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Ward Just

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Ward Just
BornWard Swift Just
(1935-09-05)September 5, 1935
Michigan City, Indiana,U.S.
DiedDecember 19, 2019(2019-12-19)(aged 84)
Plymouth, Massachusetts,U.S.
EducationTrinity College
Genrefiction
Notable awardsAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters

Ward Swift Just(September 5, 1935 – December 19, 2019)[1]was an American writer. He was a war correspondent and the author of 19 novels and numerous short stories.

Biography

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Just was born inMichigan City, Indiana,attendedLake Forest Academy,and subsequently graduated from the Kingswood School (todayCranbrook Kingswood School) in 1953. He briefly attendedTrinity Collegein Hartford, Connecticut. He started his career as a print journalist for theWaukegan (Illinois) News-Sun.He married three times and had three children.

Just died of complications fromLewy body dementiainPlymouth, Massachusetts,on December 19, 2019. He was 84 years old.[2]

War correspondent

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Just covered the war inCyprus(1957) and the conflict in theDominican RepublicforNewsweek.ThenBenjamin Bradleehired Just atThe Washington Postas a war correspondent for theVietnam war.He published close to 400 articles, many appearing on the front page.

He met journalistFrances Fitzgeraldat a party soon after her arrival inSaigonin early 1966 and began a relationship with her that continued until she leftSouth Vietnamin November 1966.[3]: 42, 87 

He was wounded on 8 June 1966 coveringOperation Hawthorne,but returned to Saigon for a second tour after recovering inWashington, D.C.[3]: 56–7 Leaving Saigon in May 1967, he wrote "To What End: Report from Vietnam,"credited as being an important element in helping the nation understand the futility of that war. He went on to cover the presidential campaigns of bothEugene McCarthyandRichard Nixonfor thePostin 1968 and was then asked to join its editorial board.[4]

Fiction writing

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Just's influences includedHenry JamesandErnest Hemingway.[5]His novelAn Unfinished Seasonwas a finalist for thePulitzer Prize for Fictionin 2005.[6]His novelEcho Housewas a finalist for theNational Book Awardin 1997.[7]He was twice a finalist for theO. Henry Award,in 1985 for his short storyAbout Boston,and again in 1986 for his short storyThe Costa Brava, 1959.[8] He was Spring 1999Rome Prizefellow.[citation needed]

His fiction is often concerned with the influence of national politics on Americans' personal lives. Much of it is set in Washington, D.C., and foreign countries. Another common theme is the alienation felt by Midwesterners in the East.

According toWashington Postbook criticJonathan Yardley,Just's finest novels areA Family Trust,An Unfinished Season,Exiles in the Garden,andAmerican Romantic.[9][10]He also lists Just's short story collection,The Congressman Who Loved Flaubert,as one of his favorite books.[11]Yardley recently wrote that "American Romanticmay well be the best of them all. "

In a column atLiterary Hubin 2018, Susan Zakin wrote that "Ward Just is not merely America’s best political novelist. He is America’s greatest living novelist. To our discredit, he’s also America’s Greatest Unknown Novelist."[12]

In May 2013, TheAmerican Academy of Arts and Lettersat its annual induction and award ceremony inducted Ward Just as a new member of the Academy and honored his lifetime achievement in the field of Literature, along with an exhibition of his manuscripts.[13]

Works

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Novels

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  • A Soldier of the Revolution(1970)
  • Stringer(1974)
  • Nicholson at Large(1975)
  • A Family Trust(1978)
  • In the City of Fear(1982)
  • The American Blues(1984)
  • The American Ambassador(1987)
  • Jack Gance(1989)
  • The Translator(1991)
  • Ambition & Love(1994)
  • Echo House(1997)
  • A Dangerous Friend(1999)
  • The Weather in Berlin(2002)
  • An Unfinished Season(2004)
  • Forgetfulness(2006)
  • Exiles In The Garden(2009)
  • Rodin's Debutante(2011)
  • American Romantic(2014)
  • The Eastern Shore(2016)

Story collections

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  • The Congressman Who Loved Flaubert(1973)
  • Honor, Power, Riches, Fame, and the Love of Women(1979)
  • Twenty-one: Selected Stories(1990)
  • Lowell Limpett and Two Stories(2001)

Nonfiction

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  • To What End(1968)
  • Military Men(1970)

Plays

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  • Lowell Limpett(2001)

Anthologized in

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  • Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1959–1969 (Part One)(1998)

References

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  1. ^Stout, David (December 20, 2019)."Ward Just, 84, Dies; Ex-Journalist Found Larger Truths in Fiction".New York Times.Retrieved2020-10-22.
  2. ^Ward Just Helped Define a New Era in Journalism
  3. ^abBecker, Elizabeth (2021).You Don't Belong Here How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War.Public Affairs Books.ISBN9781541768208.
  4. ^"Cranbrook Archives"(PDF).Retrieved2019-08-14.
  5. ^Shea, Jack (19 June 2014)."Interview with Ward Just".Martha's Vineyard Arts and Ideas.RetrievedAugust 14,2019.
  6. ^"An Unfinished Season, by Ward Just (Houghton Mifflin) - The Pulitzer Prizes".The Pulitzer Prizes.RetrievedOctober 22,2020.
  7. ^"Ward Just Author Profile".National Book Foundation.RetrievedAugust 14,2019.
  8. ^"The O. Henry Prize Stories".Random House.RetrievedOctober 22,2020.
  9. ^Yardley, Johnathan (July 5, 2009)."Book Review:" Exiles in the Garden "".Washington Post.RetrievedAugust 14,2019.
  10. ^Yardley, Johnathan (April 4, 2014)."Op-Ed".Washington Post.RetrievedAugust 14,2019.
  11. ^Yardley, Jonathan (December 5, 2014)."Jonathan Yardley's Favorite Books".Washington Post.RetrievedAugust 14,2019.
  12. ^Zakin, Susan (17 October 2018)."Why America's Best Political Novelist Is Required Reading in 2018".Literary Hub.Retrieved2019-08-14.
  13. ^"2013 Newly Elected Members".American Academy of Arts and Letters.RetrievedAugust 14,2019.
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