European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 09, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Prize winning novelist William Kennedy s Long Road to Success Albany ten through Iho Arch of Fth Capitol. Ken Nady i Bola dial with lift and Dalh in the City. Kennedy in Albany form and Light do mtg Rne out Tel Tang Tor torn of a Nan. By de Reavis staff writer novelist William Kennedy knows howling the Road to Success is. He travelled it or More than 20 was a journalist with a desk Lull unpublished fiction when writer Saul Bel Low advised him to get out of newspapers and into literature. In 1961. Kennedy followed that advice. Twenty two years and several books later he became a Success his 1983 novel ironweed won the pulitzer prize Lor literature. The Story is often told How the Book got turned Down 13 times before publication and it s Ken Nedy explained during a recent interview in Frankfurt. The Book was sold to Viking before i finished it but the Man who bought it led the company and the new people did t want to spend the Money on publicity. In Addi Tion they wanted to give me a Parl time editor from Georgia and i said i did t want her As Good As she is and they got their backs up about Kennedy withdrew the Book and started looking Lor a new publisher but. He said word was out that he was difficult to work with he found no takers. About this time. Esquire asked me to do a piece on Saul Bellow Rny former teacher. I Sel it up with him in Vermont. He prepared himself for the interview by read ing one of my earlier books. He was greatly impressed he told me. And i was altered and forgot about Bellow wrote to his publisher deploring the tact that Kennedy s books had been allowed to go out of print and that Kennedy had an unpublished manuscript on his desk. Viking rethought ironweed. And in the meantime my old editor had returned and they decided not Only to publish ironweed but also legs and Billy Phelan s greatest game. And then the world turned inside out. Everybody and his brother reviewed and raved about the books. Everyone was giving me prizes. Every time to inter viewed me sales would soar. Sixty minutes did two interviews and just about everybody was going in 1983. Kennedy received the pulitzer and the Mac Arthur foundation prize Worth $264,000 Over five years. That prize allowed him to quit teaching at Albany and Cornell universities. It was. He says like getting hit with a ton of he also won the new York state governor s arts award the same year and the National Book critics award in 1984. In the meantime Kennedy s books have been trans lated into 11 languages. Nothing in Asia yet they seem to be a Little Kennedy s subject is his Home town Albany. N.y., during the roaring 20s and the great depression of the 1930s. Albany at that time was influenced by Irish political Bosses and the mafia corrupt political machines and bootlegging. The period fascinates Kennedy because he says not Only american fortunes but also american myths were made. Kennedy characterizes his books As a Cycle about life and death in Albany. His first Book. The Ink truck which appeared in 1969. Was about his experience during a printers strike tags 1975 was about legs Diamond the Albany gangster. Kennedy is part owner with producer Gene Kirkwood of Diamond s House in Albany in 1978 he published Billy Phelan s greatest game about a Small time Albany Thiel caught Between two sets of opposing moralities. Kennedy also has worked in films. He was one of the script writers for the Cotton club and he says Francis Ford Coppola is making a film of legs script by Ken Nedy. Kennedy said he has seen a renewed interest in serious literature on the part of american publishers in the last five years. There s been a rebirth of the Short Story. I think it began with the Success of John Cheever s collection. Before that you had to be Anton Chekhov to get Short stories published. I have several and will definitely do something in that lorm in the near Kennedy is putting the finishing touches on Quinn s Book which will take him Back to the Early 50s, and his Lime in Frankfurt with the army. Meanwhile he does t mind enjoying his instant Success. When you re poor and nameless that s Tough. This he says is a piece of Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday november 9, 1985
