Letters Benjamin Demott
In this blog are some letters exchanged between Benjamin DeMott, a writer who also taught at Amherst --was in fact the longtime head of the English Department. The letters span numerous decades. Mr. DeMott wrote numerous books and for publications such as Harpers, Atlantic, and New York Times. Both Mr. DeMott and my mother grew up in Rockville Centre in the 'twenties, attending Hewitt School and Southside High School. As children, Mom described walking to school with this preternaturally brilliant peer. My mother remembers him as a talented individual not interested in the usual sports and perhaps somewhat ungainly at the time. He played in the band rather than on the more prestigious sports teams. In later years he reappeared at a high school reunion transformed by success and fame. Mom, incidentally, was cheerleader captain at Southside and as chance would have it, still lives in Rockville Centre, a nonagenarian, aside the home of the Southside cheerleading captain of 33 y