Posthumous Fame...
Something to shoot for!
About 15 years ago I got the idea of going back to school to get a PhD - at age 54(!) My wife, Leslie, thinks that what sparked that idea was something that happened when we visited colleges with our son Travis when he was applying for college. One of the places we visited was The University of Minnesota (Go Gophers!)1
Semites and Anti-Semites?
One of the events of the “summer open house” at UM was a “sample class” in the humanities. Travis, Leslie, and I sat in on a “sample lecture” from a professor in Travis’s chosen field, international politics. The lecturer as I remember it was an Indian/American.2 The speaker’s topic was that there wasn’t a history of antipathy (hatred) between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East and in East Asia, until the Germans, under Hitler, took over large portions of the Middle East during World War Two.
One thing the speaker mentioned was that Germany had “stolen” (so to speak) the Swastika symbol from the Indian culture - as is noted in this web page3
“In the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, swastika means "well-being". The symbol has been used by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for millennia and is commonly assumed to be an Indian sign.”
Some examples of the use of the Swastika (op cit) before Hitler:
Yikers!
The professor went on to say that when the Germans ruled remnants of the old Ottoman Empire during World War II they went to great lengths to promote hatred of the Jews which was the key element of Nazi political philosophy. If my memory serves me correctly, he said, “They taught Semites to become Anti-Semites!” What he meant by that is that both Arabs and Jews have the same roots - both culturally and genealogically tracing their lineage back to “Father” Abraham - both are “Semitic” people - “cousins” if you will... He mentioned that the Bible notes that Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac - the first being the father of the Arabs, the second being the father of the Israelites. He also said that for many centuries they lived side by side in relative harmony since in the early days of Muslim domination of the Middle East the Jews were respected as “people of the book” as were early Christians. They did not have the same rights and status as Muslims, but they were respected and did not suffer the hatred and persecution that happened later in Russia and Germany.
I found this lecture fascinating, and I thoroughly embarrassed my wife and son by raising my hand several times to blurt out questions, something none of the other “college dads” did. As we walked out of the lecture, my wife (angrily) said, “You're the one who should be going back to school. You were acting like you are the one applying for college, not Travis!”
I think it was only a few months later that my sister Jayne noticed an ad for a new Ph.D. program at a nearby college, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, (located at Indiana, PA) and I decided to apply.
I am not sure how the process works at other schools, but at IUP I had to submit a written application, one that included my old college transcripts4 and a number of other documents and written references from friends and associates. (Surprisingly) I managed to clear the “written requirements” hurdle.
But the next part was an in-person interview with the professors of the Communications department at IUP, and that is where I ran into trouble…
Revenge of The Groundhog
I don’t think I could have gotten off to a worse start. I had not driven to Indiana, PA from DuBois very often, and I did not realize how long the drive was (in spite of checking with Google Maps.) For those of you not from Western Pennsylvania, the drive from DuBois to Indiana is on a hilly and winding two-lane highway that passes through a number of small towns on the way, including Punxsutawney, “Home of the Groundhog.”
I gave myself a cushion of only about 15 minutes and when I got to Punxsutawney I was already close to running late. And then, something happened which I have never seen happen in my fifty-year driving career, and which never again occurred in the many trips I have made on that road since then. A Wide Load tractor-trailer got stuck and wedged solid in the middle of the bridge over “the icy Mahoning Creek” that I mention in my Punxsy Phil novel. It happened right here:
The extra wide load, which I think was a platform from a gas drilling rig, became firmly wedged filling the entire bridge. All traffic came to a halt and I was stuck as well, on the wrong side of the river!
The driver of the truck got out to survey the damage and try to resolve the situation, other people got out of their cars, the police arrived, etc. I was beside myself with anxiety because I knew of no other way to get to the interview, and I knew that my hoped-for career rested on arriving on time and making a good first impression. This was in the early days of cell phones, and I had no way of calling ahead to say there was a problem!
I glanced to my left and I thought I spotted the “smooth rider” old car of one of the white-haired older ladies from my church in DuBois. Her head was bowed and I could have sworn she was praying! 5
Eventually, the trucker dragged the load scraping across the bridge, with sparks flying and chips of concrete marking his progress. I roared past him on the upcoming hill and raced to Indiana, arriving perhaps ten minutes late and profusely apologizing to the assembled room of senior professors.
I surveyed the room and was surprised to see that while waiting for me, one of the inquisitors was actually reading my unpublished master’s thesis "Horace Bushnell and The Gospel, The Lecture Series of 1848.” - something I doubted anyone had done since I had to defend that to the faculty at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary back in 1980!6
The interview commenced and they asked me why it was that someone my age would seek a doctoral degree in Communications. I told them that I was interested in books, that I had written several novels, but that none of them had been best sellers or generated much of any income.
The chairman of the department, Dr. Kurt Dudt, said, “Well… There’s always Posthumous Fame!”
I immediately replied “That’s what I’m Shooting For!” and laughed, and everyone in the room laughed with me. It somehow “broke the ice” of the interview and it went quite well after that. One of the senior faculty members, Dr. Mark Piwinsky, stopped me in the hall as I was leaving and said, “We’ll get back to you with the result of the interview - probably sometime early next week.”
When I got home the Red Light on my answering machine was blinking. There was a recorded message that said something like, “Hello, This is Dr. Piwinsky calling. Just wanted to let you know that you have been accepted into the doctoral program in Communications here at IUP.”
That interview has remained fresh in my memory - and Dr. Dudt’s remark about Posthumous Fame has stayed with me.
So what of this idea - “Posthumous Fame?”
Herman Melville and Moby Dick
There are many examples of writers who have achieved Posthumous Success - but who struggled to put food on the table during their lifetime. I was talking to a shop owner yesterday in State College, PA about Herman Melville who is one such example:
Melville's financial success as a writer during his lifetime was not great, relative to his posthumous success; over his entire lifetime Melville's writings earned him just over $10,000 Melville's travelogues based on voyages to the South Seas and stories based on his time in the merchant marine and navy led to some initial success, but his popularity declined dramatically afterwards. By 1876, all of his books were out of print. He was viewed as a minor figure in American literature in the later years of his life and during the years immediately after his death.[18 (emphasis mine.)
Here is what a First Edition of that book sells for now:
As you can see, just one copy of Moby Dick, which Melville struggled to sell during his lifetime, now sells for roughly 8 times his entire lifetime of earnings from writing.
Similarly, here is what One Copy (of an illustrated edition with art by Rockwell Kent) of Melville’s novel Moby Dick, or The Whale sells for now…
Not to labor the point, but one copy of an edition of Moby Dick that was sold roughly 50 years after Meliville’s death, now sells for a quarter of his lifetime earnings.
An image from inside the book of Captain Ahab, stalking the whale.
My copy of the same book7 - One thing to note. You do not see the author’s name on the cover.
No author’s name on the spine - but the illustrator, Rockwell Kent is mentioned:
The back cover also makes no mention of the author - and the title page features the name of the illustrator in large type (he’s more famous) and the author’s name in small type (he’s not well known or respected.) The smallest lettering on the title page is for the author’s name, even the publisher gets more billing!
If you note the date, this edition was published in 1930 - nearly 40 years after the author’s death.
What the publisher is selling is not “yet another novel by Herman Melville” but a new book with an intriguing idea - and in this case, with some really great illustrations by famed artist, Rockwell Kent.
Yet, here is where Moby Dick, or The Whale fits in the history of literature now:
After the disappointment of Moby Dick's reception, Melville faced a battle against obscurity and financial ruin for the remainder of his life. He spent the last 20 years of his life earning a living working on the docks at New York City as a customs inspector.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings
One more example of “posthumous fame” is that of author J.R.R Tolkien:
Tolkien's financial situation improved considerably later in his life, and he was able to secure a comfortable income from his writing. However, it was not until after his death in 1973 that his estate began to generate significant revenue, especially with the adaptation of his works into films, which brought in billions of dollars and made Tolkien one of the most financially successful authors in history.
To feed his family when he was a professor, Tolkien had to take on extra grading work to pay the bills - which was what he was doing when he got the idea for his first book The Hobbit.8
He did not have enough money to buy paper and wrote most of his first book on the blank back pages of exams his more wealthy students turned in (!)
Also, due to a screwup by his English publisher, his copyright for Lord of the Rings was disputed in America and most of the money for the sale of that book went to the creators of a “pirated edition” of his work:
“My Legacy”
As noted above, in response to Dr. Dudt’s statement Well, there’s always Posthumous Fame! I said, “That’s what I’m shooting for.”
I was joking.
But I have often thought about that statement from Dr. Dudt and my response since then, because it touches on the topic of “the quest for fame” in the present and future, now and after death. Is the point of writing to achieve wealth and fame? Is it to leave behind “a legacy?”
I think that, personally, I have narrowed my goals to something more modest. I think that now I write “to have meaningful conversations with readers.” I think my long-term goal is not to leave behind numerous boxes of unread (unsold? unshared??) manuscripts in the attic, but to share stories and ideas with others - some friends and family, and perhaps some people I don’t know or don’t yet know.
As Woody Allen said, “I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.”
This Month in the Green Barn Workshop
Work continues on my model railway project in the basement. I am still at the “benchwork” phase of the new layout which will be on a Swedish theme with places I’ve visited in my travels including Uppsala Central Station, the town of Mora and Lake Siljan in Dallarna, and the line to the far north which eventually reaches the fjords of Norway. Here are some photos - though admittedly they don’t look like much!
That would have been rather appropriate for someone whose literary career highlight was a book about Punxsy Phil…
Not an American Indian, as in “Native American,” but a person from a family that emigrated to America from India
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29644591
Finding and submitting my old college transcripts would be a topic worthy of a posting itself, my original school was IUP in 1975, where I spent just one summer before heading west to Melodyland School of Theology - a now-defunct enterprise from the late 1970s!
Barb Phleger - who traveled for work in those days and just happened to be in the same place and time. A couple of days later I saw her at church and she confirmed she was there at the Punxsy Phil Family Diner, and said something like “Oh Honey, I could see you were in Trouble and started praying for you!” (!!!)
It was titled, “Horace Bushnell and The Gospel, The Lecture Series of 1848.” Don’t bother “googling” it, I doubt it is available even from my old school library… ha ha.
My copy is a Rockwell Kent first edition, but due to condition is only worth about $350
The next summer (1928) Tolkien was, as always, earning extra money by grading undergraduate English examinations, an extremely boring task. Since he was not paid by the hour, a student who had not filled their bluebook provided a gift! He unexpectedly found the last page of a booklet to be blank, turned it over (he preferred writing on unruled paper) and without much conscious thought wrote “By the edge of his hole stood the Hobbit.” [3]
One additional note, I have read an account which I think is in The Letters of C.S. Lewis, that Tolkein got the idea because while he was thinking what to write he noticed a knothole in the floor of the dingy room he was working in…
You are truly creative. An artist.. Not just analyzing verbally but visually. Your learning process involves the process of creation in many forms. Enjoy your writing. You make me see it. Which I enjoy. Keep creating.