Recalling ‘Gone with the Wind’
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- June
- 30
Today is a special day for “Gone with the Wind.” Margaret Mitchell first published that wonderful epic on this date, June 30, in 1936.
I learned this tidbit of history-on-this-day when I stopped into the Mahopac Public Library this afternoon to return Jodi Picoult’s “Change of Heart.”
“Gone with the Wind” was an immediate sensation in Atlanta, where Mitchell was living. By 1937, it was widely read across the United States and the world, says a neat Web site dedicated to the book.
According to the site, Mitchell had been a newspaper reporter for The Atlanta Journal. But horseback riding injuries required her to quit her job and take to her bed. Her husband brought her books, and plenty of them, to read. She did so at q quick pace. Then her dear husband brought her a Remington typewriter and passed along the sage advice—write what you know.
Out came Rhett Butler, Scarlet O’Hara and Tara.
She won a Pulitizer Prize in 1937 and “Gone with the Wind” remains one of the bestselling novels of all time, say industry sources.
In 1939, it was released as a movie starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh and Leslie Howard. It garnered eight Academy Awards.
Today is a good day to pull it out again and give Mitchell’s tome another try. I have found that re-reading books at different stages is really interesting and can be a different reading experience. With a fresh perspective, new parts of the book and its characters come alive in new ways.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 2:29 pm by Barbara Nackman.
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Frankly my dear, I dont give a damn..