Look Homeward
A Life of Thomas Wolfe
Published on 30. January 2003
Book
Paperback/Softback
608 pages
978-0-674-00869-4 (ISBN)
Description
This is a biography of American writer Thomas Wolfe by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Herbert Donald. The book follows Wolfe from improbable affairs to drunken brawls, from his mother's "Old Kentucky Home", caricatured in "Look Homeward Angel", to European capitals where he indulged his Faustian yearning to read, see and do everything. With complete access to all of Wolfe's papers, Donald presents an account of Wolfe's short, but astonishing life. Wolfe's passionate affair with Aline Bernstein is candidly described, as are his controversial relations with his editors, in particular with father-figure Maxwell Perkins of Scribner's. David Donald Herbert won the Pulitzer Prize for "Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War".
Reviews / Votes
Supersedes all previous Wolfe biographies in illuminating detail, in empathy for its complex unhappy subject, in sympathy for what he wanted to do, and what he did, as a writer, and in its own literary distinction...A work of great subtlety and sophistication. Washington Post Book World Easily the best biography of an American novelist. Gore Vidal An eloquently told story and an extraordinary achievement. Boston GlobeMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
35 half-tones, 2 line illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Weight
853 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-674-00869-4 (9780674008694)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
David Herbert Donald was Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor of American Civilization at Harvard University.
Content
* Preface * I. A Secret Life * II. The Magical Campus * III. By God, I Have Genius * IV. I Shall Conquer the World * V. Must Spin Out My Entrails * VI. Like Some Blind Thing upon the Floor of the Sea * VII. A Miracle of Good Luck * VIII. Penance More * IX. A Miserable, Monstrous Mis-begotten Life * X. The Famous American Novelist * XI. Almost Every Kind of Worry * XII. Unmistakable and Most Grievous Severance * XIII. A New World Is Before Me Now * Afterword: The Posthumous Novels of Thomas Wolfe * Acknowledgments * Sources, Abbreviations, and Notes * Index