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Texas: A World in Itself
A World in Itself is considered to be one of the most unusual books about Texas ever published. George Sessions Perry's unique style could make the reader think that they too are apart of the defense of the Alamo or friends with the myriad of figures who are presented within the confines of this book. This style, in the end, brings a certain amount of authenticity to the book. In the introduction of this book, Perry tells of a Yankee family, the Rosengrens, who move to San Antonio to set up a bookshop. Despite their slim chance of success, this family slowly came to consider Texas their home, finding more friends there than they ever had anywhere else. By Mr. Perry's account, this is nothing short of a miracle, which can only happen in Texas, because "the Rosengrens don't belong to any clubs and the people in San Antonio don't like books." This work is an excellent informal guide to the state in which the author was born and raised. With enchanting stories, the book introduces the reader to the history, traditions, and folklore of Texas. Due to Perry's many trips to other cities, states, and countries, he has gained a worldly perspective of his home state. These experiences allow him to give the reader a picture of Texas that a nonnative can easily understand and a native could fondly enjoy.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1942
2 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
George Sessions Perry
32 books2 followersVirtually unknown today, Perry was one of Texas’ most celebrated authors in the 1940s and 50s.
Born in Rockdale in 1910, Perry attended several colleges, but never graduated. Instead, he moved back to his hometown and pushed through the Great Depression with a small inheritance and a determination to write about the rural and small-town life around him. He married the love of his life, Claire Hodges, on the 20th of February 1933 in her hometown of Beaumont, Texas. They would remain devoted to each other until his death, and had no children.
Publication in the Saturday Evening Post came in 1937, then a book deal. In 1941 came his masterwork, “Hold Autumn in Your Hand” — one of America’s most celebrated agrarian novels oft compared to Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. It won the Texas Institute of Letters award that year, became the first Texas book to win the National Book Award the next, and was made into a movie called The Southerner by famed French director Jean Renoir. It was to be his only novel.
Perry served as a war correspondent during World War II and so traumatized by the horrors he witnessed that he said it “defictionized” him for life. His subsequent work, no longer light-hearted, concentrated on nonfiction, including “My Granny Van” — about the maternal grandmother who raised him when he was orphaned at the age of 12 — and a history of Texas A&M University. Perry became a celebrated and well-paid magazine writer by the late 1940s.
Wracked by depression, hallucinations, acute arthritis and a drinking problem, in winter 1956 he walked out of his Connecticut home and into a nearby river; his body was found months later.
Born in Rockdale in 1910, Perry attended several colleges, but never graduated. Instead, he moved back to his hometown and pushed through the Great Depression with a small inheritance and a determination to write about the rural and small-town life around him. He married the love of his life, Claire Hodges, on the 20th of February 1933 in her hometown of Beaumont, Texas. They would remain devoted to each other until his death, and had no children.
Publication in the Saturday Evening Post came in 1937, then a book deal. In 1941 came his masterwork, “Hold Autumn in Your Hand” — one of America’s most celebrated agrarian novels oft compared to Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. It won the Texas Institute of Letters award that year, became the first Texas book to win the National Book Award the next, and was made into a movie called The Southerner by famed French director Jean Renoir. It was to be his only novel.
Perry served as a war correspondent during World War II and so traumatized by the horrors he witnessed that he said it “defictionized” him for life. His subsequent work, no longer light-hearted, concentrated on nonfiction, including “My Granny Van” — about the maternal grandmother who raised him when he was orphaned at the age of 12 — and a history of Texas A&M University. Perry became a celebrated and well-paid magazine writer by the late 1940s.
Wracked by depression, hallucinations, acute arthritis and a drinking problem, in winter 1956 he walked out of his Connecticut home and into a nearby river; his body was found months later.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 12, 2008
Written in 1942, it's interesting as introductory book. There are better options.
Displaying 1 of 1 review