Sylvia

by E.V. Cunningham, Howard Fast

"It began with a woman's name: Sylvia. I loved the name, I loved the song, 'Who is Sylvia and what is she?' And the other sweet song 'Sylvia's hair is like the night.' Dark hair, raven black, a tall woman and beautiful. I could envision her as I might a living person." So writes Howard Fast in his introduction to Sylvia, first published thirty-two years ago under the pseudonym of E. V. Cunningham. Fast, one of America's finest storytellers, had written the book at a time when he was hounded by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI for his then radical views and was eventually blacklisted by same of America's most prestigious publishers. But Fast could not stop writing. He told his agent, Paul R. Reynolds, "I have a book in my mind and it's seething there and driving me crazy." "Write it," Reynolds replied. "And the blacklist?" Fast inquired. "We'll worry about that when we have the manuscript," Reynolds said. Fast then sat down to write Sylvia, the story of a woman born into unspeakable poverty who, against all odds, saves her soul from destruction and emerges, defiantly, as a woman of stature, talent, and great beauty. The novel would also be a tale of suspense, mystery, and action - the search of a down-on-his-luck private investigator hired by a millionaire to find out who his bride-to-be - Sylvia - actually is. When Fast completed the book and gave it to Reynolds, the agent told him that publishers were still intimidated by the blacklist, and as a result, at Reynolds's suggestion, Fast took the pseudonym E. V. Cunningham. Now, for the first time, Sylvia is being published under Howard Fast's own name. Howard Fast, a bestselling author, has published more than eighty books, including Citizen Tom Paine, Freedom Road, Spartacus, The Immigrants, ten plays, and twenty books of non-fiction. Once labeled prolific, he detests the term and insists, "I'm not prolific. I'm just here a long time." In France, where the blacklist has no meaning, Sylvia was published under Fast's n

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

EV Cunningham is a pseudonym used by author: Howard Fast, and under that name he wrote 21 mystery novels plus two others, one under his own name and one using another pseudonym Walter Ericson.

He was educated at George Washington High School, graduating in 1931. He attended the National Academy of Design in New York before serving with the Office of War Information between 1942 and 1943 and the Army Film Project in 1944.

He became war correspondent in the Far East for 'Esquire' and 'Coronet' magazines in 1945. And after the war he taught at Indiana University, Bloomington, in the summer of 1947, a year in which he was imprisoned for contempt of Congress, concerning his communistic views.

He became the owner of the Blue Heron Press in New York in 1952, a position he held until 1957. And he was the founder of the World Peace Movement and a member of the World Peace Council from 1950 to 1955 and was later a member of the Fellowship for Reconciliation. In 1952 he was an American Labour Party candidate for Congress for the 23rd District of New York.

He received a great many awards between 1933 and 1967.

He married Bette Cohen in 1937 and they had one son and one daughter.

Under his own name he wrote 35 works of fiction plus a variety of history and critical works, short stories, plays and a screenplay, 'The Hessian' (1971) plus a book of verse with William Gropper.

He died died at his home in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, on 12 March 2003.

Gerry Wolstenholme
March 2022

Reviews

[Susanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw the movie based on this book (Sylvia) on Netflix and I recommend the movie. It's a lot like the film Laura, only there's no murder, no mystery. Just a man who falls in love with the woman he's hired to investigate, a woman he's never met.

This is the same set up in the book. Only... It's probably just me but it seems creepier here, the man rejecting a woman he knows & likes in favor of a woman he's never met but fallen in love with through hearing about her in the recollections of others. That's not a spoiler, by the way. We learn fairly early on that he's fallen in love with Sylvia. So the tension comes from, the more terrible things he learns about Sylvia, will he still love her? Will he ever actually meet her?

It was an okay read, deals with some interesting issues, and had I not seen the movie I might have liked the book better. I wouldn't re-read the book but I would watch the movie again.

[Luhnàtic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hervé Le Corre le présente comme "Le premier roman noir et féministe". C'est cette accroche qui m'a amenée vers cette lecture qui ne s'y prédestinait pourtant pas. C'est donc avec cette idée d'un "roman noir féministe" en tête que je m'y suis plongée.
Quelle déception. Le Corre a-t-il qualifié cet ouvrage de "féministe" parce que le personnage éponyme est une femme indépendante, qui a réussi à se sortir de la misère et de l'horreur presque sans aide (et encore moins masculine) ? Est-ce parce qu'elle "serre la main comme un homme" ? Ou bien tout simplement parce qu'il est assené à plusieurs reprises qu'elle n'aime pas les hommes ?
Si la réponse réside dans ce dernier point, je ne peux qu'encourager Le Corre a relire la définition du féminisme.
Féministe en tout cas, le protagoniste, lui, ne l'est clairement pas.

[Vanessa Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been in love with this book for almost twenty years, and I continue to love it. In fact, I think I'll re-read it.

[Sylvia Titgemeyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was browsing in a bookstore in Wilmington, NC and came across a 1992 edition of this book. It caught my eye because my name is Sylvia, and it was published in 1960, the year I was born. I quite enjoyed touring the country as Mack discovered Sylvia. And I am interested in reading some more of the books by Cunningham/Fast, with women's name titles.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Howard Fast was blacklisted during the McCarthy Era due to his book Citizen Tom Paine, which was ordered to be destroyed by the Feds. He also wrote the book Spartacus, upon which the well-known movie of the same name was based. Sylvia was self-published under the pseudonym E.V. Cunningham and was only reprinted in 1960 under Fast’s real name in the United States. (France didn’t care about the blacklist and printed it under his own name originally.) It is the tale of a private investigator who is hired to discover the background of a wealthy man’s fiancee, Sylvia. He travels the country in search of information about Sylvia and her past, and is surprised by what he learns and how he reacts to each new part of her life.

Sylvia is a fairly quick read, but I enjoyed it. If you like mysteries, this is a great one to pick up. (You’ll most likely have to find it at a library, as it is out of print.)

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bien écrit et intrigue prenante. Pourtant, j’ai ressenti comme une sorte de déception. C’est presque plus un roman noir avec une enquête qu’un détective novel. J’attendais autre chose. A la fin, j’ai aimé mais je me suis dit « c’est tout ? ». La melancolie et l’atmosphère en ferait un superbe film noir à Hollywood, voilà c’est cinématographique. Mais j’aurais voulu plus de mystère peut être ?

[David Rickert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of print suspense novels like this will never get more than three stars from me, but I did like this one. Surprisingly racy and edgy for the time, I liked the rip-off hard-boiled dialogue and the probing of two damaged souls. A "Gone Girl" from the sixties.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: it's a search by a down-on-his-luck private investigator hired by a millionaire to find out who Sylvia, his bride-to-be, actually is.

[John King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank God the French still publish long out of print American Noir.

[AvoKalif · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’ignorais tout d’Howard Fast, ses romans, sa présence sur les listes maccarthystes, sa simplicité d’écriture et son immense talent. J’ai attrapé ce livre sur l’étal d’un des libraires de @quais_polar en fin de journée l’an dernier. @tashaasreader qui se trouvait à côté l’a vu dans mes mains (en pile avec quelques autres) et a trouvé que j’avais là un tas de bons choix, tout en insistant sur celui-là. Le #bookclub @prixbookstagram mettant à l’honneur ce mois ci les #héroïnesderoman je me suis dit qu’un titre-prénom féminin était de bon augure. Bien m’en a pris. Bien loin des clichés d’histoires de détectives privés, et alors même qu’il y en a à la fois tous les codes et les décors, #howardfast écrit une merveilleuse enquête-histoire d’amour, jamais mièvre et que j’ai trouvée très belle sans jamais être convenue, malgré le risque inhérent à ce thème. A l’instar d’Alan Macklin dit Mack, on part à la recherche de cette mystérieuse Sylvia dans un raid trip que tous les amoureux des Etats-Unis ne pourront que plébisciter. Je n’en dis pas plus pour conserver le mystère mais vraiment, allez y (même si vous n’êtes pas tellement fan ou familier du roman noir), c’est vraiment très très bien.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce livre m'a bien accrochée et je l'ai lu en quelques jours. Il m'a plu car on entre directement dans le feu de l'action et le fil de l'histoire se déroule extrêmement bien. Mais j'ai eu un peu plus de peine avec la fin, un peu trop convenue, et avec le fait que le narrateur se laisse prendre si facilement dans le piège de l'amour, qui plus est avec une femme qu'il n'a jamais vue. Quelques ficelles un peu grosses, mais dans l'ensemble une lecture très divertissante et rythmée, qui ne m'a jamais ennuyée.

[Dawn Henri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm making special time to do a "Super Read" - not easy as I'm busy with other things right now. The mystique surrounding it and it is well written - takes my mind off my own problems but also, subtle nuanced sensitivity behind the words I need to soak it up to heal wounds.