James Ross (American author)
{{short description|American novelist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2019}}
James Ross (1911-1990) was an American fiction author. His only published book, They Don't Dance Much (1940), is an early example of what Daniel Woodrell identifies as "country noir", or a noir novel with a rural setting.{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2012/sep/11/essay-james-ross/ |title=ESSAY: James Ross :: Oxford American - The Southern Magazine of Good Writing |publisher=oxfordamerican.org |accessdate=July 17, 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724164958/http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2012/sep/11/essay-james-ross/ |archivedate=July 24, 2014 }}
Life
James Ross was born in rural Stanly County, North Carolina in 1911. He briefly worked as a writer for the Savannah Morning News and then for the Greensboro Daily News (now News & Record), covering North Carolina politics and legislation. He died in 1990.
Ross's first novel was published in 1940. His follow-up novel, In The Red, was never published, and Ross turned to writing short fiction for magazines like Collier's, The Sewanee Review and Argosy. In 1970, he became a highly regarded literary agent, and 1975 saw the reissue of They Don’t Dance Much, which saw the book become truly popular for the first time.[http://mysteriouspress.com/authors/james-ross/default.asp] Mysterious Press - James Ross (with photograph)
''They Don't Dance Much''
The novel is set in a Western North Carolina roadhouse in the fictional crossroads town of Corinth. It is narrated by a failed farmer who, upon taking a job at a filling station, becomes involved in a murder.
The novel, despite being praised by crime-fiction authors such as Raymond Chandler, William Gay, and Flannery O'Connor, has been largely forgotten. In part, this is due to its tumultuous publication history; since its release, the book has been printed by five different publishers, most recently by Mysterious Press.{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/new-luster-for-a-hard-boiled-gem/2013/05/17/586e4b84-b665-11e2-aa9e-a02b765ff0ea_story.html|title=New luster for a hard-boiled gem - The Washington Post|publisher=washingtonpost.com|accessdate=July 17, 2014}}
References
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Category:American crime fiction writers
Category:People from Stanly County, North Carolina
Category:20th-century American novelists