Mackinlay Kantor and Andersonville

MACKINLAY KANTOR AND ANDERSONVILLE

Benjamin McKinlay Kantor was a self-described storyteller. He used the stories that his relatives told about the Civil War and pioneer families and became one of the most prolific historical fiction writers of our time.

Kantor was born in his grandparents' home in Webster City, Iowa, in 1904. Out of not only a love for writing but also out of necessity, his mother, Effie McKinlay Kantor, was the editor of the Webster City Daily News. Before Benjamin was born, his father deserted the family, leaving Effie no other option than to work to support a family.

Early in his life, MacKinlay changed the spelling of his name. He added the "a" because of his Scottish background - he thought that the additional letter made his name more appropriate to his ethnic background. Soon he became simply "Mack" to his friends and schoolmates. Shortly thereafter, he, Effie, and his sister, Virginia, moved in with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Adam MacKinlay.

MacKinlay attended Lincoln High School in Webster City, Iowa, graduating in 1923. In tenth grade, Kantor entered a writing contest under a pseudonym and won with the short story "Purple." Kantor did not attend college, but said that Kendall Young Library was his own personal university from the time he was a small boy. The librarian, Charlotte Crosley, was an extremely important figure in his life - she, as his "college professor" supported him and encouraged him in the pursuit of knowledge.

Kantor became a newspaper reporter in Cedar Falls in 1923, after graduating high school. He also wrote columns for the Des Moines Tribune (1930-31). In 1928, Kantor's first novel hit the shelves, Diversey, which dealt with Chicago gangsters. It was an entirely uncharacteristic book for him, he may have been looking for a story that would sell. However, he made his mark as an author, and his first published civil war novel, Long Remember, was widely accepted in most literary circles.

His early interest in the Civil War was perhaps the springboard for his entire career. He spent much of his time in the library in the history section, and outside of the library he would spend hours listening to stories that people told.

He served in the US Army Air Corps in World War II, as a gunner. In 1946, after the war, he produced yet another Civil War story, Glory for Me, this time writing with the flavor that only a man who's been in war can produce. Interestingly, it was the basis for the 1946 movie, "The Best Years of Our Lives," a story of soldiers readjusting to life at home after the war. The film won seven Oscars, including best picture.

His next popular book, in 1955, was Andersonville. This is by far his most well-known work, and rightly so - he won a Pulitzer Prize for this novel. He often called it "the big A," not only because of its length, but because it brought Kantor about $1 million. He wrote many other historical fiction works, and in 1975, his final book, Valley Forge, was published.

Kantor died in Sarasota, Florida, in 1977 due to heart problems. According to his wishes, he was cremated and his ashes were buried at Webster City's Graceland Cemetery.

Although Kantor has long since passed on, his works still live. Andersonville, his most famous work, is the fictional story of a very real prison camp for Northern soldiers during the Civil War. The tales of the people in the story truly draw the reader in, and make a person, on a fundamental level, attached to the prisoners.

Aside from the obvious heart-wrenching and powerful stories of the inmates at Andersonville, Kantor masterfully weaves in several other tales as well. The novel opens up with Ira Claffey, a local plantation owner, and his own great losses of the war. His two sons were lost in battle, and Claffey and his wife, Veronica, are trying to deal with the pain of having only one child left out of seven. The remaining daughter, Lucy, is coming of age in this turbulent time, and is learning to run the household in the midst of her mother's grief.

The tale of the local "scarlet woman," Mag Tebbs and her family, is one of heartbreaking reality for the time period. The widow Tebbs has four children, Coral, Floral, Laurel, and Zoral. They are all fathered by one of the widow's many customers. The mother struggles to raise her kids in what she believes is a good and upright manner, all the while retreating to her "crib" to entertain the many men who purchase her for a night. Coral is a recent veteran, having been injured in one of the many skirmishes of the Civil War. Laurel is also coming of age - she is only a couple of years younger than Lucy Claffey, but has the additional challenge of being a prostitute's daughter. Floral, a young boy, dreams of running off to join the army and fight the "damn Yankees," but because of his age is restricted. Due to lack of manpower, Flory is allowed to be a guard at Andersonville, just miles from his home. Little Zoral has a morbid fascination for dead animals, and hides them regularly. He also is "not right in the head" according to his mother, and so has trouble speaking and completing coherent thoughts.

Two more major players in this story are the Reverend Cato Dillard, and his wife, Effie. They live in Americus, but often take trips to Anderson, Georgia, to visit with and minister to both the Claffeys and the Tebbs.

Finally, Harrell Elkins, the surgeon at Andersonville prison, is intertwined in the story as well. As a soldier on the front lines, he was a dear friend of Sutherland Claffey, one of Lucy's brothers that had perished during the war. He approaches the Claffey's with a heavy heart and stories on his tongue of "Suthy" and his bravery during battle. The grieving family opens its arms to Harry and gives him a place to stay when he is not working at the prison camp's meager hospital.

Throughout the story, several major themes are prevalent. The first theme is the devastation and despair surrounding the camp and its prisoners.

"Not a man of them had ever envisioned a place like Andersonville in his ugliest imaginings. The immensity of smell, the shrunken limbs, the pot bellies of the dropiscal, the oozing mouths of the scurvy-ridden - blackened masses of faces which pressed close with hungry eyes staring - The bundles of lousy hair bristling out, wads of lousy beards a-stringing..." (p. 199)

The prisoners at Andersonville were often shocked by the conditions of this particular camp. Walking in, waves of astonishment washed over them as they took in the conditions