Ronald Verlin Cassill, known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

R. V. Cassill, (May 17, 1919 – March 25, 2002) was a writer, reviewer, editor, painter and lithographer. He is most notable for his novels and short stories, for which he won several awards and grants.

Life and work

Early years and military service

Cassill was born on May 17, 1919, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Howard Cassill, a school superintendent, and Mary Glosser, a teacher. He had two brothers, Donald Cassill and H. Carroll Cassill, and a sister, La Jean. After graduating from Blakesburg High School, he earned a B.A. in art at The

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

in 1939, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. From 1942 to 1946, Cassill served the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

in the Medical Administration Corps as a first lieutenant, stationed in the South Pacific.

Studies, early writings, and art work

Cassill's wartime experiences culminated in his short story "The Conditions of Justice," published in 1947, and won him his first article in the Atlantic Monthly.Onofrio, Jan. "Iowa Biographical Dictionary", Second Edition. Vol. 1. St. Claire Shores: Somerset, 2000, p. 145-146. Cassill studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1946. He mounted exhibits in Chicago in 1946 and 1948. After studying in Chicago, he returned to the University of Iowa, earning his M.A. in 1947. In 1949, he briefly served as an instructor at the Iowa Writer's Workshop before attending the Sorbonne in 1952 for a year as a Fulbright Fellow, studying comparative literature. Cassill worked as an editor for the Western Review of Iowa City from 1951 to 1952, Collier's Encyclopedia from 1953 to 1954, and Dude and Gent in 1958. Cassill wrote about 15 " paperback originals" in the 1950s and early 1960s. Assessing these early writings, ''The New York Times'' remarked that "Cassill shows that he can combine paperback storytelling at its strongest with subtle literary quality."

Teaching career

Cassill took up a lecturing position at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in Seattle in 1955; in 1957, he taught in New York, where he became a lecturer at both

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...

. Between the shift of moving from the west coast to the east coast, Cassill met and married writer Karilyn Kay Adams on November 23, 1956. (A
earlier marriage
to artist Kathleen Rosecranz ended in divorce.) Together they had three children, Orin, Jesse, and Erica Cassill. Cassill returned to the University of Iowa in the same capacity in 1960 where he would teach for a few years at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. Notable students who took classes with Cassill at the Iowa Writer's Workshop during this time include Clark Blaise, Raymond Carver, and Joy Williams. His next position was as writer-in-residence at Purdue University from 1965 to 1966. Cassill was appointed Associate Professor at Brown University in 1966 and then to Professor of English in 1972 where he remained until his retired from teaching as Professor

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

in 1983. Cassill founded the Associated Writing Programs (now known as the Association of Writers & Writing Programs) in 1967. In addition to his teaching, Cassill served as U.S. Information Service lecturer in Europe from 1975 to 1976. During this time, he mounted another art exhibit in 1970. After retiring from Brown University, Cassill became the editor of ''The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction'', retaining this position for nearly a quarter century, until his death. In 1973, Cassill created
controversy
when his essay, “Up the Down Co-ed,” was published in '' Esquire'' magazine with the subtitle "Notes on the Eternal Problem of Fornication With Students." In it, he boasted about having slept with numerous young college women and lamented that the newly liberated women of the 1970s preferred men their own age. "When I met him in Providence," said Robert Day, "Verlin was having a bad day. Esquire had just published his piece “Up the Down Co-ed”, and the student newspaper at Brown had run the headline: ''Verlin Cassill: Another D.H. Lawrence or just a Dirty Old Man''?"

Death

Cassill died at Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, on March 25, 2002. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife, two sons (Orin E., of

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, and Jesse B., of

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), and a daughter, Erica Cassill Wood of

Saline, Michigan Saline ( ') is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,948 at the 2020 census. The city borders Saline Township to the southwest, and the two are administered autonomously. History Before the 18th cent ...

; a brother, H. Carroll, of

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

; a sister, La Jean Holstein of Ellsworth, Maine; and seven grandchildren.

Awards

Cassill received The Atlantic's monthly "Firsts" prize for a short story in 1947. He won the O. Henry award for "The Prize" in 1956. He was given a Rockefeller grant in 1954 and a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1968. In 1995, the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

awarded Cassill the Academy Award for Literature.

Themes and legacy

Cassill's career in writing and publishing included many of his interests and encompassed a wide scope. His stories and novels concern bucolic life in the Midwestern United States, as well as the life of the artist or academic, and at times extend into autobiography. A preoccupation with the fates of couples in alienation and union is exhibited in much of his fiction, as is the warring of emotional and rational impulses in individuals and pairs. Cassill's papers are archived at the Mugar Memorial Library at Boston University.

Selected bibliography

Novels

*''The Eagle on the Coin'' (1950) *''Dormitory Women'' (1953) *''The Left Bank of Desire'' (1955) (with Eric Protter) *''A Taste of Sin'' (1955) *''The Hungering Shame'' (1956) *''The Wound of Love'' (1956) *''An Affair to Remember'' (1957) (as Owen Aherne) *''Naked Morning'' (1957) *''Man on Fire'' (1957) (as Owen Aherne) *''The Buccaneer'' (1958) *''Lustful Summer'' (1958) *''The Tempest'' (1959) *''The Wife Next Door'' (1960) *''Clem Anderson'' (1961) *''My Sister's Keeper'' (1961) *''Night School'' (1961) *''Nurses' Quarters'' (1962) *''Pretty Leslie'' (1963) *''The President'' (1964) *''La Vie Passionée of Rodney Buckthorne: A Tale of the Great American's Last Rally and Curious Death'' (1968) *''Doctor Cobb's Game'' (1969) *''The Goss Women'' (1974) *''Hoyt's Child'' (1976) *''Labors of Love'' (1980) *''Flame'' (1980) *''After Goliath'' (1985) *''The Unknown Soldier'' (1991) *''Jack Horner in Love and War'' (2015)

Short story collections

*''Fifteen by Three'' (1957) (with Herbert Gold and James B. Hall) *''The Father and Other Stories'' (1965) *''The Happy Marriage and Other Stories'' (1965) *''Three Stories'' (1982) *''Patrimonies'' (1988) *''Collected Stories'' (1989) * ''Late Stories'' (1995)

Other

*''The General Said "Nuts": Exciting Moments of Our History—As Recalled by Our Favorite American Slogans'', New York: Birk (1955) *''Writing Fiction'' (1975) *''In an Iron Time: Statements and Reiterations: Essays'' (1967) *''Intro 1-3'' (1968–1970) (editor) *''Intro 4'' (1972) (editor, with Walton Beacham) *''Norton Anthology of Short Fiction'' (1978–2001) (editor) *''Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction'' (1998) (editor with

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

)

References

External links