Pat Conroy
Encyclopedia
Pat Conroy is a New York Times
bestselling author who has written several acclaimed novel
s and memoir
s. Two of his novels, The Prince of Tides
and The Great Santini
, were made into Oscar-nominated films.
USA, he was the eldest of seven children (five boys and two girls) born to Marine
Colonel Donald Conroy
, of Chicago
and the former Frances "Peggy" Peck of Georgia. Conroy grew up in a military family, moving many times during his childhood and adolescence and never having a hometown, as his family followed his father, a fighter pilot, as he was transferred from military base to military base. Conroy moved 23 times before he was 18 years old.
Conroy has shared that his stories have been heavily influenced by his military brat upbringing, and in particular, difficulties experienced with his own father, a US Marine Corps pilot, who was physically
and emotionally abusive toward his children, and the pain of a youth growing up in such a harsh environment is evident in Conroy's novels, particularly The Great Santini
. While he was living in Orlando, Florida
, Conroy's 5th grade basketball team defeated a team of 6th graders, making the sport his prime outlet for bottled-up emotions for more than a dozen years. Conroy also cites his family's constant military-related moves, and growing up immersed in military culture as significant influences in his life (in both positive and negative ways).
, and his experiences there provided the basis for two of his best-known works, the novel The Lords of Discipline
and the memoir My Losing Season
. The latter details his senior year on the school's underdog basketball team, which won the longest game in the history of Southern Conference
basketball against rival Virginia Military Institute
in quadruple overtime in 1967.
His first book, The Boo
, is a collection of anecdotes about cadet life centering on Lt. Colonel Nugent Courvoisie, who had served as Assistant Commandant of Cadets at the Citadel from 1961 to 1968 (Courvoisie appears as the fictional character Colonel Thomas Berrineau, a.k.a. "The Bear," in The Lords Of Discipline). After completing The Boo, Conroy couldn't find a publisher for the book, so he self-published it.
After graduating from the Citadel, Conroy taught English
in Beaufort, South Carolina
. While there he met and married Barbara Jones, a young widow of the Vietnam War
who had two children (whom he adopted
). He then accepted a job teaching children in a one-room schoolhouse on remote Daufuskie Island
, South Carolina
.
Conroy was fired at the conclusion of his first year on the island for his unconventional teaching practices, including his refusal to use corporal punishment
on students, and for his lack of respect for the school's administration. Conroy wrote his book The Water Is Wide
based on his experiences as a teacher. The book won Conroy a humanitarian award from the National Education Association
and was made into a feature film, Conrack
, starring Jon Voight
in 1974. Hallmark
produced a television version of the book in 2006.
In 1976, Conroy published his first novel, The Great Santini
. The main character of the novel is Marine fighter pilot Colonel "Bull" Meecham, who dominates and terrorizes his family. Bull Meecham also psychologically abuses his teenage son Ben. The character is based on Conroy's father Donald. (According to My Losing Season, Donald Conroy was even worse than the character depicted in Santini.)
The Great Santini caused friction within the Conroy family, who felt that he had betrayed family secrets by writing about his father. Members of his mother's family would picket Conroy's book signings, passing out pamphlets asking people not to buy the novel. The friction contributed to the failure of his first marriage. However, the book also eventually helped repair Conroy's relationship with his father, and they became very close. His father, looking to prove that he was not like the character in the book, changed his manners drastically. According to Conroy, his father would often sign copies of his son's novels as "Donald Conroy - The Great Santini. I hope you enjoy my son's work of fiction!" The novel was made into a film of the same name
in 1979, starring Robert Duvall
.
Publication of The Lords of Discipline
in 1980 upset many of his fellow graduates of The Citadel
, who felt that his portrayal of campus life was highly unflattering. The rift was not healed until 2000, when Conroy was awarded an honorary degree and asked to deliver the commencement address the following year. As Pat Conroy says in the novel, "I wear the ring", meaning that as a graduate of the Citadel, he has a right to comment on it.
In 1986, Conroy published what is arguably his most acclaimed and well-known novel, The Prince of Tides
. The book tells the story of Tom Wingo, an unemployed South Carolina teacher who goes to New York City to help his sister, Savannah, a poet who has attempted suicide
, to come to terms with their past. Again, the novel was made into a film of the same name
in 1991, starring Nick Nolte
and Barbra Streisand
.
In 1995, Conroy published Beach Music
, a novel about an American ex-patriate living in Rome
who returns to South Carolina upon news of his mother's terminal illness
. The story reveals his attempt to confront personal demons, including the suicide of his wife, the subsequent custody battle with his in-laws over their daughter, and the attempt by a film-making friend to rekindle old friendships which were compromised during the days of the Vietnam War.
In 2009, Conroy published South of Broad
, which again uses the familiar backdrop of Charleston
following the suicide of newspaperman Leo King's brother, and alternates narratives of a diverse group of friends between 1969 and 1989. His recent non-fiction work, The Pat Conroy Cookbook, is a collection of favorite recipes accompanied by stories about his life, including many stories of growing up in South Carolina.
Conroy's South Carolina experiences clearly show in all his work. Indeed, a critic compiling a list of the leading current practitioners of Southern narrative writing listed him in the same sentence as Fannie Flagg
and John Kennedy Toole
and in the same paragraph as Walker Percy
and Eudora Welty
.
in her identification of the hidden subculture of American Military Brats, the children of career military families, who grow up moving constantly, deeply immersed in the military, and often personally affected by war
(a subculture in which Conroy himself grew up).
Conroy contributed a now widely-circulated 10 page essay on American military childhood, including his own childhood, to Wertsches book, which was used as the introduction, including the following,
, that endeavors to bring the hidden subculture of military brats into greater public awareness, as well as aiding military brat self-awareness and support.
The documentary ends with a quote of Conroy about the invisibility of the military brat subculture to the wider American society.
Conroy wrote,
His first marriage was to Barbara (née Bolling) Jones on 10 October 1969, while he was teaching on Daufuskie Island. Jones, who had been Conroy's next door neighbor in Beaufort, South Carolina, had been widowed when her first husband, Joseph Wester Jones III, a fighter pilot stationed in Vietnam, had been shot down and killed. Jones already had one daughter, Jessica, and was pregnant at the time of her husband's death with their second child, Melissa. Conroy adopted both girls after he married their mother, and then they had a daughter of their own, Megan. They divorced in 1977.
Conroy then married Lenore (née Gurewitz) Fleischer in 1981. He became the stepfather to her two children, Gregory and Emily, and the couple also had one daughter, Susannah. They divorced on 26 October 1995.
Conroy married his third wife in May 1997, writer Cassandra King, who is the author of four popular novels.
He currently lives on Fripp Island, South Carolina
, with wife Cassandra. Conroy has commented that his wife is a much happier writer than he is. In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he commented: "I'll hear her cackle with laughter at some funny line she's written. I've never cackled with laughter at a single line I've ever written. None of it has given me pleasure. She writes with pleasure and joy, and I sit there in gloom and darkness."
Conroy's friend, political cartoonist Doug Marlette, died in a car accident in July 2007. Conroy and Joe Klein
eulogized Marlette at the funeral. There were 10 eulogists in all, and Conroy called Marlette his best friend, and said: "The first person to cry, when he heard about Doug's death, was God
."
Conroy was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame on 18 March 2009.
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
bestselling author who has written several acclaimed novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s and memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s. Two of his novels, The Prince of Tides
The Prince of Tides
The Prince of Tides is a 1991 romantic drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Pat Conroy; the film stars Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte. It tells the story of the narrator's struggle to overcome the psychological damage inflicted by his dysfunctional childhood in South Carolina...
and The Great Santini
The Great Santini
The Great Santini is a 1979 film which tells the story of a Marine officer whose success as a military aviator contrasts with his shortcomings as a husband and father. The film explores the high price of heroism and self-sacrifice...
, were made into Oscar-nominated films.
Early life
Born Donald Patrick Conroy in Atlanta, GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
USA, he was the eldest of seven children (five boys and two girls) born to Marine
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
Colonel Donald Conroy
Donald Conroy
Donald "The Great Santini" Conroy was a United States Marine Corps colonel and a member of the famed Black Sheep Squadron during the Korean War. He was also a veteran of World War II and of two tours of duty in Vietnam. He is best known as the being the inspiration for the character LtCol...
, of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and the former Frances "Peggy" Peck of Georgia. Conroy grew up in a military family, moving many times during his childhood and adolescence and never having a hometown, as his family followed his father, a fighter pilot, as he was transferred from military base to military base. Conroy moved 23 times before he was 18 years old.
Conroy has shared that his stories have been heavily influenced by his military brat upbringing, and in particular, difficulties experienced with his own father, a US Marine Corps pilot, who was physically
Physical abuse
Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.-Forms of physical abuse:*Striking*Punching*Belting*Pushing, pulling*Slapping*Whipping*Striking with an object...
and emotionally abusive toward his children, and the pain of a youth growing up in such a harsh environment is evident in Conroy's novels, particularly The Great Santini
The Great Santini (novel)
The Great Santini is a novel written by Pat Conroy and published in 1976.-Plot summary:The Great Santini tells the story of hard-nosed Marine fighter pilot Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meecham, who calls himself "The Great Santini," and the family he runs with a strict hand. It follows the Meecham family...
. While he was living in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, Conroy's 5th grade basketball team defeated a team of 6th graders, making the sport his prime outlet for bottled-up emotions for more than a dozen years. Conroy also cites his family's constant military-related moves, and growing up immersed in military culture as significant influences in his life (in both positive and negative ways).
Writing career
Conroy is a graduate of The CitadelThe Citadel (military college)
The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, also known simply as The Citadel, is a state-supported, comprehensive college located in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. It is one of the six senior military colleges in the United States...
, and his experiences there provided the basis for two of his best-known works, the novel The Lords of Discipline
The Lords of Discipline
The Lords of Discipline is a 1980 novel by Pat Conroy.-Summary:The novel's narrator, Will McLean, attends the Carolina Military Institute in Charleston, from 1963 to 1967. The novel takes place in four parts. The first describes the beginning of his senior year and the admission of new freshmen...
and the memoir My Losing Season
My Losing Season
My Losing Season is a memoir by Pat Conroy. It primarily deals with his senior season as the starting point guard on the basketball team of The Citadel in 1966–67. Conroy describes his tumultuous relationship with his coach, Mel Thompson, as well as the harsh, malevolent, male-dominated society of...
. The latter details his senior year on the school's underdog basketball team, which won the longest game in the history of Southern Conference
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference is a Division I college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision . Member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North...
basketball against rival Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...
in quadruple overtime in 1967.
His first book, The Boo
The Boo (book)
The Boo was the first book by writer Pat Conroy. Written when Conroy was newly graduated from The Citadel in 1970, it is a collection of letters, short stories, and anecdotes about Lt. Colonel Thomas "The Boo" Courvoise. As Commandant of Cadets at the Citadel, Courvoise was a friend and father...
, is a collection of anecdotes about cadet life centering on Lt. Colonel Nugent Courvoisie, who had served as Assistant Commandant of Cadets at the Citadel from 1961 to 1968 (Courvoisie appears as the fictional character Colonel Thomas Berrineau, a.k.a. "The Bear," in The Lords Of Discipline). After completing The Boo, Conroy couldn't find a publisher for the book, so he self-published it.
After graduating from the Citadel, Conroy taught English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
in Beaufort, South Carolina
Beaufort, South Carolina
Beaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. The city's population was 12,361 in the 2010 census. It is located in the Hilton Head Island-Beaufort Micropolitan...
. While there he met and married Barbara Jones, a young widow of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
who had two children (whom he adopted
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
). He then accepted a job teaching children in a one-room schoolhouse on remote Daufuskie Island
Daufuskie Island, South Carolina
Daufuskie Island is a residential "sea island" between Savannah, Georgia and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina about offshore. The total island surface is just within the maximum length of and maximum width of ....
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
.
Conroy was fired at the conclusion of his first year on the island for his unconventional teaching practices, including his refusal to use corporal punishment
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
on students, and for his lack of respect for the school's administration. Conroy wrote his book The Water Is Wide
The Water Is Wide (book)
The Water Is Wide is a 1972 autobiography by Pat Conroy and is based on his work as a teacher on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, which is called Yamacraw Island in the book. A film adaptation, titled Conrack, was created in 1974, starring Jon Voight...
based on his experiences as a teacher. The book won Conroy a humanitarian award from the National Education Association
National Education Association
The National Education Association is the largest professional organization and largest labor union in the United States, representing public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college students preparing to become...
and was made into a feature film, Conrack
Conrack (1974 film)
Conrack is a 1974 film based on the 1972 autobiographical book The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy, directed by Martin Ritt and starring Jon Voight in the title role, alongside Paul Winfield, Madge Sinclair, Hume Cronyn and Antonio Fargas...
, starring Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
in 1974. Hallmark
Hallmark Cards
Hallmark Cards is a privately owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce C. Hall, Hallmark is the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was awarded the National Medal of Arts....
produced a television version of the book in 2006.
In 1976, Conroy published his first novel, The Great Santini
The Great Santini (novel)
The Great Santini is a novel written by Pat Conroy and published in 1976.-Plot summary:The Great Santini tells the story of hard-nosed Marine fighter pilot Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meecham, who calls himself "The Great Santini," and the family he runs with a strict hand. It follows the Meecham family...
. The main character of the novel is Marine fighter pilot Colonel "Bull" Meecham, who dominates and terrorizes his family. Bull Meecham also psychologically abuses his teenage son Ben. The character is based on Conroy's father Donald. (According to My Losing Season, Donald Conroy was even worse than the character depicted in Santini.)
The Great Santini caused friction within the Conroy family, who felt that he had betrayed family secrets by writing about his father. Members of his mother's family would picket Conroy's book signings, passing out pamphlets asking people not to buy the novel. The friction contributed to the failure of his first marriage. However, the book also eventually helped repair Conroy's relationship with his father, and they became very close. His father, looking to prove that he was not like the character in the book, changed his manners drastically. According to Conroy, his father would often sign copies of his son's novels as "Donald Conroy - The Great Santini. I hope you enjoy my son's work of fiction!" The novel was made into a film of the same name
The Great Santini
The Great Santini is a 1979 film which tells the story of a Marine officer whose success as a military aviator contrasts with his shortcomings as a husband and father. The film explores the high price of heroism and self-sacrifice...
in 1979, starring Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
.
Publication of The Lords of Discipline
The Lords of Discipline
The Lords of Discipline is a 1980 novel by Pat Conroy.-Summary:The novel's narrator, Will McLean, attends the Carolina Military Institute in Charleston, from 1963 to 1967. The novel takes place in four parts. The first describes the beginning of his senior year and the admission of new freshmen...
in 1980 upset many of his fellow graduates of The Citadel
The Citadel (military college)
The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, also known simply as The Citadel, is a state-supported, comprehensive college located in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. It is one of the six senior military colleges in the United States...
, who felt that his portrayal of campus life was highly unflattering. The rift was not healed until 2000, when Conroy was awarded an honorary degree and asked to deliver the commencement address the following year. As Pat Conroy says in the novel, "I wear the ring", meaning that as a graduate of the Citadel, he has a right to comment on it.
In 1986, Conroy published what is arguably his most acclaimed and well-known novel, The Prince of Tides
The Prince of Tides (novel)
The Prince of Tides is a novel by Pat Conroy, first published in 1986. It revolves around traumatic events that affected former football player Tom Wingo's relationship with his immediate family...
. The book tells the story of Tom Wingo, an unemployed South Carolina teacher who goes to New York City to help his sister, Savannah, a poet who has attempted suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, to come to terms with their past. Again, the novel was made into a film of the same name
The Prince of Tides
The Prince of Tides is a 1991 romantic drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Pat Conroy; the film stars Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte. It tells the story of the narrator's struggle to overcome the psychological damage inflicted by his dysfunctional childhood in South Carolina...
in 1991, starring Nick Nolte
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
and Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
.
In 1995, Conroy published Beach Music
Beach Music (novel)
Beach Music is Pat Conroy's novel of Jack McCall, a South Carolina native who flees the South with his daughter, Leah, after his wife commits suicide. This novel explores the Vietnam War-era, the Holocaust, and coming of age in the twentieth century...
, a novel about an American ex-patriate living in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
who returns to South Carolina upon news of his mother's terminal illness
Terminal illness
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...
. The story reveals his attempt to confront personal demons, including the suicide of his wife, the subsequent custody battle with his in-laws over their daughter, and the attempt by a film-making friend to rekindle old friendships which were compromised during the days of the Vietnam War.
In 2009, Conroy published South of Broad
South of Broad
South of Broad is a 2009 novel by Pat Conroy. The novel follows the life of Leopold Bloom King in Charleston, South Carolina. It ranges from his troubled childhood to his adult life with his close group of friends.-Plot summary:...
, which again uses the familiar backdrop of Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
following the suicide of newspaperman Leo King's brother, and alternates narratives of a diverse group of friends between 1969 and 1989. His recent non-fiction work, The Pat Conroy Cookbook, is a collection of favorite recipes accompanied by stories about his life, including many stories of growing up in South Carolina.
Conroy's South Carolina experiences clearly show in all his work. Indeed, a critic compiling a list of the leading current practitioners of Southern narrative writing listed him in the same sentence as Fannie Flagg
Fannie Flagg
Patricia Neal , known professionally as Fannie Flagg, is an American actress, comedienne and author. She is perhaps best-known for the 1988 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which was adapted into the 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes; Flagg was nominated for an Academy Award for...
and John Kennedy Toole
John Kennedy Toole
John Kennedy Toole was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana, best-known for his posthumously published novel A Confederacy of Dunces. He also wrote The Neon Bible. Although several people in the literary world felt his writing skills were praiseworthy, Toole's novels were rejected...
and in the same paragraph as Walker Percy
Walker Percy
Walker Percy was an American Southern author whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is best known for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, the first of which, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1962...
and Eudora Welty
Eudora Welty
Eudora Alice Welty was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published...
.
Military brat cultural identity and awareness movement
Conroy was a major supporter of the research and writing efforts of Journalist Mary Edwards WertschMary Edwards Wertsch
Mary Edwards Wertsch is an author, journalist, independent publisher and expert on the subculture of American military brats. She wrote the book Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress. This book is considered the seminal piece of literature dealing with the effects of growing up...
in her identification of the hidden subculture of American Military Brats, the children of career military families, who grow up moving constantly, deeply immersed in the military, and often personally affected by war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
(a subculture in which Conroy himself grew up).
Conroy's essay on military childhood
In 1991, Wertsch "launched the movement for military brat cultural identity" with her book Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood inside the Fortress. In researching her book, Wertsch identified common themes from interviews of over 80 offspring of military households, including the special challenges, strengths and also the unique subculture experienced by American "military brats".While this book does not purport to be a scientific study, subsequent research has validated many of her findings.Conroy contributed a now widely-circulated 10 page essay on American military childhood, including his own childhood, to Wertsches book, which was used as the introduction, including the following,
Conroy's writings and comments in documentary on the lives of military brats
Conroy also authorized the use of his work in the award-winning documentary Brats: Our Journey Home directed by Donna MusilDonna Musil
Donna Musil is an American documentary filmmaker, writer and activist exploring the subculture of U.S. "military brats".She wrote and directed the award-winning 2006 documentary Brats: Our Journey Home, a film about growing up the child of a military family and the effect it has on that child's...
, that endeavors to bring the hidden subculture of military brats into greater public awareness, as well as aiding military brat self-awareness and support.
The documentary ends with a quote of Conroy about the invisibility of the military brat subculture to the wider American society.
Conroy wrote,
Personal life
Conroy has been married three times.His first marriage was to Barbara (née Bolling) Jones on 10 October 1969, while he was teaching on Daufuskie Island. Jones, who had been Conroy's next door neighbor in Beaufort, South Carolina, had been widowed when her first husband, Joseph Wester Jones III, a fighter pilot stationed in Vietnam, had been shot down and killed. Jones already had one daughter, Jessica, and was pregnant at the time of her husband's death with their second child, Melissa. Conroy adopted both girls after he married their mother, and then they had a daughter of their own, Megan. They divorced in 1977.
Conroy then married Lenore (née Gurewitz) Fleischer in 1981. He became the stepfather to her two children, Gregory and Emily, and the couple also had one daughter, Susannah. They divorced on 26 October 1995.
Conroy married his third wife in May 1997, writer Cassandra King, who is the author of four popular novels.
He currently lives on Fripp Island, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, with wife Cassandra. Conroy has commented that his wife is a much happier writer than he is. In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he commented: "I'll hear her cackle with laughter at some funny line she's written. I've never cackled with laughter at a single line I've ever written. None of it has given me pleasure. She writes with pleasure and joy, and I sit there in gloom and darkness."
Conroy's friend, political cartoonist Doug Marlette, died in a car accident in July 2007. Conroy and Joe Klein
Joe Klein
Joe Klein is a longtime Washington, D.C. and New York journalist and columnist, known for his novel Primary Colors, an anonymously written roman à clef portraying Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign. Klein is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a former Guggenheim...
eulogized Marlette at the funeral. There were 10 eulogists in all, and Conroy called Marlette his best friend, and said: "The first person to cry, when he heard about Doug's death, was God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
."
Conroy was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame on 18 March 2009.
Works
- 1970: The BooThe Boo (book)The Boo was the first book by writer Pat Conroy. Written when Conroy was newly graduated from The Citadel in 1970, it is a collection of letters, short stories, and anecdotes about Lt. Colonel Thomas "The Boo" Courvoise. As Commandant of Cadets at the Citadel, Courvoise was a friend and father...
- 1972: The Water Is WideThe Water Is Wide (book)The Water Is Wide is a 1972 autobiography by Pat Conroy and is based on his work as a teacher on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, which is called Yamacraw Island in the book. A film adaptation, titled Conrack, was created in 1974, starring Jon Voight...
- 1976: The Great SantiniThe Great Santini (novel)The Great Santini is a novel written by Pat Conroy and published in 1976.-Plot summary:The Great Santini tells the story of hard-nosed Marine fighter pilot Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meecham, who calls himself "The Great Santini," and the family he runs with a strict hand. It follows the Meecham family...
- 1980: The Lords of DisciplineThe Lords of DisciplineThe Lords of Discipline is a 1980 novel by Pat Conroy.-Summary:The novel's narrator, Will McLean, attends the Carolina Military Institute in Charleston, from 1963 to 1967. The novel takes place in four parts. The first describes the beginning of his senior year and the admission of new freshmen...
- 1986: The Prince of TidesThe Prince of Tides (novel)The Prince of Tides is a novel by Pat Conroy, first published in 1986. It revolves around traumatic events that affected former football player Tom Wingo's relationship with his immediate family...
- 1992: Essay on the Hidden Subculture of Military Brats (Introduction to book, "Military Brats: Legacies of Growing Up Inside the Fortress")
- 1995: Beach MusicBeach Music (novel)Beach Music is Pat Conroy's novel of Jack McCall, a South Carolina native who flees the South with his daughter, Leah, after his wife commits suicide. This novel explores the Vietnam War-era, the Holocaust, and coming of age in the twentieth century...
- 1999: The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life
- 2002: My Losing SeasonMy Losing SeasonMy Losing Season is a memoir by Pat Conroy. It primarily deals with his senior season as the starting point guard on the basketball team of The Citadel in 1966–67. Conroy describes his tumultuous relationship with his coach, Mel Thompson, as well as the harsh, malevolent, male-dominated society of...
- 2003: Unrooted Childhoods: Memoirs of Growing up Global (contributing author)
- 2009: South of BroadSouth of BroadSouth of Broad is a 2009 novel by Pat Conroy. The novel follows the life of Leopold Bloom King in Charleston, South Carolina. It ranges from his troubled childhood to his adult life with his close group of friends.-Plot summary:...
- 2010: My Reading Life