A look at a writer who changed the world of young adult fiction in America, after the jump ….
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As an eighth grade junior high student in 1969-70, a book we read in English class was one that our teacher Mrs. Hansen told us was a favorite of her prior students — “First book I ever finished” was a common reaction, she said.
And when I heartily agreed upon reading The Outsiders— during our summary class discussion, Mrs. Hansen surprised-the-hell-outta-me by telling us that (a) the author S.E. Hinton was named Susan E. Hinton and (b) that she was a teenager when she wrote it and had it published … well, gobsmacked isn’t quite the word.
The story (written from almost entirely a male perspective) was hard-hitting in a way that I was unaccustomed to at that young age. With a 50th anniversary re-printing of this book due for release on November 1st …. her story is worth a fresh look.
Due out on November 1stBorn in 1948 in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1948, she was a voracious reader as a child. One favorite was Shirley Jackson (most famous as the author of the short story The Lottery) and years later a NY Times reviewer noted some of Jackson’s phrases emerging in the writings of Susan Hinton. She began writing The Outsiders as a 15 year-old, completing it at age 16, being offered a publishing contract at age 17 (the same day she graduated from Will Rogers High School) and seeing the book released in the spring of 1967 as an eighteen year-old.
The publisher wanted to use her initials on the cover, so as to not scare away young boys from reading it. She agreed, and says today that fact helps her stay relatively anonymous in her adult life (which she guards diligently).
I still recall the opening (and closing) line, "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home”. Plus, the Robert Frost poem Nothing Gold Can Stay— which seemed an odd thought in the middle of the epic Greasers vs. Socs rumble (not unlike the Jets vs. Sharks) — and which served as a metaphor for the coming-of-age theme of the book.
When asked about the book’s enduring popularity — it still sells ½ million copies annually — Susan Hinton attributes it to two factors: (a) the belief kids have that “Adults have no idea” (of who we are) and that the “in crowd” vs. the “out crowd” theme is a perennial one.
The book was made into a film by Francis Ford Coppola— with stars such as Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise and others.
“The Outsiders” film — 1983While not a “sequel” — Hinton says it is not possible for her to do one — a follow-up, if you will, was That Was Then, This is Now— which has a few of the same characters and is also set in Tulsa — that I enjoyed reading, published just a few years later in 1971 (when she was at the ripe old age of …. 23). This was later made into a film (directed by Christopher Cain) in 1985.
1975 saw the release of the novella Rumble Fish— with wholly new characters, yet also set in youth street gang life — which was also made into a film, directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983. With both directors she felt she was treated as an equal partner.
S.E. Hinton’s subsequent works are: in the Young Adult category, Tex (1979) and Taming the Star Runner (1988). In 1995, she released two children’s books: Big David, Little David (a picture book) and The Puppy Sister— the only book of hers with a female lead character (albeit a puppy looking to become a girl). In this century, she turned her attention to adult fiction: Hawkes Harbor (from 2004) which leaves Oklahoma behind and heads out to sea … and her most recent work was a collection of short stories entitled Some of Tim’s Stories from 2007.
At age 68, she lives with her husband in her native Tulsa and was awarded the inaugural Margaret Edwards award for young adult fiction in 1988, plus inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame ten years later in 1998. Just this week she took to Twitter to say she had not intended some of her Tulsa characters as gay (in response to a question) and her young adult books, perhaps unsurprisingly, have made it onto the Challenged Books list across the USA — The Outsiders was ranked as #43 on the American Library Association’s Top 100 Most Challenged Books of 1990-2000 (and several other works have been under pressure, as well).
When asked in an interview about a “favorite reader encounter”, she replied:
I used to work in a shoe store. While fitting work boots on some tough young guys, someone told them who I was. One of them said, “You made me cry on the school bus.”
Susan Eloise Hinton in youth … and more recently Let’s close with one of my favorite recordings of the old Chess Records blues label — as a tribute to one of its co-founders Phil Chess who died yesterday at age 95 — and it was sung by the company’s most valuable employee: bassist, A&R man, studio manager, producer and songwriter extraordinaire, Willie Dixon. x YouTube Video Now, on to Top Comments:From Jon Sitzman:
In the diary by Walter Einenkel — a compendium of Twitter reactions to last night’s debate — here is an on-point description of Trump's awful effect on the perception of the United States and its President (not just the person, the office) by new (2016!) commenter, rflctammt. Worth more views!
From purple cones as well as bubbanomics:
In the diary by bubbanomics about the Trumpster’s latest insult— we nominate this comment by The Marti.And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by albo noting that even his pal governor Paul (Turn) LePage has told the Trumpster to dial-it-back on accepting election results — alert reader dadadata ponders if it’s due to the forces-of-nature that emerge annually in the month of May?And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
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