Baltimore History Examiner - Charm City's Literary Titans

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Baltimore History Examiner

Charm City's Literary Titans

POSTED May 12, 8:03 PM

Frank Defilippo deserves credit for inspiring this post.

In my harangue about the New Deal I cited One from One Leaves Two, a poem by Ogden Nash, which satirized the absurdity of the New Deal’s centralized planning. Frank mentioned to me that Nash was a Baltimorean, and actually lived in the Village of Cross Keys, where my daughter’s pediatrician practices. Nash lived at a couple of places in the Guilford area before moving to Cross Keys where he lived until his death in 1971.

Nash tried living in New York for a brief spell, but soon returned to Charm City saying “"I could not love New York. Had I not loved Balti-more.”

Growing up in the DC suburbs of Maryland we were taught that Edgar Allan Poe and HL Menken called Baltimore home. However, after perusing the Baltimore Literary Heritage Project website, I was absolutely stunned at the literary heavyweights, who called Baltimore home at one time or another. Here are a few names on the list:

Stein was famous for her quip about the city of Oakland saying “there is no there, there.”

During a Monday Night Football game featuring the Oakland Raiders, Jerry Rice made a spectacular touchdown reception, prompting then MNF analyst Dennis Miller to say “Gertrude there is a there, there!” I bet our own Tony Giro didn’t know that one!

One famous writer not on the list, but should be is Whittaker Chambers. Chambers may be more famous for his unmasking of Soviet spy Alger Hiss, however his autobiography Witness is one of the great works of American literature. Hiss lived on both Mt. Royal and St. Paul streets. When he broke with communism he lived in a safe house with his family on Old Court Rd. In addition to Witness, Chambers was an editor for TIME and National Review he even translated Bambi into English from the original German.

Say what you will about Chambers, he did prove F. Scott Fitzgerald wrong; there are second acts in American life.

PS I would also argue, very strongly, that David Simon belongs on the list as well.