John O'Hara
Born	January 31, 1905(1905-01-31) Pottsville, Pennsylvania
Died	April 11, 1970 (aged 65) Princeton, New Jersey
Occupation	novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter, essayist
Nationality	American
Genres	Fiction, fictional prose

John Henry O'Hara (31 January 1905 – 11 April 1970) was an American writer. John OHara is the name of a number of people: John OHara (1905–1970), American writer of Appointment in Samarra, Butterfield 8, and many short stories John OHara (Brooklyn politician), a sometime candidate for public office John OHara (Racing driver), a driver for A1 Team Ireland... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1905 (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Coordinates: , County Chartered as a City March 22, 1911 Government  - Mayor John D. W. Reiley Area  - Total 10. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... is the 101st day of the year (102nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Nassau Street, Princetons main street. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article is about work. ... This article is about the literary concept. ... This article is in need of attention. ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... Screenwriters, scenarists, or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... For other uses, see Essay (disambiguation). ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... For other uses, see Fiction (disambiguation). ... Prose is writing distinguished from poetry by its greater variety of rhythm and its closer resemblance to everyday speech. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1905 (disambiguation). ... is the 101st day of the year (102nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ...

Born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, he initially made a name for himself with his short stories and later became a best-selling novelist whose works include Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. He was particularly known for an uncannily accurate ear for dialogue. O'Hara was a keen observer of social status and class differences, and wrote frequently about the socially ambitious. Coordinates: , County Chartered as a City March 22, 1911 Government  - Mayor John D. W. Reiley Area  - Total 10. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John OHara. ... BUtterfield 8 is a 1960 film about a promiscuous model (Elizabeth Taylor) who fears that she is on the verge of crossing the line from slutitude to prostitution, until she and one of her paramours (Laurence Harvey) fall in love. ...

A controversial figure, his reputation for cataloging social ephemera and his personal irascibility frequently overshadowed his gifts as a storyteller. Writer Fran Lebowitz called him "the real F. Scott Fitzgerald."^{[citation needed]} John Updike, one of his consistent supporters, grouped him with Chekhov in a recent C-Span interview.^{[citation needed]} Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times dismissed him as "a well-known lout."^[1] This article is about the American author. ... Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American Jazz Age author of novels and short stories. ... John Hoyer Updike (born March 18, 1932 in Shillington, Pennsylvania) is an American writer. ... Anton Chekhov, Russian writer Pavel Chekov, character in Star Trek Chekhov, town in Moscow Oblast, Russia Chekhov, town in Sakhalin Oblast, Russia Chekhovo, health resort in Bashkiria, Russia This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

Life and work

O'Hara was the son of a prosperous doctor, but his father died when O'Hara was 19, leaving him unable to afford the college of his choice (Yale). He did attend Niagara University in New York State. By all accounts, this disappointment affected O'Hara deeply for the rest of his life and served to hone the keen sense of social awareness that characterizes his work. He worked as a reporter for various newspapers before moving to New York City, where he began to write short stories for magazines. In his early days he was also a film critic, a radio commentator and a press agent; later, with his reputation established, he became a newspaper columnist. O'Hara received much critical acclaim for his short stories, more than 200 of which, beginning in 1928, appeared in The New Yorker. Many of these stories (and his later novels) were set in Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, a fictionalized version of Pottsville, a small city in the coal region of the United States. Yale redirects here. ... Niagara University is a Roman Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition, located in the Town of Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. ... This article is about the state. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... For other uses, see New Yorker. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Coordinates: , County Chartered as a City March 22, 1911 Government  - Mayor John D. W. Reiley Area  - Total 10. ... Counties of the Coal Region of Pennsylvania, known for anthracite mining. ...

In 1934 O'Hara published his first novel, Appointment in Samarra, which was acclaimed on publication. This is the O'Hara novel that is most consistently praised by critics. Ernest Hemingway wrote: "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra." On the other hand, writing in the Atlantic Monthly in March, 2000, critic Benjamin Schwarz and writer Christina Schwarz claimed: "So widespread is the literary world's scorn for John O'Hara that the inclusion... of Appointment in Samarra on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best [English-language] novels of the twentieth century was used to ridicule the entire project." Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John OHara. ... Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. ... The Atlantic Monthly (also known as The Atlantic) is an American literary/cultural magazine that was founded in November 1857. ... Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John OHara. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Harold Bloom included Appointment in Samarra as one of the works in the Western canon. This successful work was followed by several other novels such as BUtterfield 8. During World War II O'Hara was a correspondent in the Pacific theater. After the war, he wrote screenplays and more novels including Ten North Frederick, for which he won the 1955 National Book Award. But his books became increasingly wordy and his critical reputation suffered, although his shorter work was still esteemed. He was also attacked by some for his frank treatment of sexuality, which approached the boundaries of what was then permissible; BUtterfield 8 was considered particularly shocking and was banned in Australia until 1963. Harold Bloom (born July 11, 1930) is an American professor and prominent literary and cultural critic. ... Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John OHara. ... The Western canon is a canon of books and art (and specifically one with very loose boundaries) that has allegedly been highly influential in shaping Western culture. ... BUtterfield 8 is a 1960 film about a promiscuous model (Elizabeth Taylor) who fears that she is on the verge of crossing the line from slutitude to prostitution, until she and one of her paramours (Laurence Harvey) fall in love. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Pacific Ocean theater was one of four major theaters of the Pacific War, between 1941 and 1945. ... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... The National Book Awards is one of the most preeminent literary prizes in the United States. ... Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John OHara. ... BUtterfield 8 is a 1960 film about a promiscuous model (Elizabeth Taylor) who fears that she is on the verge of crossing the line from slutitude to prostitution, until she and one of her paramours (Laurence Harvey) fall in love. ... For other uses, see 1963 (disambiguation). ...

Despite his obvious writing skill, most of O'Hara's longer work was not highly esteemed by the literary establishment. Some of this may have been due to extra-literary factors, such as his social climbing, his vigorous self-promotion and his politically conservative newspaper columns. Martin Kich of Wright State University states, "O'Hara's achievements have been so long and thoroughly denigrated that he is now typically considered a novelist of the second or even the third rank." Wright State University is a public university in Ohio, U.S. The university uses Dayton as its postal address but the campus is actually completely within the city limits of Fairborn. ...

His 1939 epistolary novel, Pal Joey, led to the notable musical of the same name, with libretto by O'Hara and songs by Rodgers and Hart. The 1940 production starred Gene Kelly and Vivienne Segal; it was successfully revived in 1952 and became a 1957 motion picture starring Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth. Titlepage of Aphra Behns Love-Letters (1684) An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. ... This article is about the John OHara novel. ... Rodgers and Hart was the songwriting team consisting of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. ... Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the similarly-named American actress, see Jean Kelly. ... Vivienne Segal in a c. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... Sinatra redirects here. ... Rita Hayworth (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987), was an American actress who reached fame during the 1940s as the eras leading sex symbol. ...

Brendan Gill, who worked with him at The New Yorker, ranks him as "among the greatest short-story writers in English, or in any other language" and credits him with helping "to invent what the world came to call the New Yorker short story." Brendan Gill (October 4, 1914 – December 27, 1997) wrote for The New Yorker for more than 60 years. ...

"Oh," writes Gill, "but John O'Hara was a difficult man! Indeed, there are those who would describe him as impossible, and they would have their reasons." Gill indicates that O'Hara was nearly obsessed with a sense of social inferiority due to not having attended college. "People used to make fun of the fact that O'Hara wanted so desperately to have gone to Yale, but it was never a joke to O'Hara. It seemed... that there wasn't anything he didn't know about in regard to college and prep-school matters." Of O'Hara, Hemingway once said, cruelly, "Someone should take up a collection to send John O'Hara to Yale." O'Hara also yearned for an honorary degree from Yale. According to Gill, Yale was unwilling to award the honor because O'Hara "asked for it."

According to biographer Frank MacShane, O'Hara thought that Hemingway's death made him the leading candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote to his daughter "I really think I will get it," and "I want the Nobel prize... so bad I can taste it." MacShane says that T. S. Eliot told O'Hara that he had, in fact, been nominated twice. When Steinbeck won the prize in 1962, O'Hara wired, "Congratulations I can think of only one other author I'd rather see get it." Nobel Prize in Literature medal. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ... For other members of the family, see Steinbeck (disambiguation). ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Columns

In the early 1950s, O'Hara wrote a weekly book column, "Sweet and Sour," for the Trenton Times-Advertiser, and a biweekly column, "Appointment with O'Hara," for Collier's. MacShane calls them "garrulous and outspoken" and says neither "added much of importance to O'Hara's work." Biographer Shelden Grebstein wrote that in these columns, O'Hara was "simultaneously embarrassing and infuriating in his vaingloriousness, vindictiveness, and general bellicosity." Woolf says these earlier columns anticipated "his disastrous 'My Turn' in Newsday, which endured fifty-three weeks ... beginning in late 1964... of his dismissive and contemptuous worst." The 1950s decade refers to the years 1950 to 1959 inclusive. ... Colliers (May 7, 1932) Colliers Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. ... Newsday is a daily tabloid-size newspaper that primarily serves Long Island and the New York City borough of Queens, although it is sold throughout the New York City metropolitan area. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ...

His first Newsday column opened with the line, "Let's get off to a really bad start." His second complained that "the same hysteria that afflicted the Prohibitionists is now evident among the anti-cigarettists." His third espoused Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee for President, by identifying his cause with those people who liked the music of the accordionist Lawrence Welk, who was considered unsophisticated and "square." "I think it's time the Lawrence Welk people had their say," wrote O'Hara. "The Lester Lanin and Dizzy Gillespie people have been on too long. When the country is in trouble, like war kind of trouble, man, it is the Lawrence Welk people who can be depended upon, all the way." His fifth argued that Martin Luther King should not have received the Nobel Peace Prize. Barry Morris Goldwater (January 1, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–87) and the Republican Partys nominee for president in the 1964 election. ... Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was a musician, accordion player, bandleader, and television impresario, hosting The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951 to 1982. ... For the Australian cricketer nicknamed Dizzy, see Jason Gillespie. ... “Martin Luther King” redirects here. ...

The syndicated column was not a success, running in a continuously decreasing number of newspapers, and did not endear him to the politically liberal New York literary establishment.

Several of the columns directly exhibit his knowledge of trivia about and yearning for association with Ivy League colleges, as he noted, "Through the years I have acquired a vast amount of information about colleges and universities." The May 8, 1965 column takes as its ostensible topic the fact that Yale owns stock in American Broadcasting and thus is the 128th day of the year (129th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ...

is a beneficiary of the television program Peyton Place... in that Yale Blue Heaven Up Above, where William Lyon Phelps and Henry Seidel Canby may meet every afternoon for tea, there must be some embarrassment. Assuming that Harvard men also go to heaven (Princeton men go back to Old Nassau), I fancy that they are having a little fun with Dr. Phelps and Dr. Canby on the subject of Peyton Place.

The jocular references to Phelps, Canby, and Old Nassau could only have amused a microscopic (if elite) fraction of his readership, and thus give an impression that O'Hara is showing off his insider-like knowledge of these institutions. The opening title of Peyton Place during the color years. ... William Lyon Phelps (2 January 1865 - 21 August 1943) was an American author, critic and scholar. ... Henry Seidel Canby (September 6, 1878-April 5, 1961) was critic, editor, and a Yale University professor. ... Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ... Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ...

Later, he notes that James Gould Cozzens is a "genuine Harvard alumnus" and speculates that Harvard should broker a television serialization of a Cozzens novel: James Gould Cozzens (1903 13 August 1903 - 8 August 1978) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. novelist. ...

But Cozzens makes his home in Williamstown, Mass., and they have a college there. When Sinclair Lewis lived in Williamstown the college ignored him, possibly because Lewis was a Yale man, although I am only guessing on that. I live in Princeton, N. J. and am not a Yale man, but official Princeton University has ignored me as Williams did Lewis.

His September 4th, 1965 column deals entirely with his failure to have received any honorary degrees, going into detail about three honorary degrees he was actually offered but, for various reasons, did not accept. In column he lists the awards he has received: Williamstown is a town located in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. ...

In a long and (I believe) useful literary career I have received five major honors. Not to be bashful about it, they are: the National Book Award; membership in the National Institute of Arts and Letters; the Gold Medal of the Academy of Arts and Letters; the Critics Circle Award; and the Donaldson award. You will note that among them is no recognition by the institutions of higher learning.

He complains that the colleges write him "highly complimentary" letters asking him to perform "chores" such as officiating as writer-in-residence, judging literary contests, and give lectures, yet do not give him degree citations. "The five major distinctions," he notes, "were awarded me by other writers, not by [academia]." The column closes with the comment

If Yale had given me a degree, I could have joined the Yale Club, where the food is pretty good, the library is ample and restful, the location convenient, and I could go there when I felt like it without sponging off friends. They also have a nice-looking necktie.

Yale redirects here. ... The Yale Club of New York City, commonly called the Yale Club, is a prominent private club in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. Its membership is restricted almost entirely to alumni and faculty of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

Death

John O'Hara died from cardiovascular disease in Princeton, New Jersey, and is interred there in the Princeton Cemetery. The epitaph on his tombstone, which he wrote himself, reads: "Better than anyone else, he told the truth about his time, the first half of the twentieth century. He was a professional. He wrote honestly and well." Of this, Gill commented: "From the far side of the grave, he remains self-defensive and overbearing. Better than anyone else? Not merely better than any other writer of fiction but better than any dramatist, any poet, any biographer, any historian? It is an astonishing claim." Nassau Street, Princetons main street. ... Princeton Cemetery is located in Borough of Princeton, New Jersey. ...

Bibliography

Novels

• Appointment in Samarra (1934)
• BUtterfield 8 (1935)
• Hope of Heaven 1938)
• Pal Joey (1940)
• A Rage To Live (1949)
• The Farmer's Hotel (1951)
• Ten North Frederick (1955)
• From The Terrace (1958)
• Ourselves to Know (1960)
• The Big Laugh (1962)
• Elizabeth Appleton (1963)
• The Lockwood Concern (1965)
• The Instrument (1967)
• Lovey Childs: A Philadelphian's Story (1969)
• The Ewings (1970, posthumously)
• The Second Ewings (1972, posthumously)

Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John OHara. ... BUtterfield 8 is a 1960 film about a promiscuous model (Elizabeth Taylor) who fears that she is on the verge of crossing the line from slutitude to prostitution, until she and one of her paramours (Laurence Harvey) fall in love. ... This article is about the John OHara novel. ... From the Terrace is a 1960 motion picture directed by Mark Robson and starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Myrna Loy, Barbara Eden, Ina Balin, and Leon Ames. ...

Short Story Collections

• The Doctor’s Son and Other Stories (1935)
• Files on Parade 1939)
• Pipe Night 1945)
• Hellbox (1947)
• Sermons and Soda Water: A Trilogy of three novellas (1960)

(The Girl on the Baggage Truck, Imagine Kissing Pete, We’re Friends Again)

• Assembly (1961)
• The Cape Cod Lighter (1962)
• The Hat on the Bed (1963)
• The Horse Knows the Way (1964)
• Waiting for Winter (1966)
• And Other Stories 1968)
• The Time Element, and Other Stories (1972, posthumously)
• Good Samaritan and Other Stories (1974, posthumously)

Screenplays

• He Married His Wife (1940)
• Moontide (1942)

He Married His Wife is a film about a race horse owner who wants his ex-wife to remarry so he no longer has to pay alimony. ...

Plays

• Five Plays (1961)

(The Farmers Hotel, The Searching Sun, The Champagne Pool, Veronique, The Way It Was) Veronique is the designation of a French sounding rocket with liquid fuel drive. ...

Nonfiction

• Sweet and Sour (1954) Assorted columns on books and authors
• My Turn (1966) Fifty-two weekly columns written for Newsday
• Letters (1978, posthumously)

Sterlings debut album My Turn include features from Paul Wall, Freeway, Da Brat ,The Game and Bun B. Production includes Bryan Michael Cox, Teddy Bishop, CornerBoyz, Adonis, and Carvin and Ivan. ... Newsday is a daily tabloid-size newspaper that primarily serves Long Island and the New York City borough of Queens, although it is sold throughout the New York City metropolitan area. ... This article is about letter, a written message from one party to another. ...

Notes

Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 189th day of the year (190th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Gill, Brendan (1975) Here at the New Yorker. Random House. 1997 reprint: Da Capo Press; 1st Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-306-80810-2. O'Hara desperately wanting to attend Yale, p. 117. Failure to get honorary Yale degree, p. 268.
• O'Hara, John (1966) My Turn: Fifty-three Pieces by John O'Hara, Random House. (Collected newspaper columns).
• MacShane, Frank (1980): The Life of John O'Hara. Dutton, New York
• Woolf, Geoffrey (2003): The Art of Burning Bridges: A Life of John O'Hara. Knopf, New York.
• The Western Canon: Appointment in Samarra included by Harold Bloom

Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John OHara. ... Harold Bloom (born July 11, 1930) is an American professor and prominent literary and cultural critic. ...

External links

• John O'Hara's hometown Pottsville, Pa.
• Famous coal crackers
• John O'Hara Definition and Answers
• O'Hara's Selected Stories reviewed
• Philly Burbs O'Haras lost papers and reward
• John O'Hara - (1905-1970)
• O'Hara Study at Penn State
• John O'Hara at the IMDB
• John O'Hara's Gravesite