When You Cant Go Home Again
 First edition cover | |
| Editor | Edward Aswell (edited and compiled work from writings of Wolfe, published posthumously)[1] |
|---|---|
| Author | Thomas Wolfe |
| Genre | Autobiographical fiction, Romance |
| Published | New York, London, Harper & Row, 1940 |
| Pages | 743 |
| OCLC | 964311 |
You Can't Go Home Again is a novel past Thomas Wolfe published posthumously in 1940, extracted by his editor, Edward Aswell, from the contents of his vast unpublished manuscript The October Fair. It is a sequel to The Spider web and the Rock, which, along with the collection The Hills Across, was extracted from the same manuscript.
The novel tells the story of George Webber, a fledgling author, who writes a volume that makes frequent references to his dwelling house town of Libya Hill which was actually Asheville, North Carolina. The book is a national success just the residents of the town had been unhappy with what they view as Webber's distorted depiction of them, send the author menacing letters and death threats.[2] [3]
Wolfe, equally in many of his other novels, explores the changing American society of the 1920s/30s, including the stock market crash, the illusion of prosperity, and the unfair passing of time which prevents Webber ever being able to return "home again". In parallel to Wolfe's relationship with the United states, the novel details his disillusionment with Germany during the rising of Nazism.[4] [5] Wolfe scholar Jon Dawson argues that the two themes are connected most firmly by Wolfe'due south critique of capitalism and comparison betwixt the rise of capitalist enterprise in the United states in the 1920s and the rising of fascism in Germany during the same flow.[6]
The creative person Alexander Calder appears, fictionalized as "Piggy Logan".[7]
Plot summary [edit]
George Webber has written a successful novel nigh his family and hometown. When he returns to that town, he is shaken by the force of outrage and hatred that greets him. Family and lifelong friends feel naked and exposed by what they have seen in his books, and their fury drives him from his dwelling.
Outcast, George Webber begins a search for his own identity. It takes him to New York and a hectic social whirl; to Paris with an uninhibited group of expatriates; to Berlin, lying cold and sinister under Hitler's shadow. The journey comes total circle when Webber returns to America and rediscovers it with love, sorrow, and hope.
Title [edit]
Wolfe took the title from a conversation with the writer Ella Winter, who remarked to Wolfe: "Don't you lot know you tin can't go habitation once again?" Wolfe then asked Winter for permission to use the phrase as the title of his book.[8] [nine]
The title is reinforced in the denouement of the novel in which Webber realizes: "Y'all can't go back home to your family unit, dorsum home to your babyhood ... back home to a boyfriend'southward dreams of glory and of fame ... back abode to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting, but which are irresolute all the fourth dimension – dorsum home to the escapes of Fourth dimension and Retentivity." (Ellipses in original)[ten]
References [edit]
- ^ Y'all Tin't Get Home Again. OCLC Worldcat. OCLC 964311.
- ^ "You Can't Go Home Once more". Magill Book Reviews. 15 March 1990.
- ^ Strauss, Albrecht B. (Spring 1995). "You Can't Go Domicile Again – Thomas Wolfe and I". Southern Literary Journal. 27 (two): 107–116.
- ^ Godwin, Rebecca (2009). "'You Tin't Become Domicile Again': Does Nazism Really Transform Wolfe's Romanticism?". Thomas Wolfe Review. 33 (1/2): 24–31.
- ^ Hovis, George (2009). "Across the Lost Generation: The Death of Egotism in 'You Can't Go Home Again.'". Thomas Wolfe Review. 33 (2): 32–47.
- ^ Dawson, John (2009). "Wait Outward, Thomas: Social Criticism every bit Unifying Element in 'You Tin can't Get Dwelling Over again.'". Thomas Wolfe Review. 33 (1/2): 48–66.
- ^ Shattuck, Kathryn (Oct 10, 2008). "From a Big Imagination, a Tiny Circus". The New York Times . Retrieved January xi, 2014.
- ^ Fred R. Shapiro, ed. (2006). The Yale Book of Quotations. New Oasis, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 832. ISBN978-0-300-10798-2.
- ^ Godwin, Gail (2011). "Introduction". You Can't Become Dwelling house Once more. Simon and Schuster. p. xii. ISBN9781451650488 . Retrieved 2013-03-05 .
- ^ Madden, David (2012). "'You Can't Go Dwelling house Once more': Thomas Wolfe's Vision of America". Thomas Wolfe Review. 36 (ane/two): 116–126.
External links [edit]
- You lot Tin't Go Domicile Again at Faded Folio (Canada)
- Transcript of interview with Susan J. Matt, To The Best Of Our Knowledge radio
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can%27t_Go_Home_Again
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