Look Homeward, Angel
by Thomas Wolfe
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Book Summary Information
Author: Thomas WolfeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-10-10
ISBN: 0743297318
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: Scribner
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780743297318
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Look Homeward, Angel
Book Review: Masterpiece of the Highest Order
Summary: 5 Stars
Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel is many things, all of them great; profoundly emotional yet deeply philosophical, it is one of the all-time best bildungsromans, an unforgettable evocation of the mountain American South in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries, and a masterpiece of poetic prose. It is an immortal American classic absolutely essential for anyone even remotely interested in American literature.
The first thing we notice is the sparkling prose, which is some of the most poetic ever. Wolfe's writing is not simply beautiful but truly sublime; his sentences are lovely, his descriptions lush, and his tropes stunningly memorable. After two major successes, he fell out of favor in an era that valued concision and ambiguity, and time has only made him less conventionally palatable. The book is over five hundred pages, its sentences long, and its vocabulary dense; few readers would now not be scared by such a work. However, Wolfe shines at least as brightly as ever for those truly alive to language's beauty; his prose is near-unparalleled for inventiveness and sheer exquisiteness, making him one of America's great stylists.
More fundamentally, the main thing making Look still so undeniably great is its masterful bildungsroman aspect. The novel is above all Eugene Gant's coming-of-age story. There are of course many such stories, but this is one of the very best. We follow Eugene literally from birth until he truly comes into his own in young adulthood and are deeply interested in his journey. The story is firmly rooted in Wolfe's life and thus has many particular trappings, but youth's essential experiences are universal, letting the book speak powerfully to many. We truly feel with and for Eugene because we see ourselves in him; he reminds us of our own youth - what could have been as much as what was. Wolfe tells his story with truly engaging emotion, quickly drawing us in and never letting go; we feel Eugene's ups and downs almost as if they are ours - which of course they are to a large degree. Though admirable in many ways, Eugene has clear faults that only make him seem more human and thus easily identifiable. Few bildungsromans are so transcendentally relatable or thoroughly stirring.
However, calling Look a bildungsroman sells it rather short; it is a grand, sweeping epic of many facets. There are numerous other characters, a variety of situations, and several settings. The book is in a larger sense a story of the Gant family, following all members at various times and to various degrees. They are their own family, and we can admire or criticize as we please, but they are also in the truest sense archetypal. The interactions - strife at least as much as joy - that they represent are familiar to nearly everyone. We become as intrigued in their story as in Eugene's, feeling and growing along with them.
Characterization is another Wolfe strength. All the Gants have strong individuality and are drawn strongly and evocatively, as are other characters. Wolfe interestingly combines Dickensian eccentricities with American realism's best aspects, creating a genuinely engaging and unforgettable cast.
Look is also notable for bringing the Mountain South alive. Local color writing has a long and grand American tradition, and this is one of the best entries. Its Altamont is closely based on Wolfe's Asheville, North Carolina hometown, and he describes with the precision and subtlety only experience can give. Few writers have a greater sense of place. He makes us see landscapes nearly as if we are there and understand what it was like to live in such a place in regard to everything from speech to economics. On top of everything else, Look is thus of substantial historical value to anyone wondering how such people lived in such places in this era.
The great William Faulkner called Wolfe the best writer of their time, and it is easy to see why. His writing is universal in the best sense, but he mastered the truly American grain that began with Twain and ran through the likes of Faulkner and Steinbeck. Dialect and place are of course a big part, and Wolfe has them down brilliantly, but it also runs deeper. Faulkner said art is worth nothing unless shot through with eternal feelings and thoughts, and Wolfe handles them with unusual deftness. He makes us feel as few writers can but also makes us think. Look is a deeply philosophical work focusing on themes like life's meaning, individuality vs. wider responsibility, the loss of youth's illusions, aestheticism vs. practicality, etc. It also touches on issues like class and race that are integral to American art and culture - and indeed to the world's. Novels encompassing all these threads are very rare, and only a few dozen have tied them together so well, much less so movingly.
One problem with reading Look today is its unflinching racism depiction. Blacks are consistently treated poorly in it, the victims of prejudice and innumerable slurs from all white characters. More disturbingly, the narrative portrayal itself is grossly unflattering and lacks nuance, being also full of racial epithets and other highly derogatory comments. Jews are also shown unflatteringly but far more subtly. This is particularly worrisome in that Look is known to be highly autobiographical and that - unlike with, say, Twain - it is not satirical. It is impossible to deny that Wolfe grew up with many racial prejudices, at least some of which seem to have lingered when writing Look. His views later liberalized, as reflected in subsequent works, but Look remains clouded. Some will not be able to get past this, which is understandable. However, it is important to keep in mind that his prime purpose was realism; characters talk as people of the era really did, and the narrator writes as someone from Wolfe's background portraying such events almost inevitably would. The real problem is not Wolfe or the book but the era; he presents things as they were, for better or worse. This also adds to the historical value, though that of course does not atone. In fairness, we must remember that, however autobiographical, this is a novel and should not be used to determine personal views. I believe this should be a foundational critical principle, and it applies here as well as elsewhere. As for Look, all must judge by their own hearts and consciences. It is certainly a product of its time, which is no excuse but does explain the prevalence of views now rightly considered unacceptable.
Excepting this admittedly large caveat, Look is superb in all respects, an American literary monument that will not be soon forgotten.
Summary of Look Homeward, Angel
The stunning, classic coming-of-age novel written by one of America's foremost Southern writers
A legendary author on par with William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Wolfe published Look Homeward, Angel, his first novel, about a young man's burning desire to leave his small town and tumultuous family in search of a better life, in 1929. It gave the world proof of his genius and launched a powerful legacy.
The novel follows the trajectory of Eugene Gant, a brilliant and restless young man whose wanderlust and passion shape his adolescent years in rural North Carolina. Wolfe said that Look Homeward, Angel is "a book made out of my life," and his largely autobiographical story about the quest for a greater intellectual life has resonated with and influenced generations of readers, including some of today's most important novelists. Rich with lyrical prose and vivid characterizations, this twentieth-century American classic will capture the hearts and imaginations of every reader.
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