggests that landowners provide vegetables to their tenants so that they won’t get pellagra. He urges that prisoners not be tortured but be taught to read. He warns that driving unlighted wagons or “flivvers” at night is unlawful and might be fatal. He prefers tax cuts to paved streets and public education. In all, a book well worth reading by historians, journalists, and local history buffs.
Quillen was born in Kansas, and briefly worked in both the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest before creating the Fountain Inn Tribune in 1911. By 1932 his work was being syndicated in more than four hundred newspapers.
Quillen the adoptive southerner was a facile writer. But he was neither especially profound nor consistent in his political, economic, and racial views. (Moore advises that some of Quillen’s words “may shock or dismay the modern reader.”) Not surprisingly as well, some of Quillen’s humor—especially pieces using colloquialisms of the early twentieth century—seem dated eighty-five years later.
Nevertheless, there are many fine paragraphs in this anthology, well-constructed pieces that can take their place with the best American journalistic writing. I was especially moved by Quillen’s obituaries.
Those interested in the history of the early twentieth-century South would also do well to peruse this book. Without even considering the gaping racial divide, Quillen’s work emphasizes how different was the Fountain Inn of his era from exurb of today. Quillen constantly alludes to passages in the King James Version—some of them obscure. He suggests that landowners provide vegetables to their tenants so that they won’t get pellagra. He urges that prisoners not be tortured but be taught to read. He warns that driving unlighted wagons or “flivvers” at night is unlawful and might be fatal. He prefers tax cuts to paved streets and public education. In all, a book well worth reading by historians, journalists, and local history buffs.
Displaying 1 of 1 review