William Keepers Maxwell Jr. (August 16, 1908 – July 31, 2000) was an American editor, novelist, short story writer, essayist, children's author, and memoirist. He served as a fiction editor at The New Yorker from 1936 to 1975. An editor devoted to his writers, Maxwell became a legendary mentor and confidant to many of the most prominent authors of his day. Although best known as an editor, Maxwell was a highly respected and award-winning novelist and short story writer. His stature as a celebrated author has grown in the years following his death.
"The Pilgrimage" almost certainly is a story based on something experienced or something heard by Maxwell. It gets so much right about tired tourists on the road. The Ormsby's are an American couple touring France. On the way to Paris, they make a detour to find a restaurant that friends have told them about, saying "it was the best dinner they had in their life" How can the couple not have dinner at a place that specialized in truffles and also " deserts made from little balls of various ice cream in a beautiful basket of spun sugar with a spun-sugar bow."
They drive through village after village and finally come on a place that seems right except the menu has neither of the dishes they are seeking. And neither does another place on the town square. They are completely obsessed with having the things they were told about and act in the way Americans are always accused of acting.
This is a satirical story, of course, meant to point out the problems with tourists in foreign settings. Maxwell is a master of this sort of story. And I can't say enough about the quality of his novels, especially TIME WILL DARKEN IT, THE FOLDED LEAF and THE CHATEAU.
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14 comments:
I agree. I read this story last year (4/26/24) and felt the same way - he had definitely taken that trip, or one very much like it. I'm still sorry we never did get to Mont-Saint-Michel in France, but we didn't get to Normandy at all.
Current reading: Bill Pronzini's THE HANGING MAN and Other Western Stories. A pro as always. The one story I remembered (so far) was a Quincannon story set in 1897 about stolen gold dust.
When George reviewed that Andrea Barrett book the other day, I was completely unfamiliar with her or her writing. There are so many writers out there. I decided to get her first, National Book Award-winning collection, SHIP FEVER (1996), and started it yesterday.
I read her first one or two and then lost track of her.
William Maxwell was not only a legendary editor, but also a master writer. I'm more familiar with Maxwell's short stories than his novels (though I have a couple around here somewhere). We all have writers. we haven't read but want to. So many books, so little time...
I know. I read the Collected Stories but none of the novels.
If you hit "Edit" pm the Comments line, you can then hit "Name" and enter your name, so it won't read as Anonymous.
TIME WILL DARKEN IT is my favorite novel by Maxwell.
Good morning!
I have one for this week: https://casualdebris.blogspot.com/2025/06/john-keefauver-research-into-marginal.html
Is it just me or does anyone else have trouble getting onto George Kelley's site? Once I override the warnings I end up on a site maintenance page.
Oh, this does sound good, Patti. And it does sound like a really accurate and amusing depiction of certain kinds of tourists. Good satire can be so effective!
Try now, Frank. I was able to get on immediately...while, two hours ago, my web browser (or the discount computer I'm using at the moment) was driving me nuts with its failed linkages.
Were you intentionally Anon?
Jerry House?
A few years ago I purchased two of Maxwell's novels at the book sale based on your recommendation: TIME WILL DARKEN IT and SO LONG, SEE YOU TOMORROW. And still have not read them. This time I will look for short stories by him.
I seem to remember picking up TIME WILL DARKEN IT (an excellent title) and browsing it somewhere (more like a bookstore than a library), and have little idea why I didn't leave with it. Anyone who could put up with both the EICs of THE NEW YORKER during his tenure has enough said about him already, and its legacy and his already would be enough, even if he wasn't an excellent writer to boot. Thanks for the pointer to this story, and reminder to look into his work further.
Just curious if this login will link to my blog..."testing"...
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