"We have been friends for many years now," Vidal said, "and I admire the novel that he based on our school days, A Separate Peace." Awards Vidal states that Knowles told him that the character Brinker is based on Vidal. In his memoir Palimpsest, Gore Vidal acknowledges that he and Knowles concurrently attended Phillips Exeter Academy, with Vidal two years ahead. A student called Phineas Sprague lived in the same dormitory as Knowles during the summer session of 1943 and may have inspired the character's name. Hackett was a friend of Robert Kennedy's, under whom he later served in the U.S. Knowles has stated that he modeled Finny on David Hackett from Milton Academy, whom he met when both attended a summer session at Phillips Exeter Academy. The secondary character Finny (Phineas) is the friend of the main character Gene. There was only friendship, athleticism, and loyalty. The only elements in A Separate Peace which were not in that summer were anger, violence, and hatred. In his essay, "A Special Time, A Special Place," Knowles wrote: Although the plot is not autobiographical, elements of the novel stem from personal experience, including Knowles' membership in a secret society, and sustaining of a foot injury while jumping from a tree during society exercises. The setting of "The Devon School" is a thinly veiled fictionalization of it, with both campus and town easily recognizable.
The novel is based upon Knowles's experiences at Phillips Exeter Academy. Published in New York in 1960 by Macmillan, it would be his most celebrated work. A Separate Peace File:A Separate Peace cover.jpgĪ Separate Peace was first published in London by Secker and Warburg in 1959. With encouragement from Thornton Wilder, he concurrently began writing novels. Įarly in Knowles's career, he wrote for the Hartford Courant and was assistant editor for Holiday magazine. He was a record-holding varsity swimmer during his sophomore year.
While at Yale, Knowles contributed stories to campus humor magazine The Yale Record and served on the board of the Yale Daily News during his sophomore, junior and senior years, notably as editorial secretary during his senior year. Knowles graduated from Yale University as a member of the class of 1949. Peter's High School in Fairmont, West Virginia from 1938 until 1940, before continuing at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, graduating in 1945.įollowing his time at Phillips Exeter, Knowles spent two years serving in the U.S. His father was vice president of a coal company, earning an income which afforded them a comfortable living. Knowles, a purchasing agent from Lowell, Massachusetts, and Mary Beatrice Shea Knowles from Concord, New Hampshire. Knowles was born in Fairmont, West Virginia, the son of James M.
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