Charles R. Jackson

For other people named Charles Jackson, seeCharles Jackson (disambiguation).

Charles R. Jackson
Charles Jackson (1950) Photo byCarl Van Vechten
Born	Charles Reginald Jackson (1903-04-06)April 6, 1903 Summit, New Jersey,U.S.
Died	September 21, 1968(1968-09-21)(aged 65) New York City, New York,U.S.
Resting place	East Newark Cemetery, Newark, Wayne County, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist, radio and television writer
Nationality	American
Education	Newark High School,New York
Genre	Fictional prose
Notable works	The Lost Weekend
Spouse	Rhoda Copland Booth ​ ​ (m.1938⁠–⁠1968)​
Children	2

Charles Reginald Jackson(April 6, 1903 – September 21, 1968) was an American writer. He wrote the 1944 novelThe Lost Weekend.

Early life

Charles R. Jackson was born inSummit, New Jerseyon April 6, 1903, the son of Frederick George and Sarah Williams Jackson.His family moved toNewark, New Yorkin 1907, and nine years later his older sister, Thelma, and younger brother, Richard, were killed while riding in a car that was struck by an express train.He graduated from Newark High School in 1921.He attendedSyracuse University,joining a fraternity there, but left during his freshman year after a "furtive sexual encounter with a fellow member of his fraternity, who then spread word of the incident in such a way that only Jackson came in for public disgrace"; a fictionalized version of that experience was later incorporated intoThe Lost Weekend.

As a young man he worked as an editor for local newspapers and in various bookstores in Chicago and New York prior to falling ill withtuberculosis.From 1927 to 1931, Jackson was confined to sanatoriums and eventually recovered inDavos, Switzerland.His battle with tuberculosis cost him a lung and served as a catalyst for hisalcoholism.

Career

He returned to New York at the height of theGreat Depressionand his difficulty in finding work spurred on hisbinge drinking.His battle to stop drinking started in late 1936 and was largely won by 1938. On March 4, 1938, Jackson married magazine writer Rhoda Booth. They later had two daughters, Sarah (born 1940) and Kate (born 1943).

During this time he was afree-lance writerand wrote radio scripts. Jackson's first published story, "Palm Sunday", appeared in thePartisan Reviewin 1939. It focused on the debauched organist of a church the narrators attended as children.

In the 1940s, Jackson wrote a trio of novels, beginning withThe Lost Weekendpublished byFarrar & Rinehartin 1944. The autobiographical novel chronicled a struggling writer's five-day drinking binge. It earned Jackson lasting recognition.While working onThe Lost Weekend,Jackson earned as much as $1000 per week writing scripts for the radio soap operaSweet River,about a widowed minister and his two sons.

In 1945,Paramount Picturespaid $35,000 (about $611,000 in 2024) for the rights to adaptThe Lost Weekendinto the afilm version of the same name.TheAcademy Awardwinning film was directed byBilly Wilderand starredRay Millandin the lead role of Don Birnam.At the height of his career, Charles R. Jackson lectured at various colleges.

Jackson's second published novel of the 1940s, titledThe Fall of Valor,was released in 1946 and takes its name from a passage inHerman Melville'sMoby-Dick.Set in 1943, it detailed aprofessor'sobsession with a young, handsome Marine.The Fall of Valorreceived mixed reviews, and, though sales were respectable, was considerably less successful than Jackson's famous first novel. Jackson'sThe Outer Edgeswas released in 1948 and dealt with the gruesome rape and murder of two girls in Westchester County, New York.The Outer Edgesalso received mixed reviews, and sales were poor relative to his previous novels. Jackson's later works included two collections of short stories,The Sunnier Side: Twelve Arcadian Tales(1950) andEarthly Creatures(1953).

Later years

Throughout his career, Jackson continued to struggle with an addiction to alcohol and pills. Over the years, he underwent psychoanalysis to help him kick his addictions. After the success ofThe Lost Weekend,Jackson began taking pills (mainly the sedativeSeconal) and drinking again. He later told his wife that unless he was under the influence of Seconal, he would suffer fromwriter's blockand become depressed.

In September 1952, he attempted suicide and was committed toBellevue Hospital.He was readmitted four months later after suffering anervous breakdown.After his release, he went on an alcohol andparaldehydebinge during which he wrote six short stories and began writingA Second-Hand Life.In 1953, he checked into an alcoholism clinic and joinedAlcoholics Anonymous(AA).Jackson later also spoke about alcoholism to large groups, sharing his experience. A recording of his talk in Cleveland, Ohio in May 1959 is still distributed in the AA community.He was the first speaker in Alcoholics Anonymous to address drug dependence (barbituratesand paraldehyde) openly as part of his story.

By the mid-1950s, Jackson was sober but was no longer writing. As a result, he and his family began struggling financially. He and his wife had to sell their New Hampshire home and eventually moved toSandy Hook, Connecticut.Jackson's wife got a job at the YaleCenter of Alcohol Studieswhile Jackson moved to New York City, where he rented an apartment atThe Dakota.He continued to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and attempted to begin writing again. In the early 1960s, three of his short stories appeared inMcCall'smagazine but Jackson still struggled with periodic bouts of writer's block. He later worked as a story editor for the anthology television seriesKraft Television Theatreand got a job teaching writing atRutgers University.

A long-time heavy smoker, Jackson suffered fromchronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Towards the end of his life, he was admitted to theWill Rogers Memorial Hospitalin Saranac Lake, New York after a relapse of tuberculosis.Will Rogers Instituteeven filmed a short theatrical release called "Place in the Country" about his second visit to theWill Rogers Memorial Hospital.After his release,Macmillan Publishersgave him an advance for a new book. Jackson moved to theHotel Chelseaand resumed work onA Second-Hand Life,a novel that he began writing some 15 years earlier. Upon its release, the book received mediocre reviews but sold well.

Death

On September 21, 1968, Jackson died ofbarbiturate poisoningatSt. Vincent's Hospitalin New York City. His death was ruled a suicide.At the time of his death, Jackson was working on a sequel toThe Lost WeekendentitledFarther and Wider.

Jackson had relapsed into alcoholism during the months before his death, and had become estranged from his family. Jackson had beenclosetedfor the greater part of his life and, in his later years, attempted to come to terms with hisbisexuality.Jackson identified as bisexual late in life and began living with his male lover in 1965.

Bibliography

• The Lost Weekend(1944)
• The Fall of Valor(1946)
• The Outer Edges(1948)
• The Sunnier Side: Twelve Arcadian Tales(1950)
• Earthly Creatures(1953)
• A Second-Hand Life(1967)

References

Bibliography

• Austen, Roger (1977).Playing the Game: The Homosexual Novel in America.Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company.ISBN978-0-672-52287-1.
• Bailey, Blake (2013).Farther and Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles Jackson.New York: Alfred A. Knopf.ISBN978-0-307-27358-1.
• Bronski, Michael (2003).Pulp Friction: Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps.New York: St. Martin's Griffin.ISBN978-0-312-25267-0.
• Connelly, Mark (2001).Deadly Closets: The Fiction of Charles Jackson.University Press of America.ISBN978-0-7618-1912-7.
• Gunn, Drewey (2009).The Golden Age of Gay Fiction.Albion, NY: MLR Press.ISBN978-1-60820-048-1.
• Slide, Anthony (2003).Lost Gay Novels: A Reference Guide to Fifty Works from the First Half of the Twentieth Century.Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press.ISBN978-1-56023-413-5.
• Stryker, Susan (2001).Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback.San Francisco: Chronicle Books.ISBN978-0-8118-3020-1.

External links

• Works by Charles R. JacksonatFaded Page(Canada)
• The Papers of Charles R. JacksonArchived2015-09-15 at theWayback Machinein theDartmouth College Library
• Charles R. JacksonatIMDb
• Charles Jackson's "The Fall of Valor" (Archived)
• Discussion on Charles Jacksonby Blake Bailey, biographer and writer ofFarther & Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles JacksononWNYCMarch 20, 2013 Leonard Lopate show.