Russell, like his three brothers, attended Harvard University, class of 1914, but he dropped out after one year, finding “the academic life pretentious and uninspiring.”[1] In the following two years, he served in a variety of odd jobs, from mechanic to department store clerk to bellhop.
[2] From 1913 to 1916, he was a professor of English and art at Boyland, an experimental boarding school in Santa Barbara.
He soon became manager of the Adriatic Marine Supply Company in the disputed Free State of Fiume (now Croatia), under the occupation of Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio.
In December, during the “Bloody Christmas” actions, the couple, like other Americans, was forced to leave Fiume, with D’Annunzio himself writing across Coryell's passport: “He leaves Fiume forever to return to his own country.”[5] Their return may not have been immediate, as Coryell claims to have spent six years abroad.
[4] At any rate, the couple relocated to Maine where John R. Coryell had a summer home, and Russell began his writing career.