Spring Break
Western professor discusses new book
Karen Tableiou
Issue date: 9/24/08 Section: The Edge
Writing a piece of historical non-fiction is not as cut and dry as commonly believed. Research is only part of any history piece; such works are "shaped by the author's vision as he leaves out, puts in, reorders, connects, dramatizes and explains," said Western Illinois University professor emeritus John E. Hallwas at his lecture, "Doing Justice to Outlaws: The Writing of 'Dime Novel Desperadoes'" in the Malpass Library Garden Lounge last Friday, Sept. 19.
Hallwas' book "Dime Novel Desperadoes" was published this summer and recounts the adventures of notorious Illinois outlaw brothers Ed and Lon Maxwell. This historical narrative follows the Maxwells from early childhood to their brutal end, capturing their acts of thievery, gun fighting and even murder. Set in the late 1800s, the story uses the backdrop of Macomb and the McDonough County area.
Hallwas talked about how he constructed his book, using his own vision and ideas as the basis to put together all the data he gathered about the Maxwells. When Hallwas researched Ed and Lon, he did not see one-dimensional people considered evil in society, but two young men "struggling against under-appreciation, against shallow social constructions of who they really are." They did not fit into the tidy world society had created; a world where to be a "good guy" one must have high socio-economic status and fit into the social norms of the community in which they live.
Hallwas sympathized with the plight of the Maxwell brothers, products of a corrupt society that only sees in black and white. It is mostly cultural myth that created and shaped these Desperadoes. The myth that had the greatest effect on the two brothers was "the American notion that outlaws were inherently evil because they were opponents of the inherently good social order."
Hallwas went on to say that through this idea a person "could brutally lynch an accused outlaw, a young man in chains, all the while regarding (themselves) as virtuous."
Hallwas' book "Dime Novel Desperadoes" was published this summer and recounts the adventures of notorious Illinois outlaw brothers Ed and Lon Maxwell. This historical narrative follows the Maxwells from early childhood to their brutal end, capturing their acts of thievery, gun fighting and even murder. Set in the late 1800s, the story uses the backdrop of Macomb and the McDonough County area.
Hallwas talked about how he constructed his book, using his own vision and ideas as the basis to put together all the data he gathered about the Maxwells. When Hallwas researched Ed and Lon, he did not see one-dimensional people considered evil in society, but two young men "struggling against under-appreciation, against shallow social constructions of who they really are." They did not fit into the tidy world society had created; a world where to be a "good guy" one must have high socio-economic status and fit into the social norms of the community in which they live.
Hallwas sympathized with the plight of the Maxwell brothers, products of a corrupt society that only sees in black and white. It is mostly cultural myth that created and shaped these Desperadoes. The myth that had the greatest effect on the two brothers was "the American notion that outlaws were inherently evil because they were opponents of the inherently good social order."
Hallwas went on to say that through this idea a person "could brutally lynch an accused outlaw, a young man in chains, all the while regarding (themselves) as virtuous."
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