R.V. Cassill
| Ronald Verlin Cassill | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 17, 1919 Cedar Falls, Iowa |
| Died | March 25, 2002 (aged 82) Providence, Rhode Island |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer, editor, painter, lithographer, Creative writing instructor |
| Nationality | United States |
| Genre | Fiction |
R. V. Cassill, full name Ronald Verlin Cassill, (May 17, 1919 – March 25, 2002) was a prolific writer, reviewer, editor, painter, and lithographer. He is most notable for his novels and short stories, through which he won several awards and grants.
Cassill was born on May 17, 1919 in Cedar Falls, Iowa to Howard Cassill, a school superintendent, and Mary Glosser, a teacher; he had two brothers, Donald Cassill and H. Carroll Cassill, and a sister, LaJean. After graduating from Blakesburg High School, he earned a B.A. in art at The University of Iowa in 1939, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. From 1942 to 1946, Cassill served the United States Army in the Medical Administration Core as a first lieutenant, stationed in the South Pacific.
Cassill's wartime experiences culminated in his short story "The Conditions of Justice," published in 1947, and won him his first Atlantic Monthly.
For less than a year after having returned from the war, Cassill studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1946, where his artistic skills flourished. He mounted exhibits in Chicago in 1946 and 1948.
After studying in Chicago, he returned to the University of Iowa, earning his M.A. in 1947. In 1949 he briefly served as an instructor at the University's Writer's Workshop before attending the Sorbonne in 1952 for a year as a Fulbright Fellow, studying comparative literature. Cassill worked as an editor for the Western Review of Iowa City from 1951 to 1952, Collier's Encyclopedia from 1953 to 1954, and Dude and Gent in 1958.
Cassill wrote about 15 "paperback originals" in the 1950s and early 1960s. Assessing these early writings, The New York Times' remarked that "Cassill shows that he can combine paperback storytelling at its strongest with subtle literary quality."
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