A WRITER'S DIARY PRIZEWINNING NOVEL BASED LARGELY ON AUTHOR'S OWN LIFE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP74-00297R000201830010-0
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 23, 2016
Document Release Date: 
October 23, 2013
Sequence Number: 
10
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
January 24, 1965
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
File: 
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PDF icon CIA-RDP74-00297R000201830010-0.pdf84.79 KB
Body: 
QT AT Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/10/25: CIA-RDP74-00297R000201830010-0 cs) ,PHILADELPHIA, PA. i BULLETIN , IE. 718,167 ' 8. 702,577 '/ 'JAN 24 1965 Writer's gary 7 Prizewinning Novel . Based Largely on 1 Author's Own Life ' By JOHN BARKHAIVI This,I reflected, would be one interview in which I would be able to tell the au- t ? thor something about himself he didn't know. ? It was a meeting both of ? us had anticipated ? I be- cause I had , been one of the, judges of the Harper Prize I. Novel Contest who had se.' ? lected his book, "P.S. Wilkin- son," as winner, and the au- , thor, C. D. B. Bryan, because' he would\ be hearing, ; from one of the judges, I why his book had been- ? chos- en. C.D.B. (for. Co u rtiandt Dixon Barnes) Barkharn Bryan looks every inch .the stylish writer he is ? a tall, ? slender, spectacled, good-looking man with deli- cate features and blondish hair brushed neatly back from his forehead, ,- ", I explained to him that the Judges in the contest had not, known the titles or authors,1 of the manuscripts they con, si ere , _and that I read his my judge's report I had liken- book last but had unhesitata you . look neat, ..you'll write,,7 ingly plated it first ? ??? ?'.tti O'Hara, only to learn later, tO ? ed his dialog to that of John ? neatly 4 14 "' -,;41.;tj 1 Tested for CIA, '? , Bryan laughed. "Yes, he's . . The story had impressed me . been my stepfather for the? as being ? largelY autobio- ,, graphical. Was this, in fact, past ten years and takes a k ", great interest in my writing. 'I'i the case? , . 'He won't help me with it and . He nodded. "Yes, it' was., 'he doesn't want to read any n, It opens in Korea. I spent two of it until it's published, but,?4 years, there after leaving Yale. he did introduce me to his It ? moves to Washington, editor at the New Yorkerrd where Wilkinson takes a lie .they bought three of 4fiy, t. detector test for the CIA. I stories. , 4 took such a test:" . "It was the New Yorker :r , He must have observed my editor, in fact, who urged Me I look of puzzlement. "Yes, I . ? . i. know how it sounds, but to try a novel." when I got out of uniform I , ant didn't know what I wanted ,Cool and Elegant -"4 'to do. I knew I wanted to be a ? Bryan's conversation is as writer, but I'd had no writing cool and elegant as his dress,, experience.. I was 25 then, 4 and manner. .His writing. and I felt I ought to do'some. .'methods are of a piece. He -1 thing worthwhile ? some- 1 lives in Tuxedo Park, N. thing of the kind President Ir.,' T with his wife and two young ..:, Kennedy inspired . among children and, once a week . young .people at the time, comes into New York City to t; "So I went to the' CIAin, work at "Monocle," a satiric 4' ? ? work for you, but I've had : 'l Washington and told them in ' magazine. ? ' ' effect: 'I don't rally Want to a At home he' writes in study recently done over on. i 'this training in Korea-and, if the proceeds of his jackpot. 1 available.' Their psychiatrists was 30,000.) ; kept asking me why I was, . offering the CIA my services . I never write witliont al . .tie on ? if you know what 1 mean," he remarked with a grin. "It's a. psychological ' gimmick, of course, as though: '1 . were saying to myself 'If0 .; iny surprise, that O'Hara wa, in fact his .stepfather. it's any use to you, i'rnf The novel's first printing when I didn't really want to work for' them, and ; finally flunked me out." , , ? ? Here I interpolated that in , ? , Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @50-Yr 2013/10/25: CIA-RDP74-00297R000201830010-0..