The Modern Novel

Biography

Erskine Caldwell was born in 1902 (though he later claimed 1903) in Newnan, Georgia, the son of a minister and a teacher. In 1906 the family went to Wrens, Georgia, where Caldwell’s father served till his death in 1944 and where Tobacco Road is located. Caldwell attended Erskine College before attending the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania. He did not graduate from any of these institutions. In 1925 he married Helen Lannegan. They had three children. Caldwell was doing odd jobs and writing, getting many rejections.

He first published in little magazines, where his writing caught the attention of Maxwell Perkins who published his stories and went on to publish his early novels. As well as writing novels and stories, Caldwell worked as a Hollywood scriptwriter and journalist, including as a foreign correspondent, covering the Spanish Civil War. In 1938 he divorced his first wife and, the following year, married the photographer, Margaret Bourke-White. He continued his travels, visiting Russia in 1941 when the Germans invaded and, while sympathetic to Russia, claimed he was no Communist. In 1942 he divorced Margaret Bourke-White and married June Johnson whom he later divorced to marry Virginia Moffett Fletcher. He died in 1987.

Caldwell is not much read today, except for Tobacco Road, not least because the social realism he espoused is unfashionable. However, he had considerable success in his day and holds the distinction of being widely censored for his realistic approach to sex and violence.

Books about Erskine Caldwell

Edwin T. Arnold: Erskine Caldwell Reconsidered
James E. Devlin: Erskine Caldwell
Harvey L. Klevar: Erskine Caldwell: A Biography (standard biography)
James Korges: Erskine Caldwell
Stanley W. Lindberg: The Legacy of Erskine Caldwell
Dan B. Miller: Erskine Caldwell: The Journey from Tobacco Road
Wayne Mixon: The People’s Writer: Erskine Caldwell and the South

Other links

Erskine Caldwell
Erskine Caldwell
Erskine Caldwell
Erskine Caldwell (1903-1987)
The Erskine Caldwell Birthplace and Museum
Interview