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(Janet) Taylor Caldwell (1900-1985) - wrote under the preudonyms Marcus Holland and Max Reiner - original name J. Miriam Reback | |
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Anglo-American novelist, a prolific author of popular fiction, who used often in her works real historical events or persons. Taylor Caldwell's best-known works include DYNASTY OF DEATH (1938), an epic story about intrigues and alliances of two Pennsylvania families involved in the manufacture of armaments. Her last major novel, ANSWER AS A MAN (1980), told a story of a man who begins his rise to prestige and power in the midst of the Depression. "You hard man," said Mr. Maggiotti. Taylor Caldwell was born in Manchester, England, into a family of Scottish background. Her family descended from the Clan of MacGregor of which the Taylors are a subsidiary clan. In 1907 she was brought to the Unites States with her brother. At the age of eight she started to write stories. In 1919 she married William F. Combs. They divorced in 1931 and Caldwell married Marcus Reback, an officer in the department of Justice, Buffalo; he died in 1970. Between the years 1918 and 1919 Caldwell served in the United States Naval Reserve. From 1923 to 1924 she was A Court Reporter in New York State department of Labor in Buffalo, and from 1924 to 1931 A member of the Board of Special Inquiry at the Department of Justice in Buffalo. In 1931 she graduated from the University of Buffalo. With her second husband, Marcus Reback, she co-wrote several bestsellers, the first of which was Dynasty of Death. The story begins from the year 1837 and focuses on the entangled relationships of two families, who control a huge munitions trust. Joseph Barbour is a servant, who becomes a successful businessman and arms manufacturer. His son Martin is not interested in money, he is an idealist and altruist. Ernest, the elder son, is an egoist and believes that money is the greatest power in the world. Ernest loves Amy Drumhill, the niece of Gregory Sessions, owner of a steel factory. However, she marries Martin, who establishes a hospital, and dies in the civil war. Ernest's hardness ruins Joseph, and he is cursed by his mother. Dynasty of Death attracted wide attention when it was revealed, that behind the male pseudonym was a woman. The story was continued in THE EAGLES GATHER (1949) and THE FINAL HOUR (1944). As a writer Caldwell was praised of her intricately plotted and suspenseful stories, which depicted family tensions and the development of the US from agrarian society into leading industrial state of the world. Caldwell's heroes are self-made men of pronounced ethic background, such as the German immigrants in THE STRONG CITY (1942) and THE BALANCE WHEEL (1951). Her themes are ethnic, religious and personal intolerance (THE WIDE HOUSE, 1945), the failure of parental discipline (LET LOVE COME LAST, 1949) and the conflict between the desire for power and money and the human values of love and sense of family, presented in such works as MELISSA (1948), A PROLOGUE TO LOVE (1962) and BRIGHT FLOWS THE RIVER (1978). In her later works Caldwell explored the American Dream and wrote stories 'from rag to riches' course of life, among them ANSWER AS A MAN (1981). Caldwell's historical novels include THE ARM AND DARKNESS, a fictionalized account of Cardinal Richelieu, A PILLAR OF IRON (1965), fictional biography of Cicero, the Roman senator and and orator, THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S (1941), a fictional biography of Ghengis Khan. Reliogious themes were prominent in several works. Answer as a Man begins with the clamour of the bells of a little church and end with renewed faith. "Jason raised his eyes and smiled. God is good. He moves mysteriously, as the priests say, but he has his ways, he has his ways! He is not the adversory of man. Man is, Jason thought. God is not to be understood by man. He is just to be trusted." (from Answer as a Man). In the story Jason Garrity pins his hopes on the building of a luxury hotel, but Caldwell deals also with politics and history ("Hell! though Jason. What can I, as a single individual, do to prevent calamity? Nothing. Taft is the safest man. He is not an imperialist, like Roosevelt. Nor a social fanatic like Wilson. I'll vote for Taft."). DEAR AND GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN (1959) was about St. Luke, and DIALOGUES WITH THE DEVIL (1967) was a study of good and evil. Caldwell depicts in it a correspondence between Lucifer and Michael, mixing in the dialogue old tales, a lost continent, and theological speculations. --'"Childish raptures! said Lucifer, with scorn, his eyes flashing like lightning. "Are we indeed whimpering and craven children, or slaves? Can we be content with toys and little deliciousnesses? Are we not mind, as well as emotion? And is not the mind, of both angel and man, the noblest of possessions, and worth exercising. It is in our minds that we approach the closest of Him, Who is all Mind. Mind is the creator of all philosophy, all order, all beauty, all satisfaction, but emotion is the lowliest of the virtues, if it is a virtue at all. Mind has in it the capacity to know all things, or, at least, the minds of angels."' (from Dialogoues with the Devil) Caldwell's books sold over thirty million copies. She received several awards, among them the National League of American Pen Woman gold medal (1948), Buffalo Evening News Award (1949), and Grand Prix Chatvain (1950). Caldwell was married four times. She was an outspoken conservative and for a time associated with the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby. During the 1960s and 1970s she wrote for American Opinion, which attracted aging conservatives and former McCarthyites and occasionally stirred up conspiracy theories. Her memoir, ON GROWING UP TOUGH, appeared in 1971. Jess Stearn, a journalist and paranormal writer, published in 1974 a book on Caldwell's past lives, entitled In Search of Taylor Caldwell. With Stearn she also collaborated in THE ROMANCE OF ATLANTIS (1975), based on a novel she first wrote when aged 12, and I, JUDAS (1977). Caldwell's first science fiction novel was THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE (1952), set in the 1970s. THE LISTENER (1960) and its sequel NO ONE HEARS BUT HIM (1966) were Christian fantasies about a sanctuary, where people tell about their problems to the Man Who Listens. In 1972 Caldwell married William E. Stancell, a retired real estate developer; they divorced next year. Her fourth husband was William Robert Prestie, whom she married in 1978. Caldwell continued writing until May 1980, when a stroke left her deaf and unable to speak. At the age of 80, she finished her 35th novel, and signed a two-book contract for $3,9 million. Caldwell died of pulmonary failure in Greenwich, Connecticut on August 30, 1985.
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