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Mud on the Stars
Drawing on his own boyhood experiences, Huie (1910-1986) gives the reader a detailed account of rural life and race relations in the Tennessee Valley in the early years of this century, including a vivid picture of college life at The University of Alabama during the Great Depression. Through a careful weaving of characters and events, fact and fiction, Huie's novel captures the tumultuous period before World War II in the urban South, a time of social unrest and testing of new political ideologies. The book's publication in 1942 was a huge critical and financial success and not only brought Huie the acclaim his talent warranted but also focused an approving national spotlight on the prolific Alabama writer.
- GenresFiction
376 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1954
1 person is currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
William Bradford Huie
51 books15 followersWilliam Bradford Huie was an American writer, investigative reporter, editor, national lecturer, and television host. His credits include 21 books that sold over 30 million copies worldwide. In addition to writing 14 bestsellers, he wrote hundreds of articles that appeared in all of the major magazines and newspapers of the day. Huie wrote several books about controversial topics related to World War II and the Civil Rights Movement. Six of Huie's books were adapted as feature films during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 10, 2021
UPDATE:
The label that I selected below turned out to be too long. So I shortened it to "writer deserves to be remembered".
FORGOTTEN WRITERS WHO DESERVE TO BE REMEMBERED
The above is a new category that I have created on my Goodreads shelf. It is a place for writers who have been totally forgotten or only remembered by a few readers.
I don’t plan to scroll through the more than two thousand books on my “read” shelf to decide who belongs on the “forgotten” shelf, but it will include such writers as Douglas C. Jones, Sanora Babb, Harry Caudill, Mary Mann Hamilton, James Still, Chester Himes, O.E. Rolvaag, Greg Matthews, Hans Hellmut Kirst, Wilma Dykeman, etc.
The personal lives of many of these writers were every bit as interesting as the characters they created in their fiction or the subjects they wrote about in their nonfiction, which brings me to William Bradford Huie.
"I’m just in the business of establishing truth wherever possible. And I have to believe that the truth is good.” – William Bradford Huie (interview, 1979)
MUD ON THE STARS
William Bradford Huie (1910-1986), journalist and novelist, was almost as controversial as the subjects he tackled. In fact, he even had to begin dealing with controversy with the publication of his debut novel, Mud on the Stars (1942).
In his note To The Reader, he wrote a disclaimer to the effect that the book was not autobiographical and that with the exception of well-known personalities such as “Mr. Roosevelt, Hugo Black, John [L.] Lewis, Tallulah Bankhead, and Aimee Semple McPherson,” all of the characters were fictitious.
Never mind that Huie’s young protagonist, Garth LaFavor, just happened to be born and raised near Hartselle, Alabama, which is where Huie just happened to be born and raised; that both Garth and the author just happened to be valedictorians of their high school senior classes; that both just happened to attend the University of Alabama and graduated Phi Beta Kappa; and that their first jobs just happened to be as reporters on a Birmingham newspaper.
These are only some of the parallels in the lives of Huie and his protagonist that suggest that the novel was strongly autobiographical. And why not? He wrote what he knew, always good advice for a writer, but especially for one embarking on a first novel.
Mud on the Stars is a coming-of-age story of a young man who struggles to come to terms with a changing world characterized by the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II. It is a struggle that erodes his idealism, replacing it with a healthy skepticism, but one that threatens to evolve into an unhealthy cynicism.
Huie, a young man of thirty-two when the novel was published, had been buffeted by the same forces that kept knocking his character off course. He wrote what he knew.
In his dedication he wrote
In a sense, as a member of the Roosevelt generation; a child of confusion; a former cynic; and one who went off to war, Huie dedicated the book to himself.
The novel is rather episodic and the transitions are not always smooth, but the story is powerful and engaging, making it possible to overlook the weak transitions. His writing would improve in his later work, particularly in his best novel, The Americanization of Emily, and perhaps his best work of nonfiction, The Execution of Private Slovik.
It is clear in his note to the readers of Mud on the Stars that he knew that what he had written was going to raise a ruckus in the South, especially in his home state.
America was on the verge of entering World War II when he wrote in the note that
As Garth LaFavor heads off to fight in the war, he tells us that “I believe we will win. I believe that in spite of all the mud that has been splashed across the stars, the sons of the men who fought at Bunker Hill know that the stars are still there.”
Huie was intellectually conservative, but he nevertheless became a tireless crusader for civil rights and racial justice. He became an arch foe of Governor George Wallace and publicly called him the “biggest S.O.B. I’ve ever seen.” He blamed Wallace for using race to further his ambitions and thereby fanning the firestorm of strife that inflamed Alabama and the Deep South during the 60s.
Of his 21 books, 6 were adapted for the screen, including Mud on the Stars, which was filmed as Wild River. But when Huie died in 1986, he was all but forgotten, and not one of his books was still in print.
As Diane mentioned with regard to Sanora Babb, Huie deserves a biography, for his life in many ways is just as interesting as those that he wrote about, but there isn’t one. However, here is a link to a detailed study of his work that further demonstrates why he should not be forgotten.
https://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2014/11...
The label that I selected below turned out to be too long. So I shortened it to "writer deserves to be remembered".
FORGOTTEN WRITERS WHO DESERVE TO BE REMEMBERED
The above is a new category that I have created on my Goodreads shelf. It is a place for writers who have been totally forgotten or only remembered by a few readers.
I don’t plan to scroll through the more than two thousand books on my “read” shelf to decide who belongs on the “forgotten” shelf, but it will include such writers as Douglas C. Jones, Sanora Babb, Harry Caudill, Mary Mann Hamilton, James Still, Chester Himes, O.E. Rolvaag, Greg Matthews, Hans Hellmut Kirst, Wilma Dykeman, etc.
The personal lives of many of these writers were every bit as interesting as the characters they created in their fiction or the subjects they wrote about in their nonfiction, which brings me to William Bradford Huie.
"I’m just in the business of establishing truth wherever possible. And I have to believe that the truth is good.” – William Bradford Huie (interview, 1979)
MUD ON THE STARS
William Bradford Huie (1910-1986), journalist and novelist, was almost as controversial as the subjects he tackled. In fact, he even had to begin dealing with controversy with the publication of his debut novel, Mud on the Stars (1942).
In his note To The Reader, he wrote a disclaimer to the effect that the book was not autobiographical and that with the exception of well-known personalities such as “Mr. Roosevelt, Hugo Black, John [L.] Lewis, Tallulah Bankhead, and Aimee Semple McPherson,” all of the characters were fictitious.
Never mind that Huie’s young protagonist, Garth LaFavor, just happened to be born and raised near Hartselle, Alabama, which is where Huie just happened to be born and raised; that both Garth and the author just happened to be valedictorians of their high school senior classes; that both just happened to attend the University of Alabama and graduated Phi Beta Kappa; and that their first jobs just happened to be as reporters on a Birmingham newspaper.
These are only some of the parallels in the lives of Huie and his protagonist that suggest that the novel was strongly autobiographical. And why not? He wrote what he knew, always good advice for a writer, but especially for one embarking on a first novel.
Mud on the Stars is a coming-of-age story of a young man who struggles to come to terms with a changing world characterized by the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II. It is a struggle that erodes his idealism, replacing it with a healthy skepticism, but one that threatens to evolve into an unhealthy cynicism.
Huie, a young man of thirty-two when the novel was published, had been buffeted by the same forces that kept knocking his character off course. He wrote what he knew.
In his dedication he wrote
To the Roosevelt generation of Americans; to the modern children of confusion; to the fellows who, at the end of an era of cynicism, were forced suddenly to stand in their tracks and die for the proposition that men are noble creatures, worthy to be free, this story is dedicated.
In a sense, as a member of the Roosevelt generation; a child of confusion; a former cynic; and one who went off to war, Huie dedicated the book to himself.
The novel is rather episodic and the transitions are not always smooth, but the story is powerful and engaging, making it possible to overlook the weak transitions. His writing would improve in his later work, particularly in his best novel, The Americanization of Emily, and perhaps his best work of nonfiction, The Execution of Private Slovik.
It is clear in his note to the readers of Mud on the Stars that he knew that what he had written was going to raise a ruckus in the South, especially in his home state.
America was on the verge of entering World War II when he wrote in the note that
[i]n presenting Garth LaFavor as he is, I have had to risk offending those who will resent some of his statements and beliefs, and the statements and beliefs of some of those he met along his way….
I have risked handling many hot irons in this story, not because of any desire to be sensational…. I had handled these hot irons because I am afraid of the developing tendency to take the Short View….
If we pretend that the Enemy is only in Europe or Asia and not also within our own borders and within our own selves, we shall fall short of the larger victory.
As Garth LaFavor heads off to fight in the war, he tells us that “I believe we will win. I believe that in spite of all the mud that has been splashed across the stars, the sons of the men who fought at Bunker Hill know that the stars are still there.”
Huie was intellectually conservative, but he nevertheless became a tireless crusader for civil rights and racial justice. He became an arch foe of Governor George Wallace and publicly called him the “biggest S.O.B. I’ve ever seen.” He blamed Wallace for using race to further his ambitions and thereby fanning the firestorm of strife that inflamed Alabama and the Deep South during the 60s.
Of his 21 books, 6 were adapted for the screen, including Mud on the Stars, which was filmed as Wild River. But when Huie died in 1986, he was all but forgotten, and not one of his books was still in print.
As Diane mentioned with regard to Sanora Babb, Huie deserves a biography, for his life in many ways is just as interesting as those that he wrote about, but there isn’t one. However, here is a link to a detailed study of his work that further demonstrates why he should not be forgotten.
https://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2014/11...
Want to read
November 11, 2021Note: Borden Deal’s, Dunbar’s Cove, published in 1958, was a best-seller. The novel drew heavily from Deal’s own experiences of Southerners’ ties to the land and loss. The storyline of Dunbar’s Cove was intertwined with fellow Southern Literary Trail writer William Bradford Huie’s Mud on the Stars to create the film Wild River. (Howard is familiar with both deal and Huie)
July 1, 2021
This gave me a very unique look at my town and Alabama. I learned a lot from it, and it kept me engaged throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
July 6, 2013
I really enjoyed this book, especially knowing it is strongly autobiographical for Huie himself. However, there were some slower parts that made it a bit less compelling to read, so it took a bit longer than I anticipated.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews