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the doc's first exposure to thomas wolfe, and what a treat...about halfway through and what a bunch of characters eugene has for parents...the whole family is interesting...and this resort town based on asheville, north carolina is a wonderful setting...
this isn't political correct writing here, this is just the way things were...eugene just got his first 'jelly roll'...
just outstanding...and the doc can see why kerouac felt so inspired by wolfe's writing...
Hey doc -- I loved the hell out of Look Homeward, Angel when I was younger (read it when I was 18/19ish), and I attribute some of my love of literature and language to Wolfe and that book. . . .so, I'm right there with you.
I know that Wolfe and this book have fallen out of literary fashion lately, but for me and a significant generation of literary types, this book was highly influential.
It's strange, I remember just the other day talking with one of my classes about sensory description and I used Wolfe's description of "brains and eggs", a common southern breakfast, as an example of writing that appeals to the olfactory sense. Wolfe's descriptions of food, breakfast in particular, are second to none.
first the doc would like to say how aggrevating it is to take the time to type out a post and when he goes to post, it tells him that he has to log in...somehow he ended up losing the whole post...not fun to have to try to type it over again!
now a semblance of what he typed earlier...
yes, the food scenes are a treat to read...old man gant appreciates a good meal and the family eats well...you definitely get the impression how important meals are to the family...they set a hearty table...and wash it down w/ coffee...
the old man is a larger than life character, but the mrs. doesn't need to take a back seat to anyone herself...but the old man's constant complaints are just a joy to read...you really would like to meet him and listen to him lament...the mrs. takes his talk w/ a grain of salt...very wise to do...
he married into good mountain stock and this dynamic of the wanderer and the multi-generational mountain woman is the foundation of a most interesting family...
the old man is a poet...the wife much more practical...bourgeous values and interested in money and making more of it...while she chases the dollar, he finds solace for a life he might have wanted to live in the bottle...he's got an alcohol problem, but away from the fray, the reader is willing to forgive him for that...
the town is prosperous as well and w/ a tourist based economy in part, it is going to yield to the locals growing up there many an opportunity to create interesting memories...a wonderful place for a middle class kid like eugene to grow up...
the time frame is also very interesting to the doc...approximately 50 years after the completion of the civil war in a rebel state is going to shape attitudes of the local citizenry...
the doc has read about how wolfe has fallen out of favor these days w/ some of the literature intelligentsia, but as w/ many things, literature sometimes goes back in style in later years...
anyways, this book so far is hitting all the right notes...it really takes you back to a time and place in americana...and the gant family is right in there working it...reaching for their slice of the american dream...even if that dream was very segregated in early 1900's north carolina...
Love the title of this book but haven't read it yet (nor have I read anything by Wolfe)!
Should make it one of my 11-authors.
Doc, would you like to write a review for this book?
the doc'll add thoughts on this thread if there's something that grabs him, but he pretty much put alot out there already on what he feels about the setting and the characters...
to streamline, eugene's parents are solidly middle class, some might even think wealthy...and he's living in a prosperous vacation, resort community that is racially segregated...but that doesn't mean that eugene and his compatriots don't have interactions w/ everyone that lives and visits the town...and this includes a jewish population...
it's a coming of age story, but what has grabbed the doc so far is the powerful father and mother in the story...and the combination has made for an interesting brood...eugene as the youngest, might be the most boring of the lot...
the doc likes to see this on the front page while he's reading this book...got only one hundred pages left, and it's still delivering the goods...
the old man is as tough as nails...
the doc finished up earlier this week...kerouac fans who haven't read any wolfe could do worse than reaching for this one...you can see why he was one of jack's greatest literary influences...
ROAR!
the doc cracked open this thomas wolfe bio this weekend...outstanding...
http://www.amazon.com/Look-Homeward-...0414464&sr=1-2