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Quirky Writers' Colony Nurtured James Jones
Perhaps the strangest creative writers' colony ever to operate in the Lower 48 was more a prison than a haven; its director more a warden than a muse.
And yet from 1943 until 1963, the dysfunctional Handy Writers' Colony operated in rural East Central Illinois and turned out several fine writers, including James Jones, the prize-winning author of From Here to Eternity.
Located in Marshall, IL, only 30 miles from Jones's hometown of Robinson, the Handy Colony was created to help Jones—then a down-and-out 22-year-old AWOL soldier just out of the hospital—learn to write, says George Hendrick, an English professor emeritus in LAS, who recently published a history of the colony.
Historically, writers' colonies have had a "civilized air" about them, Hendrick says, even if only a veneer. Traditionally, a benefactor buys an estate in a rural setting where creative people work with master writers in relative peace and tranquility.
The Handy Colony was run by the manipulative Lowney Handy, a failed writer who was a fan of Eastern religions and the Spartan lifestyle. To break her students psychologically, she banned liquor, sex, and unauthorized food. Her temper tantrums were legendary. She even attacked people, including Jones's wife, with a knife.
Handy also adopted unorthodox teaching practices. For example, she forced her beginning students to spend hours a day copying the works of prominent writers. She forbade cross-fertilization of ideas, and kept the colonists—males, all—apart. However, she took at least one of her students—Jones—as a lover.
The colony was financed by Handy's husband, Harry, and by Jones after the royalties started coming in from Eternity. It is "unlikely" that Jones would have become a great writer without the support and structure of the Handys, Hendrick says.
Thus, despite her bizarre ways, Handy was a great success, says Hendrick. "She was a shrewd editor and she was able to convince people that if they followed her rules, they would become successful writers. She almost willed it."
Fall 2001