In Search of Willie Morris: The Mercurial Life of a Legendary Writer and Editor

by Larry L. King

Book Overview

Willie Morris, the famously talented--and complex--writer and editor, helped to remake American journalism and wrote more than a dozen books, with several classics among them. His time at the head of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586483846
• ISBN13: 9781586483845
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 353 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.2" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Willie's back in town

I didn't discover Willie Morris until shortly after he died. After reading North Toward Home and New York Days, I gladly would have traveled across the continent to meet him. Few persons are born with as much charm, and fewer still are born with as much intellect. Now Larry L. King has brought Willie back to life in the pages of a generous and understanding biography. You won't find a better opportunity to revel in Willie's company one more time.

Decoding Willie Morris

I would like to thank Larry King for introducing me to my former brother-in-law, Willie Morris. (If that sounds a little bizarre at first blush, it will seem less so to those who read Larry King's book.) I always liked Willie and respected him for his achievements, but I never had any illusions that I really knew him. While I was aware of most of the "facts" -- albeit after they had passed through some dubious filters -- that was clearly not enough to understand Willie Morris. Larry King supplies many of the missing pieces, and he does so with frequently lyrical prose, wit, and keen insight. Those who want to know about Willie Morris and his times should read this book and "North Toward Home," sparing themselves the subsequent "dueling autobigraphies" of Willie and Celia Morris. Larry King accurately captures the famous Willie Morris charm. I learned about it first hand in one of our rare private moments. Willie told me that he had never had a brother and was looking forward to the experience. Although I was aware at the time that this probably wouldn't really work out, I was quite taken by this gesture to the "kid brother." After all, I was certain that however our relationship evolved, it HAD to be an improvement over having an older sister. Meanwhile, I was already impressed that he had been a baseball player and that my parents clearly didn't really approve of their daughter's choice of husbands. Thus, his "charm offensive" certainly worked on me and apparently on many others as well. King also explores Willie's dark side at some length, but does so sympathetically. At the minor end of that scale, King notes Willie's propensity for isolating himself from the outside world, ignoring letters, messages, or other forms of contact. I understand better now why ne never responded to the occasional notes I sent him complimenting him on this or that piece that he had written. (My wife had somewhat better luck.) At least I learned from Larry King that I was in good company and, in retrospect, don't take it as personally as I did at the time. As Larry King makes clear, Willie had much more serious problems to worry about. As good as the book is, I have to wonder how broad an audience it will attract. (Of course, the question is somewhat academic at this point.) To be sure, Willie Morris achieved much, especially in the early part of his life, and he certainly rubbed elbows with the famous and powerful. Moreover, there has always been a Willie Morris "cult" -- or, more precisely, cult(s) -- that will dutifully read the book. Still, in the grand scheme of things, that is a relatively small and somewhat rarefied audience. While there's nothing inherently wrong with that, I think Mr. King may have missed an opportunity to introduce a broader audience to Willie Morris. That is too bad because Willie has indirectly affected many people who have probably never heard of him. In that vein, I think that Larry King's basic conclusion that Willie Morris should

Willie's back in town

I didn't discover Willie Morris until shortly after he died. After reading North Toward Home and New York Days, I gladly would have traveled across the continent to meet him. Few persons are born with as much charm, and fewer still are born with as much intellect. Now Larry L. King has brought Willie back to life in the pages of a generous and understanding biography. You won't find a better opportunity to revel in Willie's company one more time.

Willie We Hardly Knew Ye

To readers in Mississippi and throughout the South, Willie like Elvis doesn't need a last name. I first learned of and became a fan of Willie Morris when in the 70's I read his mid life memoir of sorts, North Towards Home. It was one of those books I never forgot. I was less impressed with Morris'later works, especially New York Days. ( Boy talk about industrial strength name dropping. But I digress. ) In this book, Morris' long time friend Larry King provides a lot of info about Morris, his carrer, his friends and enemies, his ups and downs, his affairs, etc. While it is an informative and enjoyable read, it is kind of streange in that the author in many instances seems to abandon his "search" for Willie to indulge in a search for himself since he was so close to Morris. That may be a not unacceptable price for the reader to pay to get the huge number of intimate insights into the life of someone who was nothing if not over the top interesting. As with any such book, there are places where detail gets out of control and scanning is in order, but they are minimal. Willie Morris, warts and all, will always be remembered fondly by Mississippians as someone who never lost his love for the state ( and its considerable number of "warts" ). You might have to be a Mississippian to really enjoy the book, but then again you never can tell. Definitely worth a spin.

Ineluctable, Ineffable, Inexhaustible

Willie Morris was many things, but how he ended up said less about him and more about the culture from which he sprung. By that I mean the South can take a heavy toll on its sentient sons and daughters. Larry L. King provides us with Willie's story in fine fashion but does miss that ineluctable truth- to use a favorite word of Morris'. Now let me say a thing or two about this Mississippian whose work I have read in full. I would like to defend Willie Morris against two types of readers. There is the one kind who sees him as a defender of the South and another who remarks only upon his descent from the literary heights. He did do both, but that was only part of his odyssey. Morris wrote North Toward Home, perhaps the finest autobiography produced by the last of the southern gentleman. The book holds no punches and reflects unflinchingly on what it means to be both southern and American. It should be required reading for everyone here in these United States. We might be a better country for it, and you cannot say that for many books. After that work, Willie didn't come close in his writing efforts. However, North Toward Home endures and will endure. Most big time editors cannot say that, and I am struck by how the famous folks who surpassed him- Halberstam, for example- have never written anything on the level of North Toward Home. The Best and the Brightest is a fine book, but it is a far remove from literature. North Toward Home reminds me of C. Vann Woodward's comment, "all historians are failed novelists." A last gentleman as well, Woodward could write those words from the marrow of his bones. Our present age is too literal for that to still ring true, but it does in Morris's case, even if it be autobiography, not history per se. Finally, a word about Willie's last years. Yes, I heard him called a drunk. I grew up only about 75 miles from Oxford in the Delta town of Tunica. His alcoholism didn't cut much ice with me, though. After all, Faulkner was called the same. You would be hard pressed to find a southern writer worth his salt who didn't have a fondness for the bottle. Maybe Willie was more fond than some, but I bet Faulkner would have drunk him under the table- even if they never actually met. My hunch is Willie had said it all and then some in North Toward Home. There wasn't much more for him to say. That would be a tough burden, especially if you were the genius Morris was. Even Faulkner didn't produce much quality after his torrid pace in the late '20's and early '30's. Moreover, Willie came home. He may not have been the finest teacher, but his influence on Oxford, Ole Miss, and Mississippi was enormous. He inspired Donna Tartt, wrote about Chucky Mullins, assigned pretty coeds Pery's "The Moviegoer", and helped put Square Books on the map. Yes, indeed, Willie's legacy endures. For my money, despite his lack of material fame and fortune, "the bitch goddess success", that his peers may have gained, Morr