Centerstage - Chicago's Original City Guide

"The Scott Fitzgerald of Illinois," Floyd Dell was born in Barry in 1887 and lived in Chicago. Like his better-known contemporary, Dell wrote about the restlessness and disillusionment that characterized America in the years between World Wars I and II, as well as the lighter side of the Jazz Age. Though Dell did not write an official autobiography until 1933's "Homecoming," his first book, "Moon-Calf," about an unhappy young man who longs to escape southwest Illinois, was probably inspired by his own experiences. He had strong left-wing political beliefs, leaving his post as editor at the Chicago Evening Post for the socialist publications "The Masses" and then "The Liberator." During the Depression, Dell was editor of special reports for the Works Progress Administration. Many of his works reflect his left-wing views, and were reprinted by radical publishing houses in the 1970s.

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