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The Merry Month of May
A family of intellectuals comes apart at the seams during the 1968 student revolts in Paris
The Parisian student revolts of May 1968 shook the country—and the European continent—to its foundations. In a tradition-obsessed nation where the old-guard bourgeoisie had spent decades oppressing youthful unrest, every flavor of rage suddenly had a voice.   Hill Gallagher is there—a brash young intellectual grown tired of pretending that the world doesn’t make him angry. Despite the protests of his screenwriter father, he becomes involved in the movement, joining in on protests with the fervor of a man who isn’t afraid to destroy his country—or his family. In The Merry Month of May, James Jones draws on his own experiences living in Paris and witnessing the 1968 revolts firsthand to create an unforgettable portrait of a society at war with itself—and torn apart by change. This ebook features an illustrated biography of James Jones including rare photos from the author’s estate.
1100385018
The Merry Month of May
A family of intellectuals comes apart at the seams during the 1968 student revolts in Paris
The Parisian student revolts of May 1968 shook the country—and the European continent—to its foundations. In a tradition-obsessed nation where the old-guard bourgeoisie had spent decades oppressing youthful unrest, every flavor of rage suddenly had a voice.   Hill Gallagher is there—a brash young intellectual grown tired of pretending that the world doesn’t make him angry. Despite the protests of his screenwriter father, he becomes involved in the movement, joining in on protests with the fervor of a man who isn’t afraid to destroy his country—or his family. In The Merry Month of May, James Jones draws on his own experiences living in Paris and witnessing the 1968 revolts firsthand to create an unforgettable portrait of a society at war with itself—and torn apart by change. This ebook features an illustrated biography of James Jones including rare photos from the author’s estate.
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The Merry Month of May

The Merry Month of May

by James Jones
The Merry Month of May
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The Merry Month of May

The Merry Month of May

by James Jones

Overview

A family of intellectuals comes apart at the seams during the 1968 student revolts in Paris
The Parisian student revolts of May 1968 shook the country—and the European continent—to its foundations. In a tradition-obsessed nation where the old-guard bourgeoisie had spent decades oppressing youthful unrest, every flavor of rage suddenly had a voice.   Hill Gallagher is there—a brash young intellectual grown tired of pretending that the world doesn’t make him angry. Despite the protests of his screenwriter father, he becomes involved in the movement, joining in on protests with the fervor of a man who isn’t afraid to destroy his country—or his family. In The Merry Month of May, James Jones draws on his own experiences living in Paris and witnessing the 1968 revolts firsthand to create an unforgettable portrait of a society at war with itself—and torn apart by change. This ebook features an illustrated biography of James Jones including rare photos from the author’s estate.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781453215555
Publisher: Open Road Media
Publication date: 05/10/2011
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 361
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

James Jones (1921–1977) was one of the most accomplished American authors of the World War II generation. He served in the U.S. Army from 1939 to 1944, and was present at the attack on Pearl Harbor as well as the battle for Guadalcanal, where he was decorated with a purple heart and bronze star. Jones’s experiences informed his epic novels From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line. His other works include Some Came Running, The Pistol, Go to the Widow-Maker, The Ice-Cream Headache and Other Stories, The Merry Month of May, A Touch of Danger, Whistle, and To the End of the War—a book of previously unpublished fiction.
James Jones (1921–1977) was one of the most accomplished American authors of the World War II generation. He served in the U.S. Army from 1939 to 1944, and was present at the attack on Pearl Harbor as well as the battle for Guadalcanal, where he was decorated with a purple heart and bronze star. Jones’s experiences informed his epic novels From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line. His other works include Some Came Running, The Pistol, Go to the Widow-Maker, The Ice-Cream Headache and Other Stories, The Merry Month of May, A Touch of Danger, Whistle, and To the End of the War—a book of previously unpublished fiction.

Read an Excerpt

Excerpt from Chapter 1

WELL, IT'S ALL OVER. The Odeon has fallen! And today, which is June 16th, a Sunday, the police on orders of the Government entered and took over the Sorbonne on some unclear and garbled pretext about some man who was wounded by a knife. There was some rioting this afternoon, but the police handled it fairly easily. So that is it. And I sit here at my window on the river in the crepuscular light of that peculiar gray-blue Paris twilight which is so beautiful and like no other light anywhere on earth, and I wonder, What now? The sky is heavy and low tonight and this evening for the first time from the end of the Boulevard St.-Germain and the Pont Sully the tear gas reached us here on the almost sacrosanct Ile St.-Louis. I finger my pen as I look out from my writing desk, and wonder if it is even worth it: the trying to put it down. M. Pompidou said, I remember, that "nothing in France would ever be the same again." Well, he was certainly right in regard to the Harry Gallaghers and their family.

I am a failed poet, a failed novelist; quite probably I can be, and am, considered quite rightly to be a drop-out of a husband; why should I try? Even the desire isn't there any more. --And yet I feel I owe it to them. The Gallaghers. Only God knows what will happen to them now. And probably only I, of all the world, know what happened to them then--in the merry month of May. Most of all, I guess, I owe it to Louisa. Poor, dear, darling, straight-laced, mixed-up Louisa.

I first met the Harry Gallaghers back in fifty-eight, ten years ago. I had just decided to stay on in Paris, and was going about the founding of my Review, The Two Islands Review. Failed poet, failed novelist, recently divorced, but still a man of an unquenchable literary bent, I felt there was the room in Paris for a newer English-language review.

The Paris Review of then, despite its excellent "Art of Fiction" interviews, and the excellence of George's intentions, was fading away from the high standard it had declared itself dedicated to diffuse. I felt I could fill that gap. And, I did not look forward to returning to New York where although we had parted amicably enough, I would surely be forced by circumstances to see too much of my rich ex-wife at literary parties.

I went around to see Harry Gallagher and some others to see if they would consent to become among my backers. I had met Harry, and knew that he had money: an income; one a great deal larger than my own. I also knew that Harry--though professionally a screenwriter--had always stood up for the arts. I thought he might be willing to put a little money into a new review with the intellectual and artistic standards I intended to give mine.

What People are Saying About This

NORMAN MAILER

The only one of my contemporaries who I felt had more talent than myself was James Jones. And he has also been the one writer of any time for whom I felt any love.

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Fiction
Literature
Literary Fiction
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Literary Fiction

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