Biography Essay

John Knowles, the third of four children of James Myron and Mary Beatrice Shea Knowles, was born in Fairmont, West Virginia. He has an older brother and sister who are twins, and a younger sister. Knowles left West Virginia at fifteen to attend the Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire during World War II. After graduating in 1945 he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force Aviation Cadet Program, eventually qualifying as pilot. Following his discharge after eight months, Knowles attended Yale University, served briefly after graduating in 1949 as an assistant editor for the Yale Alumni magazine, and then worked from 1950 to 1952 as a reporter and occasional drama critic for the Hartford Courant. Knowles was a free-lance 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...