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John McNulty (journalist)

John Augustine McNulty(1895–1956) was an American journalist and writer. McNulty is a major figure in the development of the genre ofliterary journalism.

Contribution to development of genre of literary journalism

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It is theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst’s Prof. Sims who creditsJoseph Mitchell,John McNulty and other short piece writers atHarold Ross’ designedly succoringThe New Yorkermagazine with evolving an early 20th-century reformer news writer's practice into a separate literary genre.[1]

In his seminal workLiterary Journalism in the 20th Century,Norman Sims traces the roots of literary journalism to journalist reformers efforts to make their news reports so poignant as to compel others to undertake corrective social actions.[2]The later genre of literary journalism, as stated by Sim's to have been evolved by McNulty and other short piece writers at the New Yorker magazine, is no longer conflicted between unbiased fact reporting and the enhanced portrayal of social conditions for some form of advocacy[3]but, concentrates upon such latter portrayal, while using actual events as a creative substrate. Literary journalism does, however, still demand accurate fact reporting of its practitioners. McNulty's words are near unrivaled, at evoking in their readers’ minds, such poignant imagery, and in their readers’ hearts, such concern and affection for his very common characters.

Early life, education and career

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John McNulty was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1895. John's father died during John's early childhood. He was raised by his mother, who operated a small store to support her family.[4]John McNulty served to the rank of noncommissioned officer in the U.S. infantry in France during World War I. McNulty fought in several of the war's major battles. It was sadly at the 1918 Battle of Tardenois, also known as theSecond Battle of the Marne,the decisive Allied victory that lead to theCentral Powers’ capitulation and the end ofWorld War Ior thewar to end all warswithin 100 days thereof, that the thereto unscathed John McNulty finally suffered a massive wound to his leg that left him with a severe limp for the rest of his life. No other noncommissioned officer in John’s company survived the war.[5]

After recouping from his injury for more than a year, John attended theColumbia School of Journalismwhile working for theAssociated Press.After graduating fromColumbia University,John went to work as a reporter for theNew York Postnewspaper. He subsequently worked as a reporter in chronological order for the Columbus, OhioOhio State Journalnewspaper, theNew York Daily Mirrornewspaper, theNew York Daily Newsnewspaper, and, then, as a staff writer atTime (magazine),before in 1937 joining his close friend James Thurber atThe New Yorkermagazine, where McNulty remained until his death from a heart attack in 1956.[6]

Notoriety and legacy

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The success of J. A. McNulty’s 1941 short story "Atheist Hit By A Truck" catapulted him into the national spotlight and cemented his reputation and further career path as an author rather than a journalist.[7]

John's wife,Faith McNulty,was an author and children's book writer known for penningThe Burning Bed,which was eventually turned into a 1984 film featuringFarrah Fawcett.[8]

McNulty's great-grand nephew Matt McNulty also worked as a reporter for theNew York Post,much like John did in the early 1930s before writing forThe New Yorker.[9]

Literary works and close friendship with Thurber

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Many of John McNulty's stories deal with New York saloon life and its characters. McNulty was a lifelong friend, associate, and drinking companion of writer and humoristJames Thurber,who McNulty had early mentored while in Ohio.[10]McNulty wrote atThe New Yorkerwith Thurber,Joseph Mitchell,S. J. Perelman,E. B. Whiteand others. They met atCostello'ssaloon on Third Avenue inNew York Cityas members of the "square table" (in contrast with the literary wits who met at theAlgonquin Round Table). Thurber eulogized McNulty in theNew Yorkerand wrote a long and extraordinarily affectionate foreword to (The World of John McNulty) the earliest posthumous collection of his friend's stories.[11][12]According to Thurber,The New Yorkerpublished more than sixty pieces by McNulty.[13]

McNulty's works have been used in graduate literature courses at Columbia,[14]Duke and University of Pittsburgh.[15]McNulty's stories are collected inThe World of John McNulty(1957) andThis Place on Third Avenue(2001). "The World of John McNulty" (TWJM) collects 55 pieces; 13 of 17 from McNulty's book "3rd Avenue, New York" (TANY); 11 of 12 from his book "A Man Gets Around" (AMGA); 12 of 25 from his book "My Son Johnny" (MSJ); and 19 previously uncollected pieces. "This Place on Third Avenue" collects 28 pieces (7 of which do not appear in TWJM); 15 from TANY; 2 from AMGA; none from MSJ; 7 collected in TWJM; 2 previously uncollected; and 2 previously unpublished.

James Thurber, McNulty's close friend, wrote that "Nothing, however, commonplace, that he touched remained commonplace but, was magnified and enlivened by his intense and endless fascination with the stranger in the street, the drinker in the bar, and the bartender behind it, the horseplayer, the cab driver, the guy at the ballgame, the fellow across the room, the patient in the next hospital bed."[16]

Books

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  • Third Avenue New York(1946), Boston, Little Brown
  • A Man Gets Around(1951), Boston, Little Brown
  • My Son Johnny(1955), Simon and Schuster
  • The World of John McNulty(1957), NY, Doubleday
  • This Place on Third Avenue(2001), Washington, D.C., Counterpoint

References and notes

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  1. ^Norman Sims,Literary Journalism in the 20th Century,Northwest University Press, © 1990 Oxford University Press, Chapter 4 “Joseph Mitchell and the New York Nonfiction Writers”, pp 82–108, particularly, pp 83 and 84. In fact, as here noted, editor Norman Sim’s dedicates his own written entire chapter of the text to this theme or to quote him there the “new writers (at the New Yorker), who made enduring contributions to literary journalism:John Hersey,John McNulty,Geoffrey Hellman…”,p. 83. Sim’s also notes there that in this nascent stage, literary journalism was simply referred to popularly as the “New Yorker style”.
  2. ^See Norman Sims,Literary Journalism in the 20th Century,Northwest University Press, © 1990 Oxford University Press. At its Chapters 2 and 3, this work provides as example for this thesis the early journalistic work ofErnest HemingwayandJohn Steinbeck.In Steibeck’s example, which is particularly compelling of Prof. Sim’s argument, contributorWilliam Howarththere examples the evolution of Steinbeck’s news reports, which he skewered in text and photograph to advocate for improved treatment of California’sDust Bowlimmigrants, directly to his literary masterpiece,The Grapes of Wrath.InLiterary Journalism’s Chapter 3, titled “Journalism and the Grapes of Wrath”, Howarth quotes the writer John Steinbeck as stating “I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for [neglecting the migrants] but I can do it best through newspapers.”
  3. ^Even, if the exclusive goal of the advocating, as in McNulty's case, is simply to gain the reader’s recognition of the dignity of the character(s) or socioeconomic class(es) portrayed by the author.
  4. ^Edd Applegate,Literary Journalism: a biographical dictionary of writers and editors,©1996 Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut, p 173ISBN0-313-29949-8
  5. ^again, Edd Applegate,Literary Journalism: a biographical dictionary of writers and editors,©1996 Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut, p 173ISBN0-313-29949-8
  6. ^Edd Applegate,Literary Journalism: a biographical dictionary of writers and editors,©1996 Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut, p 174ISBN0-313-29949-8
  7. ^’’The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography’’, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, © 1995, John S. Bowman ed., p. 491,ISBN0-521-40258-1
  8. ^Faith McNulty
  9. ^"Matt McNulty".New York Post.
  10. ^"ThurberConnection".shortnorth.com.RetrievedApril 21,2021.
  11. ^"This Place on Third Avenue", John McNulty, Counterpoint, Washington, D.C., c.2001, foreword "John As He Was" by wifeFaith McNulty,pp ix-xxxix.
  12. ^"ThurberConnection".shortnorth.com.RetrievedApril 27,2021.
  13. ^Thurber, James (August 4, 1956), "John McNulty",The New Yorker,p. 80
  14. ^"Master Classes".Archived fromthe originalon October 8, 2011.RetrievedApril 27,2021.
  15. ^"Bruce Dobler's Creative Nonfiction Compendium".Archived fromthe originalon March 1, 2010.RetrievedApril 27,2021.
  16. ^The World of John McNulty, © 1957 NY Doubleday, pp 9–10.
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