Tom Landess, R.I.P.
Chronicles is very sad to report that our friend and longtime contributor Tom Landess has passed away of a sudden illness. A true man of letters, Dr. Landess wrote (and ghostwrote) hundreds of books and articles, as well as poetry. He was a student and friend of many of the Twelve Southerners and a brilliant storyteller. He will be missed tremendously. May God grant eternal rest to his soul, and peace and comfort to his loving wife.
Look for a full obituary and reflections on his life in future issues of Chronicles, as well as several of his yet-to-be published pieces.
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Two summers ago, in 2010, I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Landess at the Abbeville Institute's summer school on Southern literature. I had the opportunity to share several meals with Dr. Landess and his wife. He was unassuming; yet, I sensed that I was sitting in the presence of the Southern Agrarians, Mel Bradford, and a host of other scholars and thinkers. Dr. Landess was their voice. In the lectures which he gave that summer, he brought the Southern Agrarians, each of them, to life for us; and he fiercely defended his friend Mel Bradford against not only the enemies of Bradford's lifetime but also against the enemies who continue to hound his honor.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the most recent pieces which Dr. Landess published in Chronicles.
It is my regret that I did not know of Dr. Landess earlier and that my personal encounter with him was limited to those brief times at meals and the lectures two summers ago.
I wish God's grace, His mercy and His peace on the family and the friends of Dr. Landess.
We have, within the last few weeks, lost two of our best scholars and writers: Marion Montgomery and Tom Landess. We must leave it, in humility, to Providence; for it seems that we need them more now than ever before.
I second Mr. Peter's honest and honorable observations of Tom Landess. Just three months ago I was thinking about American stories that needed told and thought of Tom Landess, a brilliant storyteller. For those readers wondering from time to time the difference between a variety of conservatives and the rather singular type of neo-conservative, like David Frum, they would do well to go back and read two or three pieces of chit-chat from that period of time, not so very long ago. One would be Frum's survival pack of lies in that dirty little hit piece published by National Review, Unpatriotic Conservatives. The other would be Tom Landess's hilarious and honest tale about Mel Bradford as recounted from the inside by Mr. Landess a few summers back in Rockford, Illinois. It is really the juxtapsoition of a southern gentleman and scholar and a scam artist, or the difference between a loyal friend and useful idiot, or a lover of truth and a careless damned fool. May God grant rest and peace to this strong and dear man's soul.
I too had the privilege of meeting Dr. Landess, who epitomized the gentleman-scholar: He was not only amazingly learned, but was also witty and kind. Those of us who got to hear him tell a story in person are especially grateful for the laughter, as well as for the insights.