Literary St. Louis: A Guide [Paperback]

William H. Gass (Editor), Lorin Cuoco PhD (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 16, 2000

A descriptive and informative guide to more than 100 sites of literary significance in the greater St. Louis area, Literary St. Louis: A Guide includes historical and biographical information, maps, literary anecdotes, and photographs. Edited by William H. Gass and Lorin Cuoco, the volume includes selections by T. S. Eliot, Mark Twain, Sara Teasdale, Fannie Hurst, William S. Burroughs, Tennessee Williams, Kate Chopin, Thomas Wolfe, and many others who have helped define American literature over the past 150 years. This book is indispensable for understanding the region's rich literary landscape.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

About the Editors

Lorin Cuoco is a former arts reporter and associate director of the International Writers Center.

William H. Gass is an internationally acclaimed novelist and essayist. He is founder of the International Writers Center at Washington University, from which he recently retired.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Downtown would eventually be dotted with the rooming houses where writers like Dreiser and Inge stayed, or dwellings where Grant tried to make a go of it and Reedy lived, as well as buildings where the newspapers were written and published, or offices like those in the Security Building where Reedy presided and Winston Churchill collected material for his novels. Zoë Akins hung out at the Old Post Office, where her father worked, while her friend Orrick Johns could be found at the St. Louis Public Library. The Downtown YMCA offered a room to Joseph Pennell, who got even by lodging the protagonist of Rome Hanks there, while the Hotel Jefferson furnished the site for two famous poker games, one described in Richard Jessup's novel The Cincinnati Kid (though the movie makers moved the game to New Orleans), and the one which cost Tennessee Williams’s father part of his ear and maybe his career.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Missouri History Museum Press (October 16, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883982359
• ISBN-13: 978-1883982355
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,246,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique, fun and informative approach to sightseeing, February 7, 2001

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Literary St. Louis: A Guide (Paperback)

Literary St. Louis: A Guide features fifty authors who lived and worked in St. Louis in a guidebook that is ideal for visitors or city residents wanting to explore the diverse literary history of this fascinating region. Enhanced throughout with photographs, maps, illustrations, and colorful anecdotes, the reader is treated to a St. Louis Literary Chronology, commentaries by literary luminaries ranging from Mark Twain to Tennessee Williams, a locations list, bibliography, and a very useful index. If you are planning a trip to St. Louis, Missouri, then William Gass and Lorin Cuoco's Literary St. Louis: A Guide offers a unique, fun and informative approach to sightseeing and historical surveys.