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Jessamyn West

メアリー・ジェサミン・ウェスト

Jessamyn West

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1902-07-18 （Vernon, Indiana, U.S.）
Died
1984-02-23 （Napa County, California, U.S.） age 81
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Quaker (Religious Society of Friends)
Residence History
California (from early childhood) → Yorba Linda, California (growing up) → Hemet, California (taught in one-room school) → Mt. Shasta, California (1930s) → Napa, California (from 1940; place of death)

Career

Occupations
Writer, Short story writer, Novelist, Essayist
Active Years
1939-1984
Influenced By
Quaker oral traditions and family stories

Education

Fullerton Union High School
Degree: High school diploma
Period: 〜1919
Year of Graduation: 1919
Country: United States
Graduated 1919
Whittier College
Degree: 学士
Period: 1919–1923
Year of Graduation: 1923
Country: United States
Graduated 1923. Helped found the Palmer Society in 1921. Received honorary Litt.D. in 1946.
Oxford University (summer session)
Period: 1929（夏期）
Year of Graduation: 1929
Country: United Kingdom
Summer session study
University of California, Berkeley (graduate study)
Period: 大学院在学（中断）
Country: United States
Graduate work toward a doctorate interrupted by tuberculosis

Awards

Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize
1975
Result: 受賞
Honorary Doctor of Letters (Litt.D.)
1946
Organization: Whittier College
Result: 授与

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Friendly Persuasion

1945 Novel (family / religious fiction)

A series of interconnected stories about the Birdwell Quaker family, exploring faith, conscience, family bonds, and moral conflicts in wartime. West's best-known work, widely praised upon publication.

faithconsciencefamilyanti-war themesmoral conflict
Adaptations
  • [Film] Friendly Persuasion (1956 film) / William Wyler (1956)

Cress Delahanty

1953 Novel (coming-of-age, vignettes)

A collection of vignettes about Crescent 'Cress' Delahanty, an artistic and sensitive teenage girl growing up on a Southern California ranch before WWII.

growing upnostalgiafamilyrural life

Bibliography

  • The Friendly Persuasion (1945)
  • The Witch Diggers (1951)
  • Cress Delahanty (1953)
  • South of the Angels (1960)
  • A Matter of Time (1966)
  • Leafy Rivers (1967)
  • The Chilekings (aka Little Men) (1967)
  • Except for Me and Thee (1969)
  • The Massacre at Fall Creek (1975)
  • The Life I Really Lived (1979)
  • The State of Stony Lonesome (1984)
  • Memoir 'To See the Dream' (1957) and others

Adaptations

  • Friendly Persuasion (1956 film)
  • Friendly Persuasion (1975 TV film)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical, gentle narrative voiceintimate interior characterizationconversational and approachable prose
Recurring Motifs
family bondsconflict of faith and consciencerural life depictionmoral choices

Health

  • Tuberculosis
    1930年代初頭（1932頃にサナトリウム入院）
    Interrupted graduate studies; sanatorium experience inspired the short story "99.6" and influenced later memoir writing such as 'The Woman Said Yes'.

Legacy

Jessamyn West is known for her warm portrayals of a Quaker family, most notably 'The Friendly Persuasion', which was adapted into a widely seen 1956 film. She is respected for sensitive treatments of family, faith, and conscience in American letters.

Archives

  • Whittier College archives (holds related materials)

In Popular Culture

  • 1956 film adaptation 'Friendly Persuasion' and a 1975 television remake

Quotes

  • "I write about Indiana because knowing little about it, I can create it."
    Source: Interview (as cited in Wikipedia)

Trivia

  • Second cousin of Richard Nixon through her mother's family.
  • Worked as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse early in her life.
  • Married to Harry Maxwell McPherson; had one child, Ann McCarthy Cash.