John O'Hara

Franklin Library John O'Hara books

Two by O'Hara - Limited First Edition Society - 1979
Sermons and Soda Water - Collected Stories of the World's Greatest Writers - 1982

Author John O'Hara

John O'Hara (1905-1970) was an American author and short story writer who was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and educated at Niagara Preparatory school in Niagara Falls New York, O'Hara was successively a newspaper reporter, a drama and movie critic, and a movie screen writer. His first book, Appointment in Samara (1934), brought him wide spread public recognition. John O'Hara is best known for his book Butterfield 8 (1935), a tragic story of life in the night clubs and underworld of New York City; and for his short stories Pal Joey (1940), in the form of letters be a cynical night club singer. The latter were made into a musical comedy by the same name, for which O'Hara helped write the libretto. John O'Hara books of fiction are distinguished by satiric, ironic, and tragic realism; stress on characterization rather than plots; and a style marked by simplicity and power. Other books by John O'Hara include The Doctor's Son and Other Stories (1935), Rage to Live (1949), Sweet and Sour essays (1954), Ten North Frederick (1955), From the Terrace (1958), and Sermons and Soda Water (1960); and the books of short stories File on Parade (1939), Pipe Night (1945), Hellbox (1947), and Assembly (1961).