Background
Edwin Corle was born on March 7, 1906 in Wildwood, New Jersey, the son of Samuel Edwin and Marie Gertrude Dever Corle. He traveled often with his parents to the western states during his youth.
He educated at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his A.B. in 1928.
Edwin Corle was born on March 7, 1906 in Wildwood, New Jersey, the son of Samuel Edwin and Marie Gertrude Dever Corle. He traveled often with his parents to the western states during his youth.
At the age of seventeen, Edwins' family moved to Southern California where he finished high school, attended college, and eventually settled. He educated at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his A.B. in 1928.
Corle began his career writing radio scripts in the early 1930s. But soon he gave up this work to concentrate on his own writing. He published his first short story in 1933 in the Atlantic Monthly. "Amethyst" is a tale centered around an amethyst mine in the Mojave Desert, a setting that would reappear in his future works. This first effort was successful enough to be included in Edward J. O'Brien's The Best Short Stories: 1934.
Continuing to write for magazines, Corle published his first collection of short stories, Mojave: A Book of Stories, in 1934. Included in the fourteen stories are detailed descriptions of the California desert and of the way of life on Southwestern Indian reservations. Originally to be included in this first collection was a story based around and actual person, a Cahuilla Indian known as Fig Tree John. Instead, Corle saved the character for his first and most successful novel published. To write sympathetically about this character and about the situation of Indian people in the west in general, Corle approached the subject like a scholar, doing thorough research and interviews of local people.
Fig Tree John, published in 1935, is a fictional account of the life of this Native American, who moved from his reservation in Arizona to southern California.
After his first novel, Corle continued to study Native American people. He spent two years living on reservations and learning the language of the Navajos. His next novel, People on the Earth, published in 1937, was based on these experiences. This novel received mixed reviews, although it won the author a prize from the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. Corle expanded on his interest in portraying other cultures in his next novel, Burro Alley, published in 1938. This satire depicted Mexican-Americans living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Humorous tension arose because of the mix of different kinds of people all forced together in this one place during tourist season. Although Corle's treatment of Mexican-American's was not considered as accurate and respectful and his pictures of Native Americans, this novel was generally complemented for its wit and unusual structure.
Corle's travels in Europe in 1938 gave him the inspiration for another different culture he would explore. Three Ways to Mecca, published in 1947, was set against a Parisian backdrop for much of the narrative and continues the author's attempt at a satirical style. All together, Corle published eight novels in his short lifetime (he died at the age of fifty). His most successful subject was his first one - the American west and the clash of cultures among the whites and Native Americans. His first nonfiction book on this topic. Desert Country, was published in 1941. His ambitious topic was a history of the many kinds of people who occupy the American southwest, including Indians, Caucasians, Mexicans and Mormons. He also explored the different professions of these people, ranging from bartenders to miners and prospectors. Corle took a similar widefocused look at the history of the Grand Canyon and its surrounding areas in Listen, Bright Angel, published in 1946.
During World War II, Corle took a short break from writing. In 1943 he joined the Army Air Corps. After the war, Corle combined his experiences with his interest in Native American culture in In Winter Light, published in 1949. This novel further explored the history of the characters in his second novel, People on the Earth. It told the story of a Navajo World War II veteran and again explored the clash of cultures between whites and Indians. Corle's last book combined his interest in history and love of scholarly research with his penchant for writing stories. Billy the Kid, published in 1953, is a fictionalized biography based on a thorough study of background materials on this larger-than-life persona from the American west. He died on June 11, 1956 aged 50 in Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara County, California, United States.
Edwin was a member of Hollywood Committee of Inter-Democracy Federal Unionists.
In 1932 Edwin married Helen Freeman in Ensenada, Mexico. His second wife was Jean Armstrong whom he married on September 23, 1944. They had a daughter Jeanne.