Charles G. Finney, The Unholy City

Vanguard, 1937.

Charles G. Finney was one of those oddball writers who casually produce idiosyncratic masterpieces that endure far longer than whatever the mainstream was celebrating at the moment. He was a Midwestern boy -- the great-grandson of a celebrated Congregationalist evangelist, he was born in Missouri in 1905  -- who somehow ended up serving in the U.S. Army in China during the 1920s. The clash of civilizations compelled him to produce The Circus of Dr. Lao (1935), the tale of ordinary citizens of a small Arizona town confronted with genuine marvels. They come away unimpressed, but not unchanged. Finney's first book, it captured something essential about the American soul.

Unfortunately he had little else to say, which this follow-up two years later amply proves. Circus was published by Viking, with playful Artzybasheff illustrations that added amply to its lure; Vanguard, a lesser house, issued this volume with an unadorned jacket. The author refused to speculate on the meaning of Circus, but the whole rear jacket of Unholy City tries to entice the reader with his explanations: "The symbolism, of course, is quite conventional. The airplane crash is the awakening to life; the Chiam Mings the first chaotic impression of cruelty and beauty; the path from the lily-bed to Calle Grande the change from simplicity to complexity." Etc. The first twenty pages did not cause me to want to go on.

Finney became a newspaper copy editor in Tucson, dying there in 1984. He wrote just a handful of books, including a memoir of his Chinese days. There is only one copy of Circus online in anything close to fine condition, for $550. There are dozens of copies of Unholy City. This one, price-clipped and a little dirty but basically fine, is priced at $60 in another hand and $40 by Allan. He had it for years and if still alive would have it still.

Postscript: Allan specialized in Finney. I remember for years there was a signed copy of Circus without a jacket on the shelves. And I think I got my inscribed copy of Finney's third book, Past the End of the Pavement (Holt, 1939), from the store. That book is clearly autobiographical, two boys on the loose in a Midwestern town before World War I. Finney writes on the back of the jacket that Circus "is regarded as a freak" while Unholy City "is quite definitely a flop." But he winningly adds that, "I enjoyed writing them, and I imagine if I were to read them over again I would enjoy that, too."

Second postscript: Finney has been blessed with good illustrators. I had completely forgotten that I had bought long ago -- in May 1988 -- from Serendipity a copy of the UK edition, published by Grey Walls in 1948. It was illustrated by Gordon Noel Fish, and quite effectively. I paid $37.50. You'd have to pay more than that now, but the English edition is not nearly as scarce as the American. Further proof that you should always buy the best copy of the best edition.

Comments

[Robyne]

Hi there - just to clarify, is it The Unholy City that is illustrated by Gordon Noel Fish? I have seen Circus, and just got a copy of Castle of Otranto illustrated by Fish, but have been trying to track down any others. Thanks...