This is Book One of Manfred's famous World's Wanderer Trilogy. "The Primitive" tells of Thurs Wraldson, a huge, awkward farm boy, orphaned and without money, who leaves Siouxland to attend college. it tells of an awakening tragic power within him, a power beyond the strength of his griants hands, a power that could be used for good or for evil.
Thurs began his real education from the multifold life of the campus, with its tenets and prejudices, its kindnesses and cruelties. And he began to make friendsthe fastidious, worldly-wise Huse Starring, who recognized the latent power within him, and the high-spirited, enigmatic Hero Bernlef, with whom he fell impossibly in love.
But even while he cursed and suffered, Thurs was learning. He was no longer the bewildered frarm boy, defiant because of self-mistrust, rawly sensitive because of the ridicule his gigantic size so often aroused in the thoughtless. He was beginning to see horizons far beyond the edge of the campus; to grow impatientand to get into trouble.
