One to One with Bill Goodman:
H.R. Stoneback
aired June 8 and 10, 2007
One of Kentucky’s great but neglected writers is the subject of this edition of One to One as host Bill Goodman welcomes scholar H.R. Stoneback for a conversation about the life and work of Elizabeth Madox Roberts.
Stoneback, a professor of English and director of graduate studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is the editor of a collection of essays about Roberts and has helped organize conferences on the author. In the interview, he explains why he believes that her book The Time of Man, which was internationally acclaimed after its publication but then fell out of favor, deserves to be ranked as one of the greatest American novels.
A native of Perryville, Roberts (1881-1941) grew up in Springfield and attended high school in Covington, then had to drop out of the University of Kentucky because of illness. She returned to college (at the University of Chicago) in her mid-30s to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. There she won a poetry prize, was published in several magazines, and graduated with honors. She returned home to Kentucky to begin work on a novel, which became The Time of Man.
That book, published in 1926, tells the story of Ellen Chesser, a sharecropper’s daughter growing up amid poverty, frequent moves, and endless drudgery. Roberts contrasts the surface bleakness of Ellen’s lot with her rich inner life, exploring her hopes and dreams and her close connection with the land around her to paint a portrait of human worth and dignity that resonates with passion. The novel was hailed by critics and translated into several other languages. Roberts wrote several more books, but she also battled various illnesses all her life. In the view of the critics, she was never able to produce another work of the same caliber as The Time of Man. Eventually, her style fell out of fashion, and Roberts and her works were largely forgotten.
Stoneback is one of several scholars over the decades who have attempted to resurrect Roberts’ reputation. He is also an expert on Ernest Hemingway and modernism—he is a former board member of the Hemingway Society—and on William Faulkner and the Southern Renaissance.
Related Resource
- This One to One interview was produced in conjunction with a bookclub@ket discussion of The Time of Man. The program web site includes links to more information about Roberts and her work.
Watch the bookclub program »
