Donald Windham

Bruce Kellner worked directly from the collection of often-overlooked novelist Donald Windham to produce this reference work. Entries on books, pamphlets, articles and criticism provided a comprehensive record of Windham's literary development, critical reception, failures, and achievements. According to Kellner, the public has yet to fully embrace the quiet eloquence of Windham's work; like authors Herman Melville and Gertrude Stein, he may be vindicated by time.

Kellner introduces the bio-bibliography with a discussion of Donald Windham's background, writing style, and reception by publishers and readers. He likens Windham's subtle style to E.M. Forster, and he suggests that America's action-oriented culture lacks patience for Windham's offerings, which are homosexual but not erotic, Southern but not gothic. The book, which includes an addendum to the introduction by Windham himself, is divided into five parts: Books and Pamphlets, Books and Pamphlets with Contributions, Contributions to Periodicals, Ephemera, and Criticism and Biography. This book is valuable to students, scholars, and general audiences of literature.

BRUCE KELLNER is Professor of English at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, where he teaches Shakespeare and Afro-American literature. He has published eight books, including Carl Van Vechten and the Irreverent Decades, The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era (Greenwood Press, 1984), A Gertrude Stein Companion: Content with the Example (Greenwood, 1988), and The Last Dandy, Ralph Barton: American Artist, 1891-1931.