Walker Winslow (February 2, 1905 – May 3, 1969) was an American poet and novelist, one of whose books — an autobiographical work describing his experiences in psychiatric hospitals, both as a patient and as a ward attendant — was published under the pseudonym Harold Maine. Winslow was something of a larger than life character: "Walker's forte was people"Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, New York: New Directions, 1957. , p.63 wrote Henry Miller in his 1957 book Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch. Miller also described is friend's writing talent:
Life and work
Early years — Idaho, Honolulu Walker Winslow was born in Idaho. His father, Burt Winslow, died when Walker was two and a half. His mother remarried when Walker was five,Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) p.5 and the stern approval-withholding nature of his step-father played a dominating and detrimental role in Walker's psychology.Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) passim e.g. p.426 Walker left home at the age of sixteen and joined the peacetime army,Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) p.11 and was already drinking heavily by the age of 18.
In the mid-1930s Winslow was writing poetry, working on a novel, and living in Honolulu,News Notes, in Poetry, Vol. 46, No. 6 (Sep., 1935), Poetry Foundation, pp. 354-356Ox Cart, Prairie Schooner, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Fall 1934), p.220, University of Nebraska Press where he had moved with his wife Kathryn,Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) p.19, based on Kathryn's own identification of herself as 'Virginia' in the autobiographical book, see Kathryn Winslow, Henry Miller: Full of Life, (St Martin's Press, New York, 1986) p.154 who was also writing and publishing poetry.Ox Cart, Prairie Schooner, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Winter 1936), pp.322-324, University of Nebraska Press In Hawaii Winslow worked in the publicity departments of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce and also in the sugar industry.James Reidel, Vanished Act: Life and Art of Weldon Kees (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), p.66 His writing also appeared in the left wing magazine The Anvil,United States. Congress. House. Special Committee on Un-American Activities (1938-1944), Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States, Part 9, Volume 1, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 1944 and Kathryn kept up a correspondence with its editor, the novelist Jack Conroy, for the next dozen or so years.Kathryn Winslow, Henry Miller: Full of Life, St Martin's Press, New York, 1986, pp.203-204 Walker's problems with alcohol continued and worsened, leading to him voluntarily admitting himself to a psychiatric hospital for one month.Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) pp.21, 25 Walker and Kathryn ended their marriage, which it turned out had never been legal because Walker had not actually divorced from an earlier wife, having simply deserted her and having assumed that she would have had the marriage annulled.Kathryn Winslow, Henry Miller: Full of Life, St Martin's Press, New York, 1986, p.156 Walker and Kathryn remained on good terms and kept up a frequent, at times daily, correspondence.Kathryn Winslow, Henry Miller: Full of Life, St Martin's Press, New York, 1986, p.153 After their separation, Kathryn moved to San Francisco, and Walker soon followed her there, before heading down to South California to the area where his parents lived and to the county where his first wedding had taken place, to sort things out.Kathryn Winslow, Henry Miller: Full of Life, St Martin's Press, New York, 1986, p.157 Kathryn later heard that while he had been visiting his parents, Walker had met again a "sort of cousin,"Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) p.96 who had, through "some dim relationship" with his family, entered his life several times during his childhood; she had been also visiting from New York. After a period of intense correspondence the two reunited, when she travelled to Nevada for a divorce,Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) p.98 and the two quickly got married.
Portland, Denver, New York
In 1938 Winslow was living in Portland, Oregon,Ox Cart, Prairie Schooner, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Winter 1938), pp. 323-324, University of Nebraska Press and working on 'Mining Life in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest' for the Federal Writers' Project. By 1939 he had been transferred to Denver, ColoradoOx Cart, Prairie Schooner, Fall 1939, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Fall 1939), pp. 208-210, University of Nebraska Press with the help of his newAt the end of a drinking binge, Winslow told Weldon Kees that Helen was his fourth wife, (James Reidel, Vanished Act: Life and Art of Weldon Kees (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), p.68), although in If a Man Be Mad he does state that he frequently fabricated much including entire identities when he was on a binge. On p.389 of If a Man Be Mad (Gollancz, 1952) he says: "I who had been a constitutional liar in regard to my personal life ..." wife Helen's former father-in-law, the artist Boardman Robinson. Helen Elizabeth Simons (b. 5 Sept 1908) had been married to John Whitney Robinson, and had been an actress and a dancer in New York; she knew figures from that city's literary scene, such as Sinclair Lewis and Thomas Wolfe, and herself had manuscript drafts in progress,James Reidel, Vanished Act: Life and Art of Weldon Kees (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), p.67 having already published, in 1937,WorldCat entry for Pity For Women under the pseudonym Helen Anderson (Anderson being her mother's maiden name) the early lesbian novel Pity for women. In Denver, Walker and Helen became friends of Weldon Kees and his wife Ann, after they rented an apartment near the Kees.James Reidel, Vanished Act: Life and Art of Weldon Kees (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), pp.66 - 69 Weldon Kees had known not only of Helen's novel, but also had been in particular impressed by the fact that Walker had had eight poems appear in an illustrated full page of Esquire.'All Night Coffee Shop', Esquire, November 1935, p.92 Winslow was a heavy drinker, and his antics were often described in Ann Kees' letters to the Kees' friend Norris Getty.Robert E. Knoll (ed.), Weldon Kees and the Midcentury Generation, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986), p.238 One drinking binge, which started on a Saturday, was fuelled by copious drinks at a dinner with the Kees on Sunday, and culminated a few days later at the house of the poet Thomas Hornsby Ferril, who at that time was a publicity man for Great Western Sugar; Winslow ended up punching the sugar company's president. Following this he was committed to the Colorado Psychopathic Hospital.James Reidel, Vanished Act: Life and Art of Weldon Kees (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), p.68 He separated from Helen and lived a down-and-out alcoholic's existence in New York, ending up in Bellevue Hospital.Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952)pp.135-172 Helen had moved back in with her former in-laws in Colorado Springs,James Reidel, Vanished Act: Life and Art of Weldon Kees (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), p.69 and arranged a divorce.Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) p.171
Winslow moved from Bellevue to a Christian-run institution for alcoholics in a rural setting about fifty miles from New York, and while there he started working on an old manuscript for a novel.Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952)pp.176-190 In 1941, after returning to the city, he was involved with Alcoholics Anonymous in its early days; the wider publicity that a Saturday Evening Post article gave the organisation led to growth and changes, which at first Winslow had been swept up in, but in the end led to him tapering off his involvement.Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952)pp.196-203 That year Man in Paradise, subtitled 'A Novel of Hawaii as it is today,' was published by Smith & Durrell, New YorkWorldCat entry for Man in paradise. One of the novel's themes was the growing influence of the island's resident Japanese population; the book came out in late November,Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) p.211 not much more than a week before the attack on Pearl Harbor.Kathryn Winslow, Henry Miller: Full of Life, St Martin's Press, New York, 1986, p.152
On a visit to his mother and step-father, Winslow suffered some form of psychotic breakdown which involved hallucinations.Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) pp.215-242 Upon release he found life in the outside world too daunting, and struck upon the idea of working as an attendant in a psychiatric facility, where not only could he find some connection with patients, but also be in a safer and controlled environment.Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) pp.243-277 He then moved on to work as a ward attendant in the psychiatric wards of a Veteran's Administration facility,Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) pp.333-365 where he worked until 30 December 1944.Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) Footnote on p.424 During this entire period he did not drink any alcohol.Harold Maine, If a Man Be Mad, (Gollancz, London, 1952) p.432
Big Sur and Henry Miller
In the mid-1940s Winslow was in California, and spent time at Big Sur where he was close to Henry Miller, the two of them taking long walks together nearly every evening.Kathryn Winslow, Henry Miller: Full of Life, St Martin's Press, New York, 1986, p.155 In 1945 he helped Miller publish Aller Retour New York in pamphlet form.Arnold, Wayne E. "Never to Return: Aller Retour New York and Henry Miller's Shelved Epistle." Nexus: The International Henry Miller Journal, vol. 12, annual 2018, pp.23-73 Miller describes how one morning Winslow woke him early to come and witness a strange phenomenon of what looked like twin stars gyrating near the horizon, and Miller goes on to talk about how there were subsequently many reports of 'flying saucers' in the area.Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, New York: New Directions, 1957, p.75 Winslow's former wifeArthur Hoyle, The Unknown Henry Miller: A Seeker in Big Sur, Skyhorse Publishing Inc (2016) p.305 Kathryn Winslow, with whom Walker had kept in touch, corresponding regularly, had met Miller at Big Sur in 1944, and four years later with her new husband William Mecham was to open a sort of bookstore devoted to selling his work, called “M, the studio for Henry Miller” in the area of Chicago's old Jackson Park art colony. Her biography of Miller, Henry Miller: Full of Life was published in 1986.Kathryn Winslow, Henry Miller: Full of Life, J.P. Tarcher; Distributed by St. Martin's Press, Los Angeles, New York, 1986. (WorldCat entry) In his time at Big Sur, Winslow was working on a new book. Henry Miller described Winslow's approach to work: "And then there was Walker Winslow, who was then writing If a Man Be Mad, which turned out to be a best seller. Walker wrote at top speed, and seemingly without interruption, in a tiny shack by the roadside which Emil White had built to house the steady stream of stragglers who were forever busting in on him for a day, a week, a month or a year."Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch (1957), p.12 Walker had rented Emil's studio for $25 a month and Miller was reading each chapter as it came out of the typewriter.Kathryn Winslow, Henry Miller: Full of Life, St Martin's Press, New York, 1986, p.154
If a Man be Mad