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324:, a satirical representation of life at a boarding school much like Loomis, appeared in 1949 to largely unfavorable reviews. Vidal said it was "perhaps the most savagely attacked book of its day." Michener wrote decades later: "Never in my memory had they come so close to total annihilation of an author's work." Disheartened by the critical reception of his second novel, Burns returned to Italy in 1950, this time choosing Florence. There he wrote his last published work,
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effort, the tension between officers and enlisted men, the psychological effects of dislocation, economic and social inequality between the
Americans and those they defeated, the experience of homosexual military personnel, and the popular life of Naples in 1944 under Allied occupation. The title referred to the
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It is written with a reality of detail and a human breadth and passion of understanding that is tonic, healthgiving. If
Americans can still write in this sort of exultation of pity and disgust of the foul spots in the last few years of our history, then perhaps there is still hope that we can recover
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In his time in
Florence, he was known to drink to excess and complain of critics, rivals, and both friends and enemies. Vidal never saw him there: "In those years one tried not to think of Burns; it was too bitter. The best of us all had taken the worst way." After a sailing trip, he lapsed into a
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Burns was a difficult man who drank too much, loved music, detested all other writers, wanted to be great.... He was also certain that to be a great writer it was necessary to be homosexual. When I disagreed, he named a half dozen celebrated contemporaries. "A Pleiad," he roared delightedly, "of
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published it in 1947 and it became a best-seller. It depicted life in Allied-occupied North Africa and Naples in 1944 from the perspective of several different characters. Burns explored the average man's resentment of the military, his struggle to assert his individuality within the complex war
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described it as "the proto-Vietnam novel, anticipating by a generation the hubris that 'the ugly
American' would bring to another foreign land" by asking "who was more degraded: the Italians hustling to feed their families, or the GIs selling their cheaply bought PX goods at a huge profit?"
212:, a shopping arcade in Naples through which all of the main characters pass. The work was unconventional in structure, comprising portraits of nine characters interspersed with eight recollections narrated by an anonymous American soldier following a route much like the one Burns tracked.
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thought Burns "has a great deal on the ball and he'll do even better when he gets it more under control." He called it "a rancorously vivid portrait" of "the mentally and morally lost" and noted that "some of its gamier passages show that you can say practically anything in a novel now."
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Lacking in real significance, flawed by excessive malice and nightmarish distortions, , nevertheless, reaffirms the author's status as one of
America's gifted young writers. Perhaps his next one will bring both talent and subject-matter into sharper
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Now sought for his own views on literature, Burns authored an occasional appreciative review, but became well known for unmeasured critiques of both peers and more successful writers, including
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credited Burns for the novel's "psychological study of rear echelon service personnel" and for capturing their speech, faulting only his attempt to depict infantry combat. Charles Poore in the
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and then for a year and a half in Italy, maimly in Naples where he set his most fortunate novel, censoring prisoner-of-war mail. After his discharge in 1946 he returned to teaching at Loomis.
328:(1952), which was marketed as "a merciless novel" of "young love in the bohemian fringe-world". Its principal character was a composer and pianist likely modeled on his Harvard classmate
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Hemingway later sketched Burns's brief life as a writer: "There was a fellow who wrote a fine book and then a stinking book about a prep school and then just blew himself up."
219:, "Burns relied on discontinuity, like a sort of prose T.S. Eliot, thus suggesting incoherence as a contemporary social characteristic." Major newspapers and authors including
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magazine mentioned that the novel depicted "an evening spent in a homosexuals' hangout", an entire chapter other reviewers left unmentioned.
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noted how the post-World War II role of conqueror proved so uncomfortable that "with the possible exception of John Horne Burns's
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He began work on a fourth novel, left unfinished at his death. He supported himself by writing a piece about the city for
399:(1964). Another chapter, the narrator's first assessment of the Americans' treatment of the Neapolitans, was included in
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was postponed when the participants argued about the negative depiction of both the
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130:(1947), is his best known work, was very well received when published, and has been reissued several times.
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126:(October 7, 1916 – August 11, 1953) was an American writer, the author of three novels. The first,
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Bassett, Mark T. (Spring 1988). "John Horne Burns (Milan, 1950): A Portrait by Indro
Montanelli".
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Commissioned a second lieutenant and sent overseas in 1943, he served in military intelligence in
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coma and died from a cerebral hemorrhage on August 11, 1953. He was buried in the family plot in
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415:(1947), reissued several times by various publishers, by New York Review Books Classics in 2004
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Some of Burns's papers, including student works and unpublished manuscripts, are held at the
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177:. Burns wrote several novels while at Harvard and at Loomis, none of which he published.
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Warrior Image: Soldiers in
American Culture from the Second World War to the Vietnam Era
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Smith, Harrison. "Thirteen
Adventurers: A Study of a Year of First Novelists, 1947".
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MacDonald, Charles B. (Spring 1949). "Novels of World War II: The First Round".
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296:, no really distinguished novel has recorded it." By 1991 it had become, in
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An
Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Culture.
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In 1959–1960, a plan for a film in the Italian neorealist mode based on
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After the Lost Generation: A Critical Study of the Writers of Two Wars
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as a private in 1942. He attended the Adjutant General's School in
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A decade later, surveying the American abroad as a literary type,
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Allied Encounters: The Gendered Redemption of World War II Italy
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Escolar, Marisa (2019). "A Queer Redemption: John Horne Burns'
142:. He was the eldest of seven children in an upper-middle-class
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our manhood as a nation and our sense of purpose in the world.
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The Best Short Stories of World War II, An American Anthology
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The Best Short Stories of World War II, An American Anthology
1130:. Vol. 1985 yearbook. Detroit: Gale. pp. 338–343.
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Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns
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Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns
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later reported a conversation he had with Burns following
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Byrd, David. "John Horne Burns". In Ross, Jean W. (ed.).
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family. He was educated by the Sisters of Notre Dame at
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The Marxist and the Movies: A Biography of Paul Jarrico
280:?, I asked, and Hemingway? He was disdainful. Who said
875:. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 230n17.
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560:. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 84ff.
580:Paul Fussell, "Introduction," in John Horne Burns,
300:'s words, "that forgotten gem of a novel". In 2011
246:A 1949 survey of the literature of World War II in
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233:called the novel "the best war book of the year".
1146:. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. pp.
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980:. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 182–3.
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530:"The Great (Gay) Novelist You've Never Heard Of"
1142:Don't Never Forget: Collected Views and Reviews
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872:Mad to Be Saved: The Beats, the '50s, and Film
451:Irving Fine: An American Composer in His Time
1336:United States Army personnel of World War II
1188:John Horne Burns: An Appreciative Biography
959:. University Press of Mississippi. p.
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1190:. Dorchester, Mass.: Manifest Destiny.
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813:John Horne Burns (September 4, 1949).
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483:"John Horne Burns, Novelist, 36, Dies"
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157:, where he pursued music. He attended
1356:Military personnel from Massachusetts
1215:, May 31, 2013, review of Margolick,
1163:. New York: Fordham University Press.
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665:"Speaking of Books: John Horne Burns"
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584:(New York Review of Books, 2004), ix
1168:Graves, Mark A. "John Horne Burns".
1128:Dictionary of Literary Bibliography
955:Conversations With Ernest Hemingway
454:. Pendragon Press. pp. 13–14.
438:
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1326:20th-century American male writers
1306:People from Andover, Massachusetts
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896:Kelly, James (September 7, 1952).
780:John Horne Burns (July 24, 1949).
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1346:20th-century American LGBT people
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1196:The Saturday Review of Literature
528:David Margolick (June 11, 2013).
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1281:20th-century American novelists
1059:The Vintage Book of War Fiction
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1002:"Burns, John Horne (1916–1953)"
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850:The World is my Home: A Memoir
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1286:American expatriates in Italy
815:"Review of Giuseppe Marotta,
80:military intelligence officer
1301:Novelists from Massachusetts
1172:Claude J. Summers, ed. 2002.
1138:(1966). "John Horne Burns".
854:. NY: Random House. p.
663:Vidal, Gore (May 30, 1965).
169:and became a teacher at the
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1341:United States Army officers
1042:Mason, F. van Wyck (1964).
1027:Fenton, Charles A. (1957).
554:Huebner, Andrew J. (2008).
276:pederasts!" But what about
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1198:(February 14, 1948): 6-8+.
1076:Aldridge, John W. (1951).
1057:Faulks, Sebastian (1999).
782:"Review of Van Van Praag,
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138:Burns was born in 1916 in
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1177:Margolick, David (2014).
925:Margolick, David (2013).
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1181:. New York: Other Press.
1084:. New York: McGraw-Hill.
1046:. Boston: Little, Brown.
949:Bruccoli, Matthew Joseph
933:. Other Press. pp.
846:Michener, James (1992).
361:Brookline, Massachusetts
199:At Loomis, he completed
180:He was drafted into the
1351:American LGBT novelists
1321:American male novelists
974:Ceplair, Larry (2007).
898:"No Way Out for Isobel"
869:Steritt, David (1998).
817:The Treasure of Naples
448:Ramey, Philip (2005).
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140:Andover, Massachusetts
44:Andover, Massachusetts
1186:Mitzel, John (1974).
1103:10.1353/bio.2010.0615
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205:Harper & Brothers
165:with a BA in English
1291:American gay writers
1044:American Men at Arms
937:–8, 298, 300, 332–4.
760:The American Scholar
754:(February 4, 2011).
631:"Books of the Times"
432:Notes and references
397:American Men at Arms
320:. His second novel,
175:Windsor, Connecticut
1213:Wall Street Journal
1031:. NY: Viking Press.
1008:. Boston University
419:Lucifer with a Book
322:Lucifer with a Book
723:"Michener Memoir,
694:"Innocents Abroad"
210:Galleria Umberto I
98:Harvard University
492:. August 14, 1953
425:A Cry of Children
382:Boston University
357:Holyhood Cemetery
326:A Cry of Children
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230:Saturday Review
203:in April 1946.
167:magna cum laude
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61:Cecina, Tuscany
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1157:The Gallery
602:(1): 45–6.
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413:The Gallery
395:(1957) and
389:The Gallery
371:The Gallery
330:Irving Fine
294:The Gallery
271:s success:
201:The Gallery
128:The Gallery
1275:Categories
1061:. Vintage.
265:Gore Vidal
190:Casablanca
68:Occupation
37:1916-10-07
1241:Biography
1119:162286563
1091:Biography
153:and then
134:Biography
107:1945–1953
94:Education
1217:Dreadful
1111:23539373
951:(1986).
910:June 25,
831:June 20,
798:June 20,
736:June 17,
706:June 17,
677:June 17,
643:June 30,
539:June 20,
496:June 17,
403:(1999).
278:Faulkner
147:Catholic
75:Novelist
1227:Portals
1012:June 1,
765:June 2,
616:1982649
407:Writing
348:Holiday
237:wrote:
194:Algiers
182:US Army
159:Harvard
116:Fiction
85:teacher
63:, Italy
1117:
1109:
984:
879:
614:
564:
458:
427:(1951)
421:(1949)
341:focus.
316:, and
104:Period
46:, U.S.
1253:Books
1150:–202.
1115:S2CID
1107:JSTOR
901:(PDF)
822:(PDF)
789:(PDF)
697:(PDF)
668:(PDF)
634:(PDF)
612:JSTOR
486:(PDF)
144:Irish
112:Genre
1014:2019
982:ISBN
912:2013
877:ISBN
833:2013
800:2013
767:2019
738:2013
708:2013
679:2013
645:2013
562:ISBN
541:2013
498:2013
456:ISBN
282:they
258:Time
223:and
192:and
51:Died
31:Born
1159:".
1148:192
1099:doi
961:183
935:264
856:344
604:doi
359:in
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173:in
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