By Karen Middleton
ATHENS — Athens State University Professor of English and law first became enthralled with the words of Abraham Lincoln when as a fifth grader he was required to memorize the words to the "Gettysburg Address."
“I was attracted to Lincoln himself, and as a Baptist, I had to memorize the King James Bible, and then I began to see how they interconnected,” Elmore said.
The result of this lifelong interest resulted in his just-published book, “Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: Echoes of the Bible and the Prayer Book,” (Southern Illinois University Press, 2009).
Elmore just returned from the annual meeting of the Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg, Penn., on the 146th anniversary of the address. There, he joined with other authors whose books have won the seal of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Elmore signed copies of his book and, in turn, obtained signed copies of books of other attending Lincoln scholars.
Elmore said actor Richard Dreyfuss addressed the assemblage. He also got to brush shoulders with literary luminaries.
“I never counted on getting to sign a copy for a man who had once played in a movie with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor,” Elmore said. “Richard Carwardine, a Lincoln author, was one of the featured speakers at the Lincoln Forum. Now head of St. Catherine’s College of Oxford University in England, where he is the Rhodes Professor of American History, Carwardine was a young Oxford student when he took a small part in the Burton-Taylor film, “Dr. Faustus.”
Elmore said he recognized Carwardine and asked him to sign his book, “Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power.” When Elmore approached him, Carwardine recognized Elmore’s name as a new Lincoln author.
“It was the highlight of my trip to Gettysburg,” Elmore said. “Carwardine is a cultural hero to me because he’s the perfect combination of intelligence and humanity. Here’s this man who has reached the very pinnacle of his profession and yet is totally approachable, totally unassuming.”
Elmore was joined by friends from his native Forest, Miss., and they toured the battlefields of Gettysburg and Antietam before returning to Athens.
Elmore said he intends to make the Lincoln Forum an annual pilgrimage, along with annual visits to his two sons.
The euphoria of mingling with other Lincoln scholars and authors would not have come about if he had taken his first rejection letter to heart. Several years ago, he had written a scholarly article about the interconnectedness of Lincoln’s phraseology and themes in the "Gettysburg Address” and the Bible and the Episcopal Church’s “Book of Common Prayer.”
“I submitted it to the ‘Journal of Abraham Lincoln’ and I got this four-page, single-spaced rejection letter,” Elmore said. “The editor was compelled to rebut my argument but I realized he didn’t know squat about the Bible. So, I thought maybe I had better start at a lower level. Then, darn it, I wound up writing a book.”
Elmore’s book also explores other religious texts that had a bearing on Lincoln’s philosophy and writing.
He will sign copies of his book at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Pablo’s on Market in Athens. The public is invited to the book signing. Refreshments will be provided by Lib Brett’s class at First United Methodist Church, where Elmore also teaches a Sunday school group.
