\"In The House of Christina\" Ben Haas Hand Written Letter For Sale

Up for sale "In The House of Christina" Ben Haas Hand Written Letter.

ES-9814

IN THE HOUSE OF CHRISTINA, the

final novel written by Ben Haas, a young priest is talking to Lanier Condon, an

American writer living in

Vienna

.

Suddenly the priest realizes that Condon is the author of a novel he has

enjoyed, so he tells the writer, “It was indeed a memorable piece of work.

There are scenes in it which I recall as clearly as if I had experienced them

myself…”  Condon replies, “Well, I guess

that’s fame. When you meet a stranger eight thousand miles from home and he’s

read your book.”

The priest has just summed up the

pleasure of reading the best of Ben Haas, who was an American writer living in

Vienna

when he started work on THE HOUSE OF CHRISTINA. It is that difficult trick of

making fiction seem like a real experience that elevates the work of Ben

Haas.  Ben once said, “I have tried to

develop a style which puts the reader into the novel itself.”

Benjamin Leopold Haas was born in

Charlotte

,

North Carolina

in 1926.  In his entry for CONTEMPORARY

AUTHORS, Ben told us he inherited his love of books from his German-born

father, who would offer on hundreds of books at unclaimed freight sales during

the Depression. His imagination was also fired by the stories of the Civil War

and Reconstruction told by his Grandmother, who had lived through both. “My

father was a pioneer operator of motion picture theatres”, Ben wrote. “So I had

free access to every theatre in

Charlotte

and saw countless films growing up, hooked on the lore of our own South and the

Old West.”  A family friend, a black man

named Ike who lived in a cabin in the woods, took him hunting and taught him to

love and respect the guns that were the tools of that trade. All of these

influences – seeing the world like a story from a good book or movie, heartfelt

tales of the Civil War and the West, a love of weapons – register strongly in

Ben’s own books. Dreaming about being a writer, 18-year-old Ben sold a story to

a Western pulp magazine. He dropped out of college to support his family. He

was self-educated. And then he was drafted, and sent to the Philippines.

Ben served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army from 1945 to 1946. Returning home,

Ben went to work, married a Southern belle named Douglas Thornton Taylor from

Raleigh

in 1950, lived in

Charlotte

and in

Sumter

in

South Carolina

, and then made

Raleigh

his home in 1959. Ben and his wife had three sons, Joel, Michael and John. Ben held

various jobs until 1961, when he was working for a steel company. He had

submitted a manuscript to Beacon Books, and an offer for more came just as he was

laid off at the steel company. He became a full-time writer for the rest of his

life. Ben wrote every day, every night. “I tried to write 5000 words or more

everyday, scrupulous in maintaining authenticity”, Ben said.  His son Joel later recalled, “My Mom learned

to go to sleep to the sound of a typewriter”.