Lost in the Stacks: So Big

For quite a while now, Edna Ferber has interested me.  She was one of the members of the Algonquin Round Table, which met at the New York City Hotel in the 1920s.  It sounds like the members were witty and acerbic and I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to listen to their banter.  Ferber began her career as a reporter before turning to writing full time.  She wrote more than thirty novels and was hugely popular in her day even garnering a Pulitzer in 1924 for So Big, the book I brought home with me today.   And if having your books optioned for a film is the way to show "you've arrived", well Ferber not only arrived but moved on in and made herself comfortable.  Half a dozen were either made into movies or musicals for the stage--some winning awards.  Not too shabby for the single lady Ferber remained throughout her life. 

I wouldn't mind knowing more about Ferber as I imagine she had an interesting life being part of a literary circle in the first half of the twentieth century, already a fascinating era but all the more so considering her popularity as a writer.  My library has a whole shelf of her books, and not being sure which to choose I opted for So Big, which I already own as I've been looking forward to reading it.  So Big concerns a woman of indomitable spirit living in turn-of-the-century Chicago and follows her through youth, marriage and widowhood.  The story begins:

"Until he was almost ten the name stuck to him.  He had literally to fight his way free from it.  From So Big (of fond and infantile derivation) it has been condensed into Sobig.  And Sobig DeJong, in all its consonantal disharmony, he had remained until he was a ten-year-old schoolboy in that incredibly Dutch district southwest of Chicago known first as New Holland and later as High Prairie. At ten, by dint of fists, teeth, copper-toed boots, and temper, he earned the right to be called by his real name, Dirk DeJong.  Now and then, of course, the nickname bobbed up and had to be subdued in a brief and bitter skirmish.  His mother, with whom the name originated, was the worst offender.  When she lapsed he did not, naturally, use schoolyard tactics on her.  But he sulked and glowered portentously and refused to answer, though her tone, when she called him So Big, would have melted the heart of any but that natural savage, a boy of ten."

A number of Ferber's books are in print, and some are available free online.  I suspect she's not at all an unknown author, though I wonder if she is still read very widely these days?  I'm certainly planning on exploring some of her books.

Comments

[Alison]

You just reminded me that I have one of her books on my bookshelf that I've yet to read, Show Boat. I've seen the musical before, so it will be interesting to see how it compares to the book. I'm going to push it to the front of my reading list now! So Big sounds like a great read, too. I look forward to hearing your thoughts after you've read it!

[AJ]

I read several of Ferber's books in high school many many years ago -- primarily because she wrote the novel Giant and I loved the movie. As i recall, my favorite of hers was Giant but I also enjoyed So Big. If memory serves many of her books were made into films, including So Big, Saratoga Trunk, and Cimarron.I think she also wrote the novel that became the Broadway show and movie Showboat.

She's a bit old-fashioned I suppose for modern tastes but since I don't have really modern tastes, I wouldn't mind a quick reread.

[Karen K.]

I keep suggesting Edna Ferber for my classics book group and nobody sounds very interested. It's a shame because Giant is set here in Texas so I would have thought more people would be interested. Maybe she's just fallen out of favor and is due for a revival.

[Tiina]

And two years after So Big was first published it was translated into Finnish! We have a copy of the 1926 Finnish edition in our library's stacks collection. I'll have to go and take a look next week. :)

[Penny]

For some odd, unknown reason, I have never read So Big, or any of Ferber for that matter. I must rectify that. I have seen the movie So Big quite a few times and have enjoyed it. I actually picked this up and put it down for something else recently in the library. Shame on me.

[Danielle]

Alison--I know that several of her books were made into movies or turned into musicals, but not only have I not read any, I've also not seen any! I've owned a copy of So Big for several years now and keep thinking that I need to squeeze it into my reading pile!
AJ--I actually like 'old-fashioned' books, too. They have a different sort of quality to them and I like a really good story--which is often what you get from earlier books like this. Not all her books appeal to me, but I am interested in those you've listed. I'll start with So Big, first.
Karen--That's too bad no one seems interested. Too many new shiny stories about I suspect. I'd love to read some of her books and then watch the movies--and in several cases the movies are classics, too. Maybe she does indeed need a revival. She is still published by Harper--a big publisher.
Tiina--I'm always amazed at how many of the books I mention here have not only been translated into Finnish but are also at your library. Very cool. It just goes to show that these books must have been some of the best--not just all popular fiction--for them to have been translated. We should read in tandem sometime!
Penny--She's someone I always mean to read, too, so I am in the same boat. I've never seen any of the movies that were made of her books. With so many books out there demanding our attention it is hard to decide--sometime always gets set aside in favor of something else. Still, it's nice to keep Ferber in mind.

[Caroline]

I found one of her books among my grandmother's books. "Giant" I think it was the basis for the movie with James Dean.
She sounds interesting, yes. The translation is from the 5os, I'm not sure that tempts me. Occasionally when I look into those books and compare it with an original, it seems they translated in a very different way from nowadays.

[litlove]

I'm most intrigued by Edna Ferber and the Algonquin group altogether.Hmm, must get me a good biography to read. I am going to go and see which of her books are still available in the UK. You do discover some gems, Danielle!

[Danielle]

Caroline--I wonder what the translation must have been like in the 50s--maybe the language is stilted? I know writing styles have changed so much. I'd love to read the book--have never seen the movie, but The Giant is a classic--more for the list of books to read and movies to watch.
Litlove--She sounds like she was an intriguing woman and I love reading about that era. I wonder how she got along with Dorothy Parker! I'll have to see what has been written about her--surely there must be something, but there is always my copy of So Big to fall back on!

[AJ]

Apparently Ferber got along fine with Parker -- but Ferber and Alexander Woolcott really disliked one another. Ferber was played by one of my favorite actresses -- Lili Taylor -- in "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle."

[Danielle]

AJ--I've not read much by Dorothy Parker, but I love her wit, and think she must have had a tart tongue--so to speak. I've not heard of Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle--I think I'll have to add it to my Netflix queue--thanks! I'd like to read something about the Algonquin set--I'm sure there must be loads of books out there about them.

[Kathleen]

The name of this author is vaguely familiar but I've not read any of her work. I'm intrigued that she met with such success and yet (I believe) is not well known today.

[Liz F]

I hadn't heard of Edna Ferber before reading your post, but I really like the passage you quote and I have seen a couple of the films made from what I now know to be her books, so I will have a look for her in our library.
In recent months I find that I have more luck in finding older books published in the 60's and before, than in new ones. I can only imagine that the cost cutting going on means that they are less likely to take a chance on a book and rely more on those that get a huge amount of promotion or are chosen by various TV book groups.

[Katrina]

I've only read Show Boat, I was amazed that she had written it but it's definitely worth reading even if you've seen the film. The only other book of hers which I own is Ice Palace, hoping to get around to that one soon!

[Stefanie]

I've not read any Ferber but this one sounds like fun. I had no idea that all those musicals and movies people have mentioned in their comments were based on books she wrote!

[Danielle]

Kathleen--There have been so many really popular writers who were writing really good books that seem to have simply faded away. Very sad really, but I suppose the same will happen to loads of contemporary authors, too.
Liz--I think lots of people are probably familiar with some of her movies or the musicals that were made from the book. It's funny that you mention your library only getting the more popular or talked about books--in a way that's what has happened at my library--we have loads of books from the first half of the 1900s that were hugely popular, but now we don't get in a whole lot of fiction--mostly just more literary fiction sorts of books. I do wish we got in more fiction. Even the public library doesn't get in all the books I am looking for.
Katrina--I almost brought home Ice Palace as it caught my eye, too. But as I want to read (and own) So Big, I thought I'd start there. I am also curious about the more popular books she wrote--I think she was actually fairly prolific.
Stefanie--I guess even then filmmakers and playwrights (or whatever you call someone who writes musicals) were using popular fiction as their inspiration. I wonder what she thought of all those adaptations?

[AJ]

I think maybe the funniest thing Parker wrote was in her New Yorker column called The Constant Reader. She reviewed A. A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner in The New Yorker [October 1928] writing: ". . . And it is that word 'hummy,' my darlings, that marks the first place in The House at Pooh Corner at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up."

[AJ]

Forgot to add -- The Viking Portable Dorothy Parker has a nice selection of her work. And if you ever get to NYC, you really should stop in to the Algonquin. It's a bit of a Mecca and the staff is used to the literary pilgrim stopping in.

If you are interested in the Round Table, Woolcott's work is worth a peek -- and can be found in used bookstores or online in old Modern Library (or maybe it is Everyman?) editions.

[Danielle]

AJ--I have the Portable Dorothy Parker--I wonder if that piece is in it? I'd love to visit the Algonquin--as a matter of fact NYC is on my list of places to visit--I've only been through the airport there. It's cool the hotel is still there. Thanks for the heads up on the Woolcott book, too!