Background
In high school Abbey kept a journal and often used the moniker Jonathan Troy to refer to himself. While no one has claimed that the book is in any way an autobiographical account, it was not well received by people who had known Abbey during his senior year of high school. The contempt Jonathan shows for the residents of his home town was a hard blow to people Abbey knew in high school, a fact that may have had something to do with Abbey's later regret at having published this book.
Still, as with his later novels, the book contains more fiction than fact. For example, in the book, Jonathan lives alone with his one-eyed father. In real life, both of Abbey's parents were living and his father had two perfectly good eyes.
According to the back of the book jacket, Abbey began writing Jonathan Troy as a creative writing assignment at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque under the sponsorship of Professor C.V. Wicker. After receiving his B.A. degree in 1951, Abbey spent a year at the University of Edinburgh. It was there that the greater part of Jonathan Troy was completed.
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