William March | |
|---|---|
 William March, c. 1933 | |
| Born | September 18, 1893[a] Mobile, Alabama |
| Died | May 15, 1954 (aged 60) New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Occupation |
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| Genre | Psychological realism |
| Literary movement | The Lost Generation |
William March (September 18, 1893[a] – May 15, 1954) was an American writer of psychological fiction and a highly decorated U.S. Marine. The author of six novels and four short-story collections, March was praised by critics but never attained great popularity. He has also been recently described by one prominent film historian as "a closeted, and tormented, gay man."[1]
March grew up in rural Alabama in a family so poor that he could not finish high school, and he did not earn a high school equivalency until he was 20. He later studied law but was again unable to afford to finish his studies. In 1917, while working in a Manhattan law office, he volunteered for the U.S. Marine Corps and saw action in World War I, for which he was decorated with some of the highest honors—the French Croix de Guerre, the American Distinguished Service Cross, and the U.S. Navy Cross. After the war he again worked in a law office before embarking on a financially successful business career.
While working in business he began writing, first short stories, then in 1933 a novel based on his war experiences, Company K. His follow-up work was the "Pearl County" series, novels and short fiction set in his native south Alabama, the most successful of which is the novel The Looking-Glass. However, literary success eluded him. His last novel, The Bad Seed, was published in 1954, the year March died. It became a bestseller, but he never saw his story adapted first for the stage in 1954, and then for film in 1956, 1985, and 2018. March was one of twelve inaugural inductees to the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame on June 8, 2015.[2]
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- ^ Hirsch, Foster (2023). Hollywood and the movies of the Fifties: the collapse of the studio system, the thrill of Cinerama, and the invasion of the ultimate body snatcher - television. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 308. ISBN 9780307958921.
- ^ Staff report (May 25, 2015). "Rick Bragg, Harper Lee will be among Alabama Writers' Forum's inductees". No. May 25, 2015. Tuscaloosa News. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2015.