Stephen Becker (1927–1998)

Stephen Becker is one of my favorite writers, a person I wish I had met before he died. Here we have a tale set during the brutal US occupation of Haiti in the early 1900s.

Marine Lt. Robert McAllister is able to keep some intellectual distance from the brutality and waste of this war against the people of Haiti until his fiancée Caroline Barbour is kidnapped by the insurgents. Caroline is no wilting lily, she is the daughter of a Marine and she rides and shoots as needed to protect herself from harm. However, neither she nor McAllister are able to protect themselves from the pity and sympathy evoked by the colorful, warm, and savage people of Haiti.

Although "Rendezvous in Haiti" is not as strong as his other books, Mr. Becker, once again, brings us lively, supremely self-aware human characters. As always his portrayal of McAllister as a man who loves women with his eyes open is outstanding.

I received a review copy of "A Rendezvous in Haiti" by Stephen Becker (Open Road) through NetGalley.com. It was first published in 1980 by W. W. Norton.

For more Stephen Becker see:

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2I33RNXHU459K/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
https://www.amazon.com/review/RZ0RKLL30EUGO/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
https://www.amazon.com/review/R3M362U7ETE1XI/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm… (plus d'informations)

I am a huge Stephen Becker fan and I remember reading these books decades ago. I am pretty sure that the sheer stunning splendor of the writing, in particular that of "The Last Mandarin", caused me to abandon any hope of being a novelist, while at the same time fanning my burning desire to live in the Far East, which I have done.

https://www.librarything.com/work/17238705/book/129126965
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I received a review copy of "The Far East Trilogy" by Stephen Becker (Open Road Integrated Media) through NetGalley.com. The three books were originally published in 1975, 1979 and 1982.… (plus d'informations)

Hsüü what a book!

Stephen Becker was only 20 when he landed in Peking 1947 as an instructor at Yenching University, but 20 meant a lot more back then. At 20 Mr. Becker had already served as a Marine in WW2 and graduated from Harvard. Although The Far East Trilogy, of which "The Chinese Bandit" is the opening, was not published till much later, it is clear that the notes and ideas came from his experiences in the rough and tumble period immediately before the communist takeover of China in 1949. 1947 was a fantastic year in China and, while from easily accessible online biographies it is not apparent that Mr. Becker traveled to Western China, the detail and color in these books suggests that he surely did.

Jake Dodds is a sergeant in the US Marines, a smart and observant man who ascribes to the military truism that sergeants are best. He also, in the tradition of sergeants in fiction, is an opportunist, and he is in business with a Chinese fellow called Kao buying and selling items of great usefulness in a modernizing country – wire, nails, toolsets and other practical items – without worrying very much about their provenance. Kao is a bit more than he seems, though, and when Jake deserts the Marines after a colorful brothel fight lands a general on a sewage barge, Kao arranges for Jack to join a camel caravan heading west to new adventures.

This is the kind of adventure I have always adored and I can't tell you how thrilling it is to rediscover this series. Jake is the kind of man Mr. Becker admired. Masculine, sexual, honorable, practical. Ironically aware of his surroundings and the peculiar world we human beings make. Jake is definitely not a man who would be written today and this book, evoking as it does the authentic sights and smells of a world lost a century ago, could not be written today.

It occurred to me as I was reading that our younger readers nurtured on sanitary sex, good plumbing, and daily showers, will be left gasping by these books. That is no reason not to urge them to read them. Perhaps one in 10,000 will find Mr. Becker's books irresistible and some interesting changes in world perspective will emerge. The heavens know we need more leaders with worldly perspectives and more writers like Mr. Becker.

I received a review copy of "The Chinese Bandit" by Stephen Becker (Open Road Integrated Media) through NetGalley.com.… (plus d'informations)

What would Aticus Finch be like if he were a flesh and blood man with lusts and loves and thick black hair on his back? Stephen Becker writes a clean and vigorous story of a man, a judge, who believes that it is the letter and spirit of the law that defines a civil society.

Mr. Becker's prose is admirable; some passages positively ring. Judge Lewis is a young man in the spring of 1923, living with his mother in a small city in the southwest, probably around Las Cruces. Judge Lewis has a clear and ironic idea of the worthiness of man, the beauty of women, the importance of living life to the fullest, and the necessity for honor and mercy. His mother, a widow, is a fine woman. His young clerk, a Zuni, is a "professional Indian" who offers insight into legal precedent often reflecting on General Custer. The people of the city are everyman – generous, petty, noble, venal, pompous, and sometimes stupid.

This is a courtroom drama and generally I don't like them. Here, the elegance of the first person narrative and the overall economy of process in those bygone days, redeem the book. Some readers may find the last few pages of courtroom summation to be overlong, but I don't think the scene could have been handled differently. Mr. Becker knows the Texas law of the period and he tells us the options open to Judge Lewis, the prosecutor and the defense. Once the procedural choice is made, the written summation is inevitable. It is how, according to the law, the verdict would have been presented.

Stephen Becker was born in 1927 and died in 1999. He was educated at Harvard and in 1954 was honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts. "A Covenant with Death" was first published in 1964 by McMillan and it has been reissued several times. It was made into a film in 1967 starring George Maharis and Laura Devon.

I received a review copy of "A Covenant with Death" by Stephen Becker (Open Road Integrated Media) through NetGalley.com.… (plus d'informations)