Different Times
In today's eco-conscious, safety-obsessed world, it's hard to imagine that the great high-end literary journals such as the The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Esquire, Collier's and The Saturday Evening Post were once full of stories about cars. In the second half of the forties and the whole of the fifties, racing, rodding and car culture in general were at the heart of American society, and the fiction reflected it. The prevailing attitude towards safety was also a bit different - essentially, a B-17 mission over Berlin was dangerous while a race car at a hundred and fifty miles or a race for pinks on a stretch of deserted highway was a bit of harmless fun. It makes sense if one thinks about it.
Like all fiction, there were probably better and worse examples of the genre, but in March 1955, Bantam published a collection of the better ones entitled High Gear, and edited by Evan Jones. I recently finished reading this one, and was really surprised by the quality of the stories. Of course, maybe I shouldn't have been, considering that the ToC included John Steinbeck and John D. MacDonald. But what really was a surprise is that these weren't watered-down stories for the suburban middle class intellectual, but actual stories where the cars themselves and the men who work on them are the true heroes. They are stories of bullring racing and Pebble Beach, tales of Indy and even of the French GP. Only true enthusiasts would have been able to understand the stories, even back then.
And they were being printed in The New Yorker. How things change.
Anyhow, this one is a great book, with a consistently high level of work included, and one which I recommend for anyone interested in cars (as well as for anyone who wears a helmet out on the ski slopes. Read this, and think on the error of your ways. There is still time to effect a cure!). My particular favorite was a nice little piece called "The Affair of the Wayward Jeep", a fun and biting little tale by Bill Maudlin (yes, THAT Bill Mauldin).
Writing: about 450 words of introduction-type nonfiction for the new edition of Heart of Darkness.
Like all fiction, there were probably better and worse examples of the genre, but in March 1955, Bantam published a collection of the better ones entitled High Gear, and edited by Evan Jones. I recently finished reading this one, and was really surprised by the quality of the stories. Of course, maybe I shouldn't have been, considering that the ToC included John Steinbeck and John D. MacDonald. But what really was a surprise is that these weren't watered-down stories for the suburban middle class intellectual, but actual stories where the cars themselves and the men who work on them are the true heroes. They are stories of bullring racing and Pebble Beach, tales of Indy and even of the French GP. Only true enthusiasts would have been able to understand the stories, even back then.
And they were being printed in The New Yorker. How things change.
Anyhow, this one is a great book, with a consistently high level of work included, and one which I recommend for anyone interested in cars (as well as for anyone who wears a helmet out on the ski slopes. Read this, and think on the error of your ways. There is still time to effect a cure!). My particular favorite was a nice little piece called "The Affair of the Wayward Jeep", a fun and biting little tale by Bill Maudlin (yes, THAT Bill Mauldin).
Writing: about 450 words of introduction-type nonfiction for the new edition of Heart of Darkness.