The Golden Spur [Paperback]

Dawn Powell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998

IF A YOUNG MAN finds his own father inconveniently ordinary, can he choose another? Jonathan Jaimison, the engagingly amoral hero, comes to New York from Silver City, Ohio for exactly such a purpose. Combing through his mother’s diaries and the bars and cafés of Greenwich Village, Jonathan seeks out the writer or painter whose youthful indiscretion he believes he might have been, all the while committing numerous indiscretions of his own. By the end of the novel, Jonathan has figured out not only his paternity, but his maternity, and best of all, himself. Published in 1962, The Golden Spur was Dawn Powell’s last novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Powell is definitely the comeback kid. Her novels were unavailable for years, but now every time one goes out of print, another publisher picks it up for reissue. This set runs the gamut of her career, with Come Back to Sorrento (originally published as The Tenth Moon) representing an early release (1932) and The Golden Spur, her last (LJ 9/15/62). The autobiographical Come Back is the third of Powell's "Ohio Novels" about small-town life, while Spur portrays the tainted, wise-cracking New Yorkers for whom she is known.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

DAWN POWELL, who died in 1965, was the author of fifteen novels.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Zoland Books; First Edition. states edition (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883642272
• ISBN-13: 978-1883642273
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,293,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Rediscovered American Writer, June 1, 2002

By 

Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Golden Spur (Paperback)

One of the joys of reading is the opportunity of finding for oneself authors that have long been obscure or overlooked. I came to Dawn Powell's work with expectations of such a reward. I knew that the Library of America had saw fit to publish two volumes of her work and that Tim Page, Washington Post classical music critic, had edited the volumes and written a biography. I was eager to learn more.

Dawn Powell grew up in rural Ohio and moved to Greenwich Village as a young woman and lived a bohemian life. She wrote 15 novels between the 1930s and the early 1960s mostly set in rurual Ohio and Greenwich Village, which were little noted during her life. She has been "rediscovered" and praised highly by some.

Dawn Powell's "The Golden Spur" was her last novel and the first book of hers I read. The book tells the story of Jonathan Jamison who, at the age of 26 leaves his Ohio home in search of his father in Greenwich Village. Jonathan's mother had worked as a typist briefly in the Village before she returned home and married what she found a rather conventional man. She delivered prematurely and told Jonathan that his true father was in New York. And Jonathan goes to search for his father --- and himself.

The book centers around The Golden Spur, a bar in Greenwich Village frequented by artists and literary types. (It had been frequented by Jonathan's mother in her New York days). We meet a cast of characters who become involved with Jonathan, including Hugow, the bohemian modern painter of questionable talent, a succession of Hugow's former lovers, some of whom are bedded by Johnathan, failed literary critics, academics, has-beens and never wases. We also meet an elderly woman named Claire Van Orphen, the writer for whom Johnathan's mother worked briefly. She befriends Johnathan and is instrumental in his search.

I couldn't recommend reading this book for the story-line. It is muddled and hard to follow at times. Nevertheless, I came away from the book thinking that my search to discover a new author had been rewarded.

This book is written in a beautiful clear prose. Each line tells and each word is in place. It is a joy to read. The satire in the book is uncompromising and biting. Because the book is a satire, the characters are somewhat one-sided. In addition, I get the impression that Dawn Powell put some part of herself (but not her whole character) in each of the people in her book-- the young person (Jonathan Jamison) leaving rural Ohio for a new life in New York City, the young sexually active women in the Village, the struggling artists, the aging unsucessful writer to take some examples. Thus I found the characterization effective.

The book works better as a series of minature episodes than as a connected novel. Each scene is tightly written and convincing written, as I indicated, in a lively and supple style. I got absorbed in the book page by page and incident by incident. Possibly as a result of this, there were times when I lost the thread of the story and the interrelationship of the characters.

The best part of the book, besides the writing style, is the picture drawn of Greenwich Village. The picture of life in the bars and of artists, some good some not-so-good, struggling in flats with their women, their friends and their agents is precious. Dawn Powell knew the life she described. Again, most of the characters, from the young man, Jonathan Jamison, through the women, through the ageing Ms. Van Orphen, were aspects of Dawn Powell herself, transmitted into one character or the other.

This is a frothy, light book not without its flaws. But I came away with the sense of discovery for which I had hoped. Dawn Powell deserves to be read.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Evocative of a vanished New York, January 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Golden Spur (Paperback)

Dawn Powell writes prose evocative of a vanished or vanishing New York. She peppers her New York novels with snappy one-liners and clever analysis of personality types. But she pays only the smallest attention to pace or narrative. There are entertaining set pieces and frequently glittering cynical prose but only the barest outline of a plot, here rapidly wrapped up in a throw away ending. Read her for her wit, her ability to conjure up a city that is no longer but not for her ability to flesh out characters or for her story lines.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars worth a "light" read, May 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Golden Spur (Paperback)

Read this after reading Gore Vidal's essay about her & finished a little disappointed. She writes first-rate prose (a perfect sentence-writing clinic, I found myself re-reading passages & marveling at her craft) & is very funny, but every character seems mades of cardboard. The constant cynical wit can be tiring & stubborn & (as the reviewer below notes) everything is thrown together at the end, seemingly because she just felt like stopping the story. I guess I wanted to know more... I'll probably try another one of her books though.