Willie Morris
(November 29, 1934 — August 2, 1999), was an American writer and editor born in
Jackson, Mississippi, though his family later moved to
Yazoo City, Mississippi, which he immortalized in his works of prose. Morris' trademark was his lyrical prose style and reflections on the
American South, particularly the
Mississippi Delta. In 1967 he became the youngest editor of
Harper's Magazine. He wrote several works of fiction and non-fiction, including his seminal book
North Toward Home, as well as
My Dog Skip.
Biography
Early years
Morris' parents moved to
Yazoo City, Mississippi when he was just six months old. Yazoo City figures prominently in much of Morris' writing. After graduating as valedictorian of his high school class, Morris traveled to
Austin to attend the
University of Texas at Austin. He became a member of
Delta Tau Delta international fraternity, where he has a room named after him in the chapter house.
His senior year in college, Morris was elected editor of the university's student newspaper, the award-winning
The Daily Texan. His scathing editorials against segregation, censorship and state officials' collusion with oil and gas interests soon earned him the enmity of university administrators, particularly from the university's Board of Regents. As an example of the animosity, Morris wrote in
North Toward Home that the university did not acknowledge his award of a
Rhodes Scholarship with even as much as a letter of congratulation. His contribution to the university continues to go unrecognized.
Morris graduated in 1956 and began studying history at
Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He returned to the United States to be the editor of
The Texas Observer, a liberal weekly magazine.
Harper's Magazine
In 1963, Morris joined the staff of
Harper's Magazine as Associate Editor, and became Editor-in-Chief four years later. On publication,
North Toward Home became a best-selling book and earned the prestigious
Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award for non-fiction. It is an autobiographical account of his childhood in Yazoo City, Mississippi, early adulthood in Austin, Texas, and eventual move from the South to New York City. Critics cited the author for his tender reflections on Southern smalltown culture, and for the tone of those alienated expatriate Southerners who move north, but retain nostalgia for the South they left behind.
As the youngest-ever editor-in-chief of an influential literary magazine, Morris sustained the careers of notable writers such as
William Styron and
Norman Mailer. But the Cowles family, owners of
Harper's Magazine, was perplexed by the content Morris published: longer articles of overtly liberal sentiment that offended more cautious advertisers. Amidst falling ad sales, the Cowles family expressed their dissatisfaction with Editor-in-Chief Willie Morris until he ultimately resigned under pressure in 1971.
Morris on Long Island
Following his resignation from Harper's, Morris moved to Bridgehampton, Long Island, where he lived for many years before returning to the South. During that time he became close friends with fellow writer
James Jones, author of "From Here to Eternity", and Jones's wife Gloria. Later, when his friend lay dying in Southampton Hospital of heart failure, Willie Morris took notes from Jones about his work-in-progress, the novel "Whistle," which Morris finished for his friend Jones.
Morris returns home
In 1980, Morris returned to his native state to be writer-in-residence at the
University of Mississippi in
Oxford, Mississippi where he encouraged a new generation of Mississippi writers including
John Grisham, who acknowledged auditing Morris's writing classes. One of Morris' books,
Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood was made into a TV movie titled
The River Pirates in 1988 not far from where Morris lived. In 2000,
My Dog Skip, another of Morris' books and an unofficial
prequel to the earlier film, was made into a
major motion picture starring
Frankie Muniz,
Diane Lane,
Luke Wilson and
Kevin Bacon. (Morris had previously written for
Reader's Digest a profile of his dog 'Pete,' whom he had adopted while living in
Bridgehampton, New York. When Morris left Bridgehampton, he took Pete, who had formerly belonged to the owner of a local service station and whom Willie referred to as 'the Mayor of Bridgehampton,' back to Mississippi with him. Later, after Pete's death, Morris requested and received permission from the Episcopal church for a burial of Pete within the same cemetery where Morris himself would later be laid to rest.) Morris died of a heart attack just before the movie debuted, after seeing an advance screening of the film and praising it.
Willie Morris is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Yazoo City, exactly 13 steps (the unlucky number) from the "grave" of the fictitious Witch of Yazoo, a character from one of Morris' books,
Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood. In life he counted among his friends a wide circle, including Yazoo City childhood friends, well-known writers like
Winston Groom (
Forrest Gump'),
William Styron (
Sophie's Choice),
John Knowles (
A Separate Peace),
James Dickey (
Deliverance) and
Irwin Shaw (
Rich Man, Poor Man), as well as students in his writing classes in Oxford. He was known as an unerring mimic with a warm sense of humor and a sense of the absurd.
Morris helped two Mississippi residents by giving them a second chance at sight by being an eye donor.
Books by Willie Morris
