Main description:

.cs676C7CC9{text-align:left;text-indent:0pt;padding:12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;margin:0pt 0pt 12pt 0pt} .cs5EFED22F{color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; } .csA62DFD6A{color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:12pt; font-weight:normal; font-style:italic; } This book tells the story of Charles Andrews Fenton (1919-1961), a charismatic teacher, scholar, and writer who at the apparent apex of his career died by jumping from the top of the Washington Duke hotel in Durham, NC. Fenton led a fascinating life, challenging all authority, often taking risks, and inspiring many of his students at Yale and Duke. Fenton's story is a compelling one, yet it takes on further meaning when seen in the context of the times. His academic career coincided with the notoriously conformist 1950s, a time when individualism in American life was looked at askance, so that his very nature placed him constantly at odds with prevailing views. Yet it was that jaunty refusal to accept received wisdom that made him such an appealing figure to his students and many of his colleagues.
He was a role model to many of his students, a kind of American mythic hero who defied expectations and poked fun at his nominal superiors, and would not back down from controversy. Death of a Rebel aims for an understanding of why Charlie Fenton took his own life. By the end of his life he was overcome by psychological pain deriving from the loss of wife and family, of public admiration, of companionship, and worst of all, of self-regard. Already a leading figure in American literature, Fenton had a promising life ahead of him. However, it was not to be, and his loss became, worst of all, the loss of the uncounted students who would never get to know and admire and learn from him.

Contents:

Introduction First Sighting Bomber Boy The Young Academic Hemingway vs. Fenton Carving a Career A Different Planet Sailing through Air What Might Have Been Acknowledgments Notes on Sources A Charles A. Fenton Bibliography Other Works Consulted