Philip Zumwalt is an accomplished musician, poet, and idealist—a dreamer. Fresh out of college in 1940, he takes a job as a music teacher in a small, rural Illinois town. His plan is to teach for a few years hoping to save enough money to finance his dreams: go to Chicago to become a professional musician and get his pilot’s license. These dreams dominate his thoughts until one summer night when he meets Elinor Robinson.
Based upon the World War II diaries of the real Philip Zumwalt, this debut novel by Barry Swanson is a bittersweet tale of the transcendent power of love and reminds us of the immense sacrifices made by the men and women of that era.
Your novel is based on the World War II diaries of Philip Zumwalt. What is your relationship to Zumwalt and his diaries? How did you come upon them?
Philip Zumwalt is my wife’s uncle, the eldest brother of her father, Homer Zumwalt. At the end of WWII, Philip’s diaries and letters were recovered and sent to Homer’s parents by a friend of Philip’s named Lucky Stevens. Upon the death of his mother, Homer recovered the documents in his parents’ attic. Later, he entrusted them to my wife and me. The diaries and letters may currently be accessed in the archives section of Seymour Library at Knox College.
Many wartime stories continue to be relevant and meaningful to audiences even as time passes. How do you feel that this story will be meaningful to readers in and out of the Knox community?
I suppose the essence of this story is much the same as other personal stories about families being impacted by the ravages of war. Whether the wars of previous generations or those of modern day, the cost is immense and the losses irreplaceable.
Many have written that WWII was a “necessary war.” It is difficult to argue that point given the possible implications of what an Axis powers victory might have meant to the world. However, an epigraph to the novel might best state the overall message of the story. Carl Sandburg once wrote in his epic poem, “The People, Yes,” “Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.” Wouldn’t that be ideal? No more wars. Or to paraphrase John Lennon, imagine if that dream became a reality!
A couple of different themes are pervasive in the novel. First—the loss of the innocence of youth. A sensitive, young man, a poet/musician thrown into the maelstrom of war is forced to come to grips with the reality of war. Second—the transcendent power of love. To quote a character in the novel, “Even in the midst of tragedy, there is hope. Even in the midst of war, there is love.”
Perhaps, the words of the philosopher Santayana etched on the base of the statue of a Jewish prisoner at the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Germany, say it best, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” If we take warning from those awful lessons from the past, we can only hope that the child who uttered the words in Sandburg’s poem was prophetic and that war will be no more.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Maybe a quote from Kathleen Barber, a Galesburg High School graduate and Galesburg native. Katie is the author of Truth Be Told (now an Apple+ series) and Follow Me. Here is what she said about my novel. “Barry Swanson’s immersive debut is at once a tender romance, an insightful coming-of-age story, and an unflinching look at the realities of war. Both uplifting and heartbreaking, Still Points is a book you won’t soon forget.”
Barry Swanson was a visiting professor of educational studies from 2008-2018 and he also served as assistant men’s basketball coach. A Galesburg native, Swanson, now lives in North Carolina.