… Here in the vaulted thermae built in the days of Diocletian he had gathered together treasures from many lands and ages. “Perhaps the most characteristic of his creations was the celebrated studio. His studio in Rome became nearly as renowned as his sculptures, evoking such descriptions as this one by Samson Oppenheim, editor of The American Jewish Year Book: Italian King Victor Emmanuel bestowed on him various titles and a knighthood.
By the end of his life, he had finished over 200 sculptures and won numerous awards, including the Michel Beer Prix de Rome and the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Palermo. Lee, the former Confederate general serving as president of VMI’s neighbor Washington College, befriended Ezekiel, recognized his talents, and encouraged him to pursue his art.Įzekiel heeded that advice, studied anatomy for a brief time at the Medical College of Virginia, won an award that permitted him to continue his studies first in Germany and then in Rome, and never looked back, becoming a lifelong resident of Rome. Fame and ObscurityĪfter the war ended, Ezekiel returned to finish his degree at VMI. It’s an unusual epitaph, given that Moses Ezekiel was one of the most famous American sculptors of his day. Ezekiel, Sergeant of Company C, Battalion of Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute.” The son of a Richmond merchant, he was an ardent lover of Virginia who took such pride in his participation at the Battle of New Market that his grave in Arlington National Cemetery bears this simple inscription: “Moses J. Jefferson’s caretaker was Moses Ezekiel (1844–1917), the first Jewish cadet to gain admission to the institute. During the Civil War, General Breckinridge felt obligated to enlist the help of over 250 Virginian cadets against Union forces. lawyer and politician John Cabell Breckinridge, circa 1870. After the battle, his best friend and roommate, also in the battle, seeks him out, commandeers a wagon, transports him to a private residence, and spends the next two days caring for his dying comrade, often holding him in his arms and reading to him from the Bible. Edwards from the 1903 American history textbook “A School History of the United States.” (Public Domain)Īmong the cadets is a descendent of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Garland Jefferson, who is mortally wounded in the chest during this assault. Depiction of cadets from the Virginia Military Institute at the Battle of New Market (1864) during the American Civil War. Many of the cadets lose their shoes in the muck, rendering that ground the “Field of Lost Shoes.” With a loss of 10 dead and 45 wounded, this battalion, most of them teenagers, sweep aside their enemies, capture some artillery pieces, and help win the day for the South. Breckinridge, 257 cadets from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and other Confederate troops charge across a rain-soaked, newly plowed field against General Franz Sigel’s Union forces. Yes, there is also Mailer, Wolfe, Krakauer, Didion.The place: New Market, Virginia the date: May 15, 1864.
Gay Talese's works are an impeccable argument. Maybe we have had enough fiction, after all real life has proven that the best storys are next door and the best characters are walking in the neighbourhood.
Except storys out of these world (Avatar, Harry Potter, et al). Pure fiction works seems to be declining in front of non fiction. If one pay attention to the structure and the language of his works you unerstand at least three things: in literature the theme IS NOT the most important part, also we can understand how non fiction most be written and the importance that these fourth genre has nowadays. Yes, there might be better known non fiction writers "names", but no one has a cleaner, precise more efficient prose than Gay Talese. That is why we can say that Gay Talese is The non fiction writer par excellence. Non fiction literature is a USA product, at the most it comes fron the anglosaxon culture.
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