Customer Reviews

Of Time and the River: A Legend of Man's Hunger in His Youth (Scribner Classics)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It was early 1980 when I first read "Look Homeward.." for a University of Colorado course. The professor who seemed to be a hundred years old to me at the time instructed me to read my critical report to the entire class. After smugly concluding Wolfe was lacking in many areas the professor graded my paper an "A"...then she patted my young shoulders and told me that one day I'd be old enough to understand Wolfe. She was right and my criticicm was dead wrong. Wolfes' wordiness is his beauty. The scene in "Of Time And The River" where his father dies is as beautiful and compelling as anything I've read. I think the book is unique and those who are critical of it may need to read it again -when they are a little older.

"Of Time and the River" like "Look Homeward Angel," to which it is a sequel, is an intense and panoromic narrative of life in, and a paean to, early 20th Century America from the perspective of a Southern writer gone North. In doing that it foresages the experiences of others who came after him like Willie Morris. Wolfe's work artfully evokes much of the era that Ken and Ric Burns seek to capture in their documentaries but from the perspective of a participant and his personal struggles in life. (Wolfe's evocation of New York City in the 20s and 30s in "Of Time and the River" come to mind in this regard). In sum, Wolfe's works are not only top-notch examples of American literature but stand as a monumental and inspiring expression of American culture and of the spirit that animated much of our society during the dawning period of the 20th Century.

Wolfe's work is not the tradition of pop culture and has little in common with the work of the current writer of the same name. Thus, reading Wolfe's work can be intellectually challenging. Nevertheless, tackling these books can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for those seriously interested in American history and culture. The movie "The Razor's Edge" based on a book by Somerset Maugham, one of Wolfe's literary mentors (and to whom Wolfe dedicated "Look Homeward Angel"), written after the latter's untimely death in 1938, depicts in cinematic form to a great degree much of the story and spirit of the age that Wolfe sought to communicate. Wolfe's work, notwithstanding its challenging level of literacy, is very absorbing and will only be found to be boring by more pedestrian readers.

There is no doubt that Mr. Wolfe was a brilliant writer. More than once I found myself saying "Yes, I know exactly how you feel!" I suspect I am not alone in this regard. The biggest drawback, and the reason I only assign four starts, is the sensation that I am mining for greatness. What do I mean?

There were some long stretches throughout the book that I found tedious. My advice is to plough ahead for I assure you the sections that speak to the reader are that good. Wolfe's death at a young age was loss for us all.

thomas wolfe was an amazing writer. the book is punctuated by many sections where the author just gets so caught up in a rush of words that it's just amazing. The story is good. so rich, so much detail. I loved this book, everything but the racist part about the train porter. i could have done without that. But it's still an excellent book.

I bought Of Time and the River after having first re-read Look Homeward, Angel. Both novels brought back the restless, inexpressible yearnings and passions of youth, of that wordless, intense tangle of desires and emotions only the young seem to feel so strongly. The first reading, when I was in college, left an indelible impression . . . Wolfe had put on the printed page a spiritual biography of ME, but also of all young men. I was a devotee at once. I read Look Homeward, Angel, several times over the years and recommended it to my high school students . . . and while it brought back to me this time something intensely familiar, ironically, I found it fresh and new -- timeless is the word, I think -- as I read it over 40 years later. This sequel, Of Time and the River, is a continuation of Eugene Gant's turbulent life, and even more intense than its precedessor. Wolfe is, doubtless, an acquired taste; to many, his novels may seem tediously long and hopelessly rhapsodic, diverging madly for pages from the narrative, attempting to capture the feelings and experiences of the seasons, of human beings in all their virtue and vice, of longing and loneliness in painfully nostalgic Octobers. And I love his intensity, his painful quest to express the inexpressible. I love this book and Wolfe's first, Look Homeward, Angel. As I visited his hometown, Asheville, NC, and the house he grew up in and immortalized in that first, sprawlng novel, I almost expected to meet him in a corridor there--it was haunting, like coming home. I stood by his grave. I saw the stone angel of the title in the same cemetery. And Wolfe and I seemed to be one. So tragic that he died so young, like an extinguished, white-hot flame.

I kept waiting for Wolfe to share with us what would make Eugene the writer he was waiting to be - where would he find the courage to not only fail (or fail again) but to believe in himself and know that he could write after reading the thousands of books he gorged himself on.

And then as the book winds down, it happens, he falls in love. And in a few paragraphs, we learn that the momentual problems of the past were wiped away. He finds his courage and the book ends abruptly. Perhaps a little more editing earlier would have led Wolfe to write more about this episode.

I enjoyed the novel though not as much as the prequel.

Without question Thomas Wolfe is the best American writer that ever lived. The only thing to remember is that his writing accurately describes a perod of American life far in the past. His style is to be completely free to say anything and describe things as they really were in his view, and has therefore ruffled many feathers.

The book is in poor condition. No dust cover, cover is torn, dirty, pages are very yelllowed none of which was stated. It's an old library copy which is not a problem for me and it's legible so I will keep it and read it but I would not offer it for sale or trade without noting the really poor condition.

Those who enjoyed Look Homeward Angel will find this novel somewhat disappointing. Continuing Eugene Gant's story with his trip to Harvard, and life in New York, the book lacks the vivid characters of the earlier novel. While the book contains some wonderful, Whitman-like passages, the only real character is Eugene Gant; everyone else seems to exist only to show how brillant Gant (Wolfe) is. Moreover, some of the book seems to border on anti-semitism. Nevertheless, anyone interested in Wolfe will want to read this book.

Reading the prequel, Look Homeward, Angel, evokes in the reader (if the reader was ever a boy) crystalline images of their youth. This presumes that one grew up in the 50's and 60's before small cities, such as Asheville, moved to the suburbs. I found Of Time and the River, to lack the imagery that I found so appealing in Look Homeward. Perhaps it is that I do not feel the distance from my 20's that I feel from being 11 or 12. Still, I commend the book.