McConkey, James

James McConkey was born on Labor Day in 1921. He is Goldwin Smith Professor of English Literature, emeritus, at Cornell University, and has written or edited 14 books. Among them are two books about writers who have influenced him. The Novels of E.M. Forster is a critical study; To a Distant Island concerns the greatest adventure of Anton Chekhov's life, his more than 6500-mile journey from Moscow across Siberia to Sakhalin Island to interview the convicts imprisoned there. To a Distant Island has been reprinted by Paul Dry Books, in Philadelphia.