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Morley Callaghan

Morley Callaghan.

Morley Callaghan (1903-1990) was a successful Canadian journalist and novelist, most notably during the early 1930s, who is probably best known for his role in the famous sparring match in Paris between himself and Ernest Hemingway, where he was alleged to have knocked Hemingway out.

Callaghan, along with such writers as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce, is regarded as one of the more influentual literary figures of the inter-war period.

As the author of That Summer in Paris, Callaghan plays the biggest role of all within the story since he is present throughout. Starting off as a lowly apprentice reporter for the Toronto Star, he soon becomes acquainted with Ernest Hemingway, who becomes something of a mentor for him.

"My life was taking a new turn in those encounters, for at last I had found a dedicated artist to talk to." (Callaghan, 1963).

This indicates very early on in the book that Callaghan feels isolated in Toronto and is clearly relieved to have met someone he can talk to about literature. As the story progresses and he travels to Paris to meet with his fellow writers, it is clear he feels he will be more positively received there:

"If I was ever to receive any good news about my work, I seemed to know that it had to come from Paris." (Callaghan, 1963).

Since the book is written in a first person narrative from Callaghan's point of view, I found it a little more difficult to pick up on specific aspects of his character, but by using Many Eyes, I created a phrase net of the word, "myself", and found some interesting results:

Although most of the patterns shown are seemingly random, the words linked in the middle of the net seem to share common trends. Callaghan appears to often "find" himself in places, perhaps suggesting a somewhat carefree attitude, and words such as "sitting", "standing", "reading" and "wandering" imply that a lot of his time in the book is spent relaxing.

The repeated occurence of the word "thinking" in relation to "myself" also suggests that he is very reflective, a fact that becomes clear upon reading the book, since Callaghan clearly does spend much of his time ruminating over his relationships with other characters, particularly Hemingway.

 

 

Works Cited:

Image:

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References:

Athabasca University. 2012. Morley Callaghan. http://canadian-writers.athabascau.ca/english/writers/mcallaghan.php. (accessed Nov 27th, 2012).

Callaghan, Morley. 1963. That Summer in Paris: Memories of Tangled Friendships with Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald. http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/bio/callaghan-thatsum.html.