Author Harry Mark Petrakis, ‘one of the greatest,’ dies at 97 - Chicago Sun-Times

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Author Harry Mark Petrakis, ‘one of the greatest,’ dies at 97 - Chicago Sun-Times Posted: 03 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST When Harry Mark Petrakis began his writing career imagining characters he later admitted knowing little about, he earned nothing for 10 years but rejection notes. But when he turned his eye to his community of immigrants in Chicago's Greektown and wrote a short story about an old Greek hot dog vendor, he finally sold a story in 1956 to the Atlantic magazine. The story, "Pericles on 31st Street," launched a long career that made him one of Chicago's best-known authors. Mr. Petrakis, author of 24 books, most of them fiction, and numerous short stories, died Tuesday at his longtime home near Chesterton, Indiana, of what relatives said was old age. He was 97. "He passed away imperceptibly, like the flutter of a sparrow's wing, seemingly without struggle, with my brother and his wife by his bedside," his son Mark Petrakis said. Mr. Petrakis "was a major figure, certainly in 20th century Chicago literature," said author Stuart Dybek. "He was part of a movement that was national at the time, with Chicago in the forefront, in which America claimed its identity through its ethnic writers." Mr. Petrakis, the son of a Greek Orthodox priest, was born in 1923 in St. Louis and grew up on Chicago's South Side with five siblings in what he described as "a series of dingy, desolate, city apartments which seemed to me built to prevent any light or warmth from entering the cold, shadowed rooms." At age 11, he missed two years of school with tuberculosis and couldn't even go out to play. He filled his time reading hundreds of books. He later said the authors of those classics gave him a joy of reading and a "compass for his life" that made him a writer. His first novel, "Lion at My Heart," was published in 1959 after Mr. Petrakis had scraped by financially for years. When the first copy arrived at his home, the Petrakis family marched through the house, as Mr. Petrakis' older sons, then children, banged metal pots and Mr. Petrakis held the book above his head. His best-known book, the best-selling 1966 novel "A Dream of Kings," was made into a 1969 movie starring Anthony Quinn. Mr. Petrakis continued to polish his craft over his lifetime, working, as he said in a 2009 Chicago Sun-Times interview, "to hone and shape [his writing] and fashion it that so that it strikes harmoniously on the ear." He won the annual short story O. Henry Award and the Chicago Public Library's Carl Sandburg Award. He twice was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. He taught as a visiting lecturer and as a writer-in-residence in various universities, and held the Nikos Kazantzakis Chair in Modern Greek Studies at San Francisco State University. He was awarded honorary degrees from the American College of Greece, the University of Illinois, Roosevelt University, Hellenic College, Governors State University and Indiana University Northwest. "Harry was among the most exuberant writers to walk the streets of Chicago," said Henry Kisor, a retired book editor of the Sun-Times and author of 10 books. "He belongs right up there with Studs Terkel, Nelson Algren, Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Sandburg, Sandra Cisneros and others who showed how ordinary Chicagoans could be extraordinary Americans. He really should have been better known, although he was hardly a neglected author." "I view Harry Mark Petrakis as one of the greatest Chicago writers throughout our history," said Dick Simpson, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and president of the Society of Midland Authors, of which Mr. Petrakis was a longtime member. "He gave a unique voice to the Greek community and to the entire human community." Harry Mark Petrakis (from left) Gwendolyn Brooks and Saul Bellow hand former Mayor Richard J. Daley pens to sign a proclamation in 1965. Sun-Times Library In his later years, Mr. Petrakis turned to writing occasional essays about his recollections for the Sun-Times' Opinion section, many of them set in the 1930s and 1940s. Among his topics were a woman with a disfigured face who finally found her true love; young men waiting to see when they would be called to war; a passionate racetrack bettor; a story-telling high-school ROTC commander; his thoughts of suicide when he mistakenly believed he had ALS; his youthful gambling addition, and his various early jobs, including hauling 400-pound blocks of ice and owning a small diner called "Art's Lunch" (a name he didn't change because he couldn't afford a new sign). His final Sun-Times essay appeared in October. "He wrote such vivid, life-affirming stories. Every story felt like a celebration — of belonging, of being alive," said Sun-Times Editorial Page Editor Tom McNamee. In one of his essays, Mr. Petrakis recalled lively family discussions in a cramped Depression-era apartment over meals of rice pilaf, a slice of bread and a glass of milk. "Only when I, the last of the 10 who sat at that table still alive, only after death finally claims me, will those buoyant and contentious voices fall silent, settling to rest beside me for eternity," he wrote. Mr. Petrakis' wife of 73 years, Diana Petrakis, died in 2018. Besides Mark Petrakis, he is also survived by sons John and Dean Petrakis, four grandchildren and a great grandchild. A small private church service is planned.

Bridges: Few knew how to tell a story like J. Frank Dobie - LubbockOnline.com Posted: 20 Feb 2021 11:10 AM PST DR. KEN BRIDGES  |  Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Great storytelling is an honored tradition across the South and the Southwest.  Texas, with its long history of engaging characters and adventures, has produced many tales to tell. Perhaps one of the most respected storytellers was writer and professor J. Frank Dobie. Born James Frank Dobie on Sept. 26, 1888, a love of literature and the open prairie was instilled in him from birth. The family lived on a modest ranch in Live Oak County in South Texas.  Dobie was the oldest of six children, and he worked the ranch with his family from a young age.  In the evenings, after the day's chores had been completed, his father read to him and the other children from the family Bible while his mother read classic works of literature to them. In order to finish high school, Dobie moved in with his grandparents in nearby Alice in 1904.  After his 1906 graduation, he enrolled at Southwestern University in Georgetown.  Armed with an education, life moved quickly for Dobie.  After earning his bachelor's degree, he began writing for a number of newspapers for a year before accepting a teaching position in 1911.  Two years later, he left for Columbia University in New York City to pursue a master's degree in English.  He returned to Texas in 1914 and began teaching at the University of Texas. Dobie enlisted in the army as the United States entered World War I in 1917. After serving in the artillery for two years, he returned to the university in 1919.  After his military experiences, he began expressing himself more with the written word and began publishing stories and studies of aspects of folklore in 1919.  He joined the Texas Folklore Society to preserve folk tales and stories of the unique culture of the Southwest, rising to secretary of the organization by 1922.  His first major work was a short, clever booklet titled "Weather Wisdom of the Texas-Mexican Border" in 1923, noting how rain is never a subject far from the thoughts of Texas ranchers and farmers.  Dobie wrote, "Everyone knows and quotes the saying, 'Nobody but a fool or a newcomer will prophesy the weather in Texas' – a saying vaunted before strangers but never remembered in their absence."  The tome was filled with stories of how watching different animals can foretell the weather as well as his own stories of growing up in South Texas before closing with the warning, "Be it remembered, all Texans have a saying, 'In dry weather all signs fail.'" Dobie also played a role in preventing longhorn cattle from disappearing.  He had been part of the university for several years when students chose the longhorn as the mascot in 1917.  However, longhorns had fallen out of favor with ranchers and steadily fewer were being bred.  Dobie grew concerned about the deteriorating numbers of the longhorn, and he started writing about them in 1920.  He persuaded several ranchers and benefactors to buy a number of longhorns to stock at state parks starting in the 1920s and 1930s.  As a result, more attention began to be brought to the iconic creatures, and their reputation as a symbol of Texas and reputation as livestock steadily increased.   He completed a book on the life and legends of the breed in The Longhorns in 1941. He wrote on his most famous works, the award-winning Coronado's Children, in 1930.  The book amassed tales of treasure-hunters and lost treasures.  Ultimately, Dobie would publish more than 20 books in his lifetime, including "Tales of the Mustang" in 1936 and "The Roadrunner in Fact and Folk-lore" in 1939. By 1939, he had a weekly newspaper column in which he not only discussed Texas culture but railed against the political injustices of the day.  The state legislature became a frequent target of his barbs.  He openly called for integrating the University of Texas in the early 1940s, leading him to clash with numerous state leaders.  His fame grew to where he was invited to teach American History at Cambridge University during World War II.  In 1944, while still overseas, he angrily protested the firing of a fellow UT professor for his liberal views, leading to his own dismissal by 1947. Later in his life, a new generation of Texas leaders came to appreciate Dobie's work and influence.  On Sept. 14, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dobie in honor of his long career.  The award from a fellow Texan was a great affirmation of his writing and the controversial stands he had taken throughout his life.  The ailing Dobie died four days later.  A large crowd gathered for his funeral, which was held on the University of Texas campus. Dobie was honored after his death.  A number of books have been written about him.  A post office in San Antonio was named for him as well as the Dobie Center at the University of Texas.  Dobie High School opened in Houston in 1968.  Middle schools in Cibolo and Austin as well as an elementary school in Dallas now honor the famed writer. Dr. Ken Bridges is a writer, historian and native Texan. He holds a doctorate from the University of North Texas. Bridges can be reached by email at drkenbridges@gmail.com.

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