Ben W. McClelland 
Major Works
- Soldier's Son. Jackson, MS: The University Press of Mississippi
- Many academic publications.
If you are interested, click here for Ben
W. McClelland's vita.
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Biography of Ben W. McClelland
By Albert Oppenheimer (SHS)
 Born
in the small town of Masontown, Pennsylvania, in the early 1940's,
Ben W. McClelland never knew his father because his father Ewing
R. "Pete" McClelland was captured in the Battle of the Bulge
and killed on December 23, 1944, when the German POW camp in
which he was held a prisoner was bombed by the Allies during
the Second World War. Ben, his twin sister Mary Jane, and an
older brother Petie Dick were raised by his mother MaryAnne
Wright McClelland (who was a second grade school teacher
and later became a postmaster) and his extended family of Wrights.
McClelland earned
an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English at Indiana University. In 2000, at the
age of fifty-six, he decided to visit his father's grave in
Europe at the American Military Cemetery near Margraten in the
Netherlands. Visiting his father's grave helped McClelland to
come to grips with his own identity.
McClelland is the Holder of the Ottilie Schillig Chair in English
Composition at the University of Mississippi. He was previously
director of the freshmen English program until 1999 and then
the Writing Project of Ole Miss from 1987 to 2000. His published
writing consisted mainly of textbooks and professional works
before he wrote his memoir called Soldier's Son,
which is part of the Willie Morris Book in Memoir and Biography
series. He is now working on new projects in fiction.
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A Review
of Soldier's Son 
by Albert Oppenheimer (SHS)
Soldier's Son by
Ben W. McClelland is a heartfelt memoir about McClelland's life as a
young child growing up without a father. Using detailed and
masterfully-narrated tales of family mishaps and adventures, McClelland
draws the reader into his universe and his family's life. Even
though he only gets into detail about the absence of his father
in the later half of the book, the reader can still feel the void in
the young man's life.
The touching story reveals
how his extended family takes him in and places him under their
collective, and sometimes dubious, protection; each one treating
Ben as his or her own son. After his pilgrimage to Europe to his
father's grave, McClelland says, "I saw the memorial to him. I
acknowledged his sacrifice for me, indeed for all of us for whom he
died. The pilgrimage enabled me...to gain another view on my
dad's identity--as well as a better grasp on mine." In Soldier's Son
McClelland presents an almost complete genealogy of his entire family
tree, dating back to the Mayflower. As we encounter each family
member, we are introduced to an entire personality, not just a
passing mention, but an entire life history of each individual family
member, complete with funny stories and inspiring quotes. If you are a
fan of family lineage and enjoy learning the history of some
people and small towns during war time, then this book is definitely
for you. If that stuff doesn't really get your motor running, then you
might find it a bit dry and difficult to read through the many pages of
detailed biography, but overall, Soldier's Son is a decent read.
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Related Websites
Ben
W. McClelland's home page has much information on both McClelland
and Soldier's Son.
Ben
McClelland is holder of the Ottilie Schillig Chair in English
Composition at Ole Miss.
RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE
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Bibliography
"Ben W. McClelland." University Department of English. 2000. 4 March 2000.
<http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/faculty/mcclelland_ben.html>.
McClelland, Ben W. Soldier's Son: University Press of Mississippi. Mississippi, 2004. "Soldier's Son." 2004.
<http://home.olemiss.edu/~wgbwm/>.
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