Knowles was a freelance writer from 1952 to 1956. After a year or so abroad, touring Italy and southern France and writing his first novel, "Descent into Proselito" (which he decided not to publish, partly on the advice of his mentor Thornton Wilder), Knowles returned to the United States in 1955. He took up residence in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York City, where he shared an apartment with actor Bradford Dillman. He wrote occasional drama reviews while his first short stories (including "A Turn with the Sun" in 1953 and "Phineas" in 1956) were being published. During this period he continued to benefit from Wilder's interest in his work and began to write
A Separate Peace.
After Holiday magazine published his article on Phillips Exeter Academy in late 1956, Knowles moved to Philadelphia in 1957 to assume the post of associate editor for Holiday. During this time A Separate Peace was published, first in England (1959) and then in the United States (1960). When it became clear soon after its American publication that A Separate Peace was to be highly successful, Knowles, then thirty-four, resigned his editorship in August 1960 to embark on a two-year tour of Europe and the Middle East.
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