- Mac Hyman
Infobox Writer
name = Mac Hyman
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birthdate = birth date|1923|8|25|mf=y
birthplace =Cordele, Georgia
deathdate = death date and age|1963|7|17|1923|8|25|mf=y
deathplace = Cordele, Georgia
occupation = Novelist
nationality = American
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website =Mac Hyman (born Mackenzie Hooks Hyman;
August 25 ,1923 –July 17 ,1963 ), was an American fiction writer whose best-selling comicnovel "No Time for Sergeants " was adapted into a popular Broadway play and a motion picture.Early life and service
Hyman was born in
Cordele, Georgia , where he discovered his passion for writing as a student in high school, and first displayed his skill in a humorous article published in the school newspaper. [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-986] Following a year atNorth Georgia College and State University , he attendedDuke University starting in 1941. He interrupted his studies to serve in theUnited States Army Air Forces duringWorld War II as a photo navigator. When he returned to Duke in 1946, his talent was recognized by his creative writing professor, William Blackburn, who became his mentor and lifelong friend, and who eventually edited his collected letters. Just before graduating from Duke in February 1947, Hyman married his high school sweetheart, Gwendolyn Holt. In 1949, after the first of his three children was born, he reenlisted in the air force and served until 1952.Writing debut
Between 1947 to 1954, drawing heavily on his personal experiences from the army, Hyman worked on "No Time for Sergeants", the misadventures of a country bumpkin draftee named Will Stockdale, whose hometown of Callville closely resembles Cordele, and who narrates his own story in an uneducated southern dialect. Several publishers rejected the manuscript before it was finally accepted by
Random House and published in 1954. The popularity of the book resulted in a Broadway show and a film, which launched the career ofAndy Griffith .After "No Time for Sergeants"
Hyman, who was living in Cordele with his wife and three children, had published just three short stories and was struggling with his second novel when he died of a heart attack in 1963, just one month before his fortieth birthday. [cite web | url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?z=y&cid=1023841 | date=undated|accessdate=2007-03-27 | title="Meet the Writers: Gwyn Hyman Rubio"|work=Barnes & Noble.com] That second novel, "Take Now Thy Son", and a collection of Hyman's letters entitled "Love, Boy: The Letters of Mac Hyman" were both published posthumously.
Other works and facts
His short story, "
The Hundredth Centennial ", was published by "The Paris Review " in 1954. [http://www.theparisreview.com/viewissue.php/prmIID/7] Another short story, "The Dove Shoot " was published in a collection of works by other Duke authors in 1963. [http://books.google.com/books?id=nYuwo2FSl7UC&pg=PP1&ots=UgXrmy7nt1&dq=Under+Twenty-Five:+Duke+Narrative+and+Verse,+1945-1962:+A+Collection+of+Short+Stories+and+Verse+by+Sixteen+Duke+Authors&sig=pchL7hbfvA2NZPbTfHj0xSRZp4M]Hyman's daughter
Gwyn Hyman Rubio is the author of "Icy Sparks " and "The Woodsman's Daughter ".References
External links
* [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-986 Mac Hyman biography at the New Georgia Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.cordeledispatch.com/opinion/local_story_179121612.html "Mac Hyman - comedy or tragedy writer?"]Persondata
NAME=Hyman, Mac
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Novelist
DATE OF BIRTH=August 25 ,1923
PLACE OF BIRTH=Cordele, Georgia
DATE OF DEATH=July 17 ,1963
PLACE OF DEATH=Cordele, Georgia
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