Some Came Running by Jones, James Ramon (1921-1977) inscribed to Davis Grubb - 1957

xii+1266 pages. Thick octavo (8 1/2" x 5 3/4") bound in half red cloth with black lettering to spine and cover. Inscribed to Davis Grubb. First edition.

James Jones's second published novel, Some Came Running (1957), had its roots in the abandoned first effort. In contrast to Eternity, it was savaged by the critics. They were especially harsh with the frequently misspelled words and punctuation errors; they didn't recognize that such elements were a conscious style choice by Jones to evoke the provinciality of the novel's characters and setting. Jones apparently played around with this style in several short stories written at about the same time as Some Came Running (later collected in The Ice-Cream Headache and Other Stories), only to abandon it altogether by the time he finished The Thin Red Line in 1962, in favor of the blunt but more grammatically sound style most associated with Jones today. Some Came Running was immediately adapted as film starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine, which was critically acclaimed and nominated for several Oscars.

Davis Grubb (July 23, 1919 - July 24, 1980) was an American novelist and short story writer. Born in Moundsville, West Virginia, Grubb wanted to combine his creative skills as a painter with writing and as such attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, his color blindness was a handicap he could not overcome and he gave up on painting to dedicate himself to writing fiction. He did, however, make a number of drawings and sketches during the course of his career, some of which were incorporated into his writings. In 1940, Grubb moved to New York City where he worked at NBC radio as a writer while using his free time to write short stories. In the mid 1940s he was successful in selling several short stories to major magazines and in the early 1950s he started writing a full length novel. Influenced by accounts of economic hardship by depression-era Americans that his mother had seen first hand as a social worker, Grubb produced a dark tale that mixed the plight of poor children and adults with that of the evil inflicted by others. The Night of the Hunter became an instant bestseller and was voted a finalist for the 1955 National Book Award. That same year, the book was made into a motion picture that is now regarded as a classic. Deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Grubb went on to write a further nine novels and several collections of short stories. His 1969 novel Fools' Parade would also be made into a motion picture starring James Stewart. Some of Grubb's short stories were adapted for television by Alfred Hitchcock and by Rod Serling for his Night Gallery series. Grubb died in New York City in 1980. His novel Ancient Lights was published posthumously in 1982, and St. Martins Press published 18 of his short stories in a book collection titled You Never Believe Me and Other Stories.


Condition:

Inscribed by Jones on half title. Touch of rubbing to spine ends. Jacket spine ends lightly chipped with some rubbed, some light wear to edges with some small closed tears, price clipped else a near fine copy in like jacket.