Fritz Peters near Utica, 1950

"What are we thinking about when we drive so fast over some of the most lovely countryside to be found anywhere?" he asked himself.  "Where are we all going?"

While researching what was to become his third novel, The Descent, Fritz Peters visited with friends in Clinton, near Utica, New York. His novel of America's roads and highways, whose final cataclysmic scene takes place in New Mexico, started its life with Peters observing and interviewing travelers along Route 20 in New York. Richard H. Costa composed a portrait of the author with accompanying photos by Dante O. Tranquille for the December 10, 1950 Sunday edition of The Utica Observer-Dispatch. The original photo negatives used in the story and two candid shots of the subject and the author are now part of a private collection.

Costa was a columnist-reporter for The Utica Observer-Dispatch in the 1950s, taught at Utica College in the 1960s and was later a professor of English at Texas A&M University.

Tranquille was a central New York photographer who also worked for many years as the staff photographer for The Utica Observer-Dispatch. Two of his photos were selected for 1949's The Exact Instant, a show of the 100 best news photographs of the century at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Fritz Peters uses a wire recorder to make notes
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0008]

Fritz Peters in the kitchen
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0009]

Fritz Peters with American, English and paperback editions of his first novel,
The World Next Door
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0010]

Fritz Peters leaving cabin 5 to begin research
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0004]

Fritz Peters leaving cabin 5 to
begin research (detail)
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0004a]

Fritz Peters along Route 20, NY
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0003]

Fritz Peters along Route 20, NY (detail)
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0003a]

Fritz Peters along Route 20, NY
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0001]

Fritz Peters along Route 20, NY (detail)
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0001a]

Fritz Peters along Route 20, NY
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0002]

Fritz Peters along Route 20, NY (detail)
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0002a]

Fritz Peters interviews Mrs. James Erskine, proprietor of the
Madison Motor Court, NY
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0005]

Fritz Peters interviews Mrs. James
Erskine, proprietor of the Madison
Motor Court, NY (detail)
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0005a]

Fritz Peters correcting galley proofs of his second novel, Finistère
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0007]

Fritz Peters at the piano
November 27, 1950  [cat 3119-0006]

Fritz Peters and Richard Hauer Costa discuss The World Next Door
December 5, 1950  [cat 3899-0001]

Fritz Peters reads Richard Hauer Costa's notebook
December 5, 1950  [cat 3899-0002]

These images originally appeared in Gallery 2 on FritzPeters.info, December 21, 2006. 

The Descent by Fritz Peters

New York : Farrar, Straus and Young, 1952

“All day Sunday on the road, and in spite of his absorbed self-analysis, he had been unable not to watch the travelers on the road. Where were all these people going? The relation of people-Americans-to their automobiles (the way he felt about his own car, the manner in which it seemed to endow him with special importance as a person as if it were an extension of himself, a necessary adjunct to his ego) intrigued him. It seemed to him-and again he felt a sense of discovery-that it was a material representation of enormous magnitude: the cult of the machine-the automobile-had replaced faith. The road, leading endlessly and relentlessly on, a pathway to the unknown, the unexperienced, the future, was capable of leading him anywhere. If there was a heaven for Americans, it would be on such a road, at the top of a rise; something that would be reached in a car."

-The Descent, p.182-3

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:

[1] (Review Edition) New

York : Farrar, Straus and

Young, 1952 [2] New York :

Signet/NAL, 1953 [3] (As

Descent to Darkness) New

York : Berkley Publishing

Corp, 1959

While correcting the final galley proofs for Finistère, Fritz Peters was already hard at work on his third novel. While staying with friends in Clinton, New York, he had begun his research for a novel that takes place on the roads and highways of the United States. He began by observing and interviewing drivers traveling Route 20 in New York, asking the question "Where are we all going?"

The Descent tells the stories of people from all over the country, bringing them together at one crucial moment on a highway in New Mexico. Each individual's experience and choices brings them to this place and time.

Peter Wells is leaving Three Bridges New York, headed to California to be a screenwriter. He's unsure of why he is going and is worried about his father's ill health.

Steven Williams of New York feels smothered by his wife Marjorie, quits his job and begins a cross-country trip, headed toward Santa Fe.

Henry and Mabel Franklin are in a miserable marriage, where Mabel is in charge and believes that Henry is a miserable excuse for a husband. Each year, they take a vacation together, but this year may be the year that Henry finds his voice.

Bob & Mary Hume are on an extended camping vacation in the Southwest with their two children, Toby and Emily. Bob seems to be the only one enjoying himself, but will Mary say anything to him? The children have ideas about what they would like to do, but will their parents listen?

Caroline Pratt has picked up Tom Foster. She's a rich girl who wants to shock her parents by her reckless behavior of picking up a one-night stand. She is desperate to keep Tom around, though, and will do anything to keep him.

Richard Simms is an artist in Santa Fe. His wife Dorothy manages Richard's mother's properties, including the ones that she gave Richard to help support him. Richard begins to doubt his talent as a artist and the tension in the house increases.

Jim Curran, a veteran of WWII, has no job, but rents an apartment behind the Simms' house with his government check. Now that the United States is fighting in Korea, he feels people no longer care about the veterans of previous wars and his sadistic nature begins to emerge.

This post originally appeared on FritzPeters.info, February 1, 2009.