This blog has been much too bleak lately. Let's look on the bright side. Though it seems our world is crumbling around us, here are some factoids to help us keep our writerly chins up:
Publishing in the Great Depression; a model for hope
From
http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade30.html
: The famous Dick and Jane books that taught millions of children to read were first published in 1931. These primers introduced the students to reading with only one new word per page and a limited vocabulary per book. All who learned to read with these books still recall the "Look. See Dick. See Dick run."
And: The golden age of the mystery novel continued as people escaped into books, reading writers like Agatha Christie, Dashielle Hammett, and Raymond Chandler.
From The Classic Era of the American Pulp Magazine, by Peter Haining: Many of America's most distinguished writers produced works of fiction during the thirties. The pulps, with their lurid color covers depicting the thrills of sex and violence, and with stories to match inside, fueled America's dreams--and nightmares. For a few cents they offered everything young men wanted: sex, action, adventure. But they also fostered the talents of some of the greatest popular writers of the century--Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain and Dashiell Hammett among others.
Some writers who thrived during the Great Depression: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, John Dos Passos, Ogden Nash, Thornton Wilder, and--yes--Dr. Seuss!
Let's not forget, either, that Superman was created by two young men, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, in 1933. They had been writing fanzines and unsuccessful comics, and it was a while before they were able to sell their greatest creation, but we all know what happened with Superman.
So, my dears--let's suck it up, and keep writing! That's what I'm going to do, here in the Rainforest.
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