What do you think?
Rate this book
Wilderness: A Tale of the Civil War
“A moving and disturbing work—one which goes beyond events, to brood upon their meanings.”—Samuel Hynes, New York Times Book Review
In the summer of 1863, Adam Rosenzweig leaves a Bavarian ghetto and sails for the United States to fight for the North in the Civil War. Fired by a revolutionary idealism inherited from his father, he hopes to aid a cause that he believes to be as simple as he knows it to be just.
Over the course of his journey, Adam becomes witness to a world whose complexity does not readily conform to his ideals of liberty. When his twisted foot attracts unwanted attention on his voyage to America, he is threatened with return to Europe. He jumps ship in New York, only to be caught up in the violence and horror of the anti-draft riots. Eventually he reaches the Union Army, serving not as a soldier but as a civilian provisioner’s assistant. Adam’s encounters with others—among them a wealthy benefactor, a former slave, an exiled Southerner, a bushwacker and his wife—further challenge the absolutism that informs his view of the world and of his place in it.
First published in 1961, Wilderness remains a profoundly provocative meditation on the significance of the Civil War and the varieties of human experience. This new edition of the novel includes an insightful introductory essay by James H. Justus, Distringuished Professor Emeritus at Indiana University and author of The Achievement of Robert Penn Warren.
The Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989)was born in Kentucky and studied at Vanderbilt and Oxford Universities. As a novelist, teacher, poet, and critic, he became one of America’s most celebrated men of letters and the only writer to receive Pulitzer Prizes for both poetry and fiction. In addition to Wilderness, his novels included All the King’s Men, World Enough and Time, and Band of Angels.
In the summer of 1863, Adam Rosenzweig leaves a Bavarian ghetto and sails for the United States to fight for the North in the Civil War. Fired by a revolutionary idealism inherited from his father, he hopes to aid a cause that he believes to be as simple as he knows it to be just.
Over the course of his journey, Adam becomes witness to a world whose complexity does not readily conform to his ideals of liberty. When his twisted foot attracts unwanted attention on his voyage to America, he is threatened with return to Europe. He jumps ship in New York, only to be caught up in the violence and horror of the anti-draft riots. Eventually he reaches the Union Army, serving not as a soldier but as a civilian provisioner’s assistant. Adam’s encounters with others—among them a wealthy benefactor, a former slave, an exiled Southerner, a bushwacker and his wife—further challenge the absolutism that informs his view of the world and of his place in it.
First published in 1961, Wilderness remains a profoundly provocative meditation on the significance of the Civil War and the varieties of human experience. This new edition of the novel includes an insightful introductory essay by James H. Justus, Distringuished Professor Emeritus at Indiana University and author of The Achievement of Robert Penn Warren.
The Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989)was born in Kentucky and studied at Vanderbilt and Oxford Universities. As a novelist, teacher, poet, and critic, he became one of America’s most celebrated men of letters and the only writer to receive Pulitzer Prizes for both poetry and fiction. In addition to Wilderness, his novels included All the King’s Men, World Enough and Time, and Band of Angels.
310 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
13 people are currently reading
255 people want to read
About the author
Robert Penn Warren
342 books998 followersRobert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935. He received the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for All the King's Men (1946) and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1958 and 1979. He is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
April 10, 2023
Research for may 2025 novel.
November 14, 2023
Το «Όλοι οι Άνθρωποι του Βασιλιά» ήταν ένα τόσο καθαρό και αδιαφιλονίκητο αριστούργημα που κατέστησε επιτακτική και αυτονόητη την άμεση ανάγνωση του δεύτερου βιβλίου του Ρόμπερτ Πεν Γουόρεν που μεταφράζεται στα ελληνικά.
Το αποτέλεσμα ήταν ένα ακόμα σπουδαίο μυθιστόρημα, μια απαραίτητη προσθήκη στον κατάλογο των μεγάλων έργων για τον Αμερικανικό Εμφύλιο και ένα συναρπαστικό δείγμα της ικανότητας του Γουόρεν να παρουσιάζει τι κρύβεται πίσω από τους μύθους και τα ορόσημα της αμερικανικής κουλτούρας, φέρνοντας στο φως και δίνοντας λόγο σε αυτούς που δεν βρήκαν θέση στα βιβλία της Ιστορίας, τους αφανείς, τους «δειλούς» και τους παρίες.
Ο Άνταμ Ρόζεντσβάιγκ είναι ένας ιδεαλιστής Εβραίος που μεταναστεύει από το γκέτο της Βαυαρίας για να πολεμήσει στο πλευρό της Ένωσης. Ιδανικό του είναι η ελευθερία με κάθε τίμημα και για να το υπερασπιστεί εμπράκτως θα (προσπαθήσει να) κρύψει τη σωματική του παραμόρφωση.
Η πραγματικότητα όμως θα είναι αμείλικτη μαζί του από την αρχή, ακόμα και από το πλοίο του πηγαιμού του. Η απομάγευση, η απογοήτευση και το γκρέμισμα των ονείρων και των φιλοδοξιών του θα κορυφωθούν στον κυριολεκτικό και συμβολικό Αγριότοπο της Βιρτζίνια, πεδίο μιας από τις σημαντικότερες μάχες του Εμφυλίου, τον οποίο ο Άνταμ θα βιώσει μόνο στον απόηχο.
Σ’αυτό που μπορεί να χαρακτηριστεί ως αντι-ηρωικό αντί-έπος, ο Γουόρεν περιγράφει τον Αμερικανικό Εμφύλιο ως το αποκορύφωμα της συλλογικής παράκρουσης, μια περίοδο βίας και μίσους που δεν έχει τίποτα ένδοξο ή γενναίο, παρά μόνο εκμετάλλευση και καταστροφή.
Ο κεντρικός ήρωας ταξιδεύει σε μια ενδοχώρα που δεν δίνει καμία απάντηση στους υπαρξιακούς προβληματισμούς του, αλλά αντίθετα τους αντηχεί μέσα στην κακοφωνία ή την εκκωφαντική σιωπή.
Με μια γλώσσα που αποδεικνύει γιατί ο Γουόρεν κέρδισε δύο Πούλιτζερ ποίησης και μερικές από τις πιο όμορφες ή στοιχειωτικές περιγραφές που έχω διαβάσει πρόσφατα, ο Αγριότοπος είναι ένα βιβλίο που μετατρέπει τα φιλοσοφικά ερωτήματα για τη βούληση, την πράξη και την ανθρώπινη ολοκλήρωση που το διαπνέουν σε καθηλωτική λογοτεχνία.
Περιμένουμε κι άλλα βιβλία του Γουόρεν στα ελληνικά.
Το αποτέλεσμα ήταν ένα ακόμα σπουδαίο μυθιστόρημα, μια απαραίτητη προσθήκη στον κατάλογο των μεγάλων έργων για τον Αμερικανικό Εμφύλιο και ένα συναρπαστικό δείγμα της ικανότητας του Γουόρεν να παρουσιάζει τι κρύβεται πίσω από τους μύθους και τα ορόσημα της αμερικανικής κουλτούρας, φέρνοντας στο φως και δίνοντας λόγο σε αυτούς που δεν βρήκαν θέση στα βιβλία της Ιστορίας, τους αφανείς, τους «δειλούς» και τους παρίες.
Ο Άνταμ Ρόζεντσβάιγκ είναι ένας ιδεαλιστής Εβραίος που μεταναστεύει από το γκέτο της Βαυαρίας για να πολεμήσει στο πλευρό της Ένωσης. Ιδανικό του είναι η ελευθερία με κάθε τίμημα και για να το υπερασπιστεί εμπράκτως θα (προσπαθήσει να) κρύψει τη σωματική του παραμόρφωση.
Η πραγματικότητα όμως θα είναι αμείλικτη μαζί του από την αρχή, ακόμα και από το πλοίο του πηγαιμού του. Η απομάγευση, η απογοήτευση και το γκρέμισμα των ονείρων και των φιλοδοξιών του θα κορυφωθούν στον κυριολεκτικό και συμβολικό Αγριότοπο της Βιρτζίνια, πεδίο μιας από τις σημαντικότερες μάχες του Εμφυλίου, τον οποίο ο Άνταμ θα βιώσει μόνο στον απόηχο.
Σ’αυτό που μπορεί να χαρακτηριστεί ως αντι-ηρωικό αντί-έπος, ο Γουόρεν περιγράφει τον Αμερικανικό Εμφύλιο ως το αποκορύφωμα της συλλογικής παράκρουσης, μια περίοδο βίας και μίσους που δεν έχει τίποτα ένδοξο ή γενναίο, παρά μόνο εκμετάλλευση και καταστροφή.
Ο κεντρικός ήρωας ταξιδεύει σε μια ενδοχώρα που δεν δίνει καμία απάντηση στους υπαρξιακούς προβληματισμούς του, αλλά αντίθετα τους αντηχεί μέσα στην κακοφωνία ή την εκκωφαντική σιωπή.
Με μια γλώσσα που αποδεικνύει γιατί ο Γουόρεν κέρδισε δύο Πούλιτζερ ποίησης και μερικές από τις πιο όμορφες ή στοιχειωτικές περιγραφές που έχω διαβάσει πρόσφατα, ο Αγριότοπος είναι ένα βιβλίο που μετατρέπει τα φιλοσοφικά ερωτήματα για τη βούληση, την πράξη και την ανθρώπινη ολοκλήρωση που το διαπνέουν σε καθηλωτική λογοτεχνία.
Περιμένουμε κι άλλα βιβλία του Γουόρεν στα ελληνικά.
December 20, 2022
"Do you know what history is? It is the agony people have to go through so that things will turn out as they would have turned out anyway." — from "Wilderness"
In "Wilderness," Adam Rosenzweig and the people he meets after leaving Bavaria for America go through their own little agonies of self-discovery and personal conflict in the time of an epic war.
Though many of Warren's novels reach back into the past, "Wilderness" is his only novel that deals directly with the American Civil War. And though that's made clear with the subtitle "A Tale of the Civil War," if you're looking for battles and front-line drama, you'll be disappointed.
What you will get is Warren's shortest novel, and one of his most direct and low-key. There's little in the way of flashbacks here and the plot's arc can't cover much more than a year. It also has his least active main character. Adam Rosensweig, a Jew with a lame foot, journeys from Bavaria to America to fight in the Civil War. His foot keeps him from the actual fighting, but he discovers a few things about himself and the human condition while on the periphery.
Adam's decision to live in America is in part a way to affirm in himself his father's political idealism. Adam finds the real world can twist that which we think we know about ourselves and our beliefs. One white man he meets spoke up as a witness in support of an accused black person and took the anti-slavery side, but when it got down to truly personal dealings he exhibits bitter, racist tendencies. This duality/opposition of supposedly firmly held beliefs and actions is echoed throughout "Wilderness."
Shortly after arriving in America in 1863, Adam is caught up in the swirl of anti-draft riots in New York, amid violence against blacks. A black man named Mose saves him and takes him to a white man of wealth who offers to take Adam in. Adam spurns the chance at a wealthy lifestyle and instead gets as close to the war as he can, given his condition: he teams with a sutler who supplies goods to Union troops.
Adam is mostly a passive observer in the tale. That approach is a gamble. Can we really get to know about and care for Adam, distanced as he is from the world? Adam goes from a Gettysburg graveyard to the wilds of Virginia as the war drags on, mostly in the company of black men. The novel is short — my edition was 310 pages but in an average page layout would have been about 250. Sometimes, Warren's decision keep the tale low-key and avoid what is a perfect chance for some wartime action seems like a missed opportunity, but mostly I didn't mind his approach. He writes beautifully, though, again, usually with less panache than is normal for him.
Warren originally intended the tale as an even shorter work, and it shows early on in his spare approach. His writing sometimes is pretty ordinary in the first quarter of the book. But things perk up, the book becomes more engrossing, and he delivers the goods well in a conclusion that focuses his theme a little better than he had at other points in the novel.
I feel awful giving the book three stars; it's better than that, but four stars is too close to the perfection of his "All the King's Men." And, frankly, by default it's Warren's worst novel. "All the King's Men" does tower over everything else he wrote; nothing truly approaches it. And pick a bookstore; any bookstore; "All the King's Men" is highly likely to be the only Warren novel in it. But everything else he wrote is quite worthwhile and beautifully written, hard as it might be to find the books.
In "Wilderness," Adam Rosenzweig and the people he meets after leaving Bavaria for America go through their own little agonies of self-discovery and personal conflict in the time of an epic war.
Though many of Warren's novels reach back into the past, "Wilderness" is his only novel that deals directly with the American Civil War. And though that's made clear with the subtitle "A Tale of the Civil War," if you're looking for battles and front-line drama, you'll be disappointed.
What you will get is Warren's shortest novel, and one of his most direct and low-key. There's little in the way of flashbacks here and the plot's arc can't cover much more than a year. It also has his least active main character. Adam Rosensweig, a Jew with a lame foot, journeys from Bavaria to America to fight in the Civil War. His foot keeps him from the actual fighting, but he discovers a few things about himself and the human condition while on the periphery.
Adam's decision to live in America is in part a way to affirm in himself his father's political idealism. Adam finds the real world can twist that which we think we know about ourselves and our beliefs. One white man he meets spoke up as a witness in support of an accused black person and took the anti-slavery side, but when it got down to truly personal dealings he exhibits bitter, racist tendencies. This duality/opposition of supposedly firmly held beliefs and actions is echoed throughout "Wilderness."
Shortly after arriving in America in 1863, Adam is caught up in the swirl of anti-draft riots in New York, amid violence against blacks. A black man named Mose saves him and takes him to a white man of wealth who offers to take Adam in. Adam spurns the chance at a wealthy lifestyle and instead gets as close to the war as he can, given his condition: he teams with a sutler who supplies goods to Union troops.
Adam is mostly a passive observer in the tale. That approach is a gamble. Can we really get to know about and care for Adam, distanced as he is from the world? Adam goes from a Gettysburg graveyard to the wilds of Virginia as the war drags on, mostly in the company of black men. The novel is short — my edition was 310 pages but in an average page layout would have been about 250. Sometimes, Warren's decision keep the tale low-key and avoid what is a perfect chance for some wartime action seems like a missed opportunity, but mostly I didn't mind his approach. He writes beautifully, though, again, usually with less panache than is normal for him.
Warren originally intended the tale as an even shorter work, and it shows early on in his spare approach. His writing sometimes is pretty ordinary in the first quarter of the book. But things perk up, the book becomes more engrossing, and he delivers the goods well in a conclusion that focuses his theme a little better than he had at other points in the novel.
I feel awful giving the book three stars; it's better than that, but four stars is too close to the perfection of his "All the King's Men." And, frankly, by default it's Warren's worst novel. "All the King's Men" does tower over everything else he wrote; nothing truly approaches it. And pick a bookstore; any bookstore; "All the King's Men" is highly likely to be the only Warren novel in it. But everything else he wrote is quite worthwhile and beautifully written, hard as it might be to find the books.
August 18, 2024
4,5 ⭐️
June 30, 2013
God i love robert penn warren. i got his words tattooed on my skin, and it still doesn't seem like enough. just read everything he's ever written please, his prose is unreal.
December 10, 2022
This novel is shorter and thinner (meaning there are fewer main characters, fewer backstories, and it’s has a simpler plot with fewer twists) than RPW’s other works, but it is still a powerful one. As with most of his works, the novel centers around what I’ve learned to be Warren's main preoccupation: self-knowledge (or as Cleanth Brooks described it, experience redeemed in knowledge).
A few favorite lines:
"He had lived for human liberty. . . [and] gave up the holiness of the Law. He trusted to man for the liberty of men."
"He [Adam] had escaped, he was free, and in that moment of freedom felt completely devalued. Nobody, nobody in the world, cared what he did. He could go or come, like a leaf in the eddy of a stream, like a mote of dust in the wind. This was America."
"He caught the flash of sun on steel. Ah, there were the ones elected to know the grandeur of truth. To see the elephant. To be redeemed from all that triviality they had been, and yet were. For a moment his heart was sore and swollen with glory."
"But if you have stopped worshipping God all you can fall back on is History. I suppose I [Aaron Blaustein] worship History, since a man has to worship something."
"[Adam] lifted his face up to the sky. It was pricked with the million stars of the beautiful night. He looked up and wondered how you can be alone and yet not alone. He wondered how you could be worth nothing, and yet worth something. He thought: I must find that out. If I am to live."
"[Adam] knew, however, that he would have to try to know what a man must know to be a man. He knew that he would have to try to know that the truth is unbetrayable, and that only the betrayer is ever betrayed, and then only by his own betraying..."
"'Do you know what Adam means?'
'Naw.'
‘It means, simply, man,' Adam said. 'In Hebrew tongue--the language of the Jews.'
'Yeah.'
‘But it is not a usual name for a Jew to be called. My father gave me that name because he loved mankind and wanted men to be fully man. He fought and suffered for that. He gave me that name that I might try to be a man in the knowledge that men are my brothers. . . . Will you call me Adam? . . . To help me be worthy of my name.'
'Naw,' he said, 'naw. Reckin I'll call you Slew. . . fer Slew-foot."*
(*Adam was crippled and had a lame left foot).
A few favorite lines:
"He had lived for human liberty. . . [and] gave up the holiness of the Law. He trusted to man for the liberty of men."
"He [Adam] had escaped, he was free, and in that moment of freedom felt completely devalued. Nobody, nobody in the world, cared what he did. He could go or come, like a leaf in the eddy of a stream, like a mote of dust in the wind. This was America."
"He caught the flash of sun on steel. Ah, there were the ones elected to know the grandeur of truth. To see the elephant. To be redeemed from all that triviality they had been, and yet were. For a moment his heart was sore and swollen with glory."
"But if you have stopped worshipping God all you can fall back on is History. I suppose I [Aaron Blaustein] worship History, since a man has to worship something."
"[Adam] lifted his face up to the sky. It was pricked with the million stars of the beautiful night. He looked up and wondered how you can be alone and yet not alone. He wondered how you could be worth nothing, and yet worth something. He thought: I must find that out. If I am to live."
"[Adam] knew, however, that he would have to try to know what a man must know to be a man. He knew that he would have to try to know that the truth is unbetrayable, and that only the betrayer is ever betrayed, and then only by his own betraying..."
"'Do you know what Adam means?'
'Naw.'
‘It means, simply, man,' Adam said. 'In Hebrew tongue--the language of the Jews.'
'Yeah.'
‘But it is not a usual name for a Jew to be called. My father gave me that name because he loved mankind and wanted men to be fully man. He fought and suffered for that. He gave me that name that I might try to be a man in the knowledge that men are my brothers. . . . Will you call me Adam? . . . To help me be worthy of my name.'
'Naw,' he said, 'naw. Reckin I'll call you Slew. . . fer Slew-foot."*
(*Adam was crippled and had a lame left foot).
February 26, 2012
At this point I am laying myself open a bit and to those who better understand the mechanics of the art of literary criticism* better than I. Please be gentle with me. I hope this post can serve as a way to pull in feedback and more for me to chew on so I can grow as a writer and a reader.
This book is triggering some sort of artistic attack. I read this because I wanted to understand the work of another writer I admire who cited this book as an influence.
As an aside: Robert Penn Warren’s poetry works for me. That says quite a lot since I only have about three poets I can say I enjoy at all. This I found to be a relief! I have always been drawn to vivid imagery (Henry Miller being another example). It is maybe easier to focus on the words and images when I am not trying to keep track of a story--something I had a hard time doing in Wilderness.
What interests me about the book are the poetic tricks my friend talked about. I LOVE the idea of laying down a code that only people who are really paying attention will tune into, or even better to maybe paint a picture they themselves aren’t even aware they are looking at. Yet one more reason to get back on the poetry study I was working through a while back.
The author uses color in a concrete way, repeating words like white over and over, or green, or going on and on mixing the way he repeats the word stone with other descriptions of words like gray, slate, and other things that call to mind a certain solidity and coolness. (I am starting to sound like an English professor wannabe on meth.) But bugs me about myself here is that I am giving the author my patient attention and thoughtful consideration because I know he is someone to pay attention to. Would I have caught this if I was reading the words of one Stanley Kotex or Philbert H. Schlong from the PNWA conference last year? I doubt it. This scares and bothers me.
One thing I can rave about: the characters in the story are not black and white, they are all in the middle of moral and ethical difficulties. They are real. This renews my faith in the human mind’s ability to see the various shades of gray in our experiences and characters (ourselves). So I am thrilled to say I didn’t miss everything!
One example from Wilderness: A character who studied the bible all his life, wanted to be left in peace and found he had to kill the “’scripters” who came to collect him to avoid going off to war and killing any more people. After this he had to live in the wild to avoid being found. One night he wakes his wife up laughing (the giggling and laughter throughout the book make me think half of the cast is insane) and says:
“…the Lawd God said thou shalt not kill and then put a fellow in a tight whar he had to kill to keep from killen.”
What would the writer’s digest book on dialogue say about that one? Here is probably an example of knowing the rules and then bashing them to smithereens.
Back to the character’s dilemma: when you read what this guy turns into, it does make you think the entire world must have been, and still is, totally off it’s rocker and there is no such thing as sanity, morality, or right and wrong. I compare this to the way things work today and feel not a little silly for believing anything different.
Earlier in the book one character explains the necessity of conscription.
“…when the heroes are dead, you have to fill the ranks some way. Even with ordinary mortals. Who much prefer to stay at home and make money and sleep with their wives.”
None of that sounds familiar right… All war books seem to end up being relevant at least in this way.
What bothers and humbles me, is how I will read and consider a writer’s work when I know the author is important (this author won three Pulitzer Prizes for God’s sake!) but if this was an unknown author I would say, too hard to follow. Great details I would say, but if you lose your reader by the second page what good is the rest of it? I wouldn’t have finished the book to draw the conclusions about madness, because I wouldn’t have seen the way he pulled it all together later on. The reason I would miss all this is because it wasn’t obvious by the first two pages eh? To sink in, to be effected takes time. Something almost nobody gets anymore in an age of kindle samples and overworked agents and editors. **
If Robert Penn Warren changes the way he refers to characters--changing from a name, to a description, to a pronoun-- and it confuses me and I can’t tell what is going on, or I am annoyed because I have to go back and reread, what does that say about me? I have no generosity or open mind apparently when it comes to my reading material. I want it to be safe, comfortable and easy to move through (except in the cse of EL Doctorow or Thmas Pynchon, both of whom make it very much worth my while.)
I have been fighting this--the most depressing thought imaginable: maybe some of these old hand wringers are right, what if I am losing my ability to concentrate and focus? I always want them to be wrong, whenever they start up about twitter and the internet, but continue to come across some stinky slimy nugget of truth to what they say when I least expect to.
Here are a few of the more random lines that make me feel like I am missing something because they don’t sit right:
“Adam uttered a grunt, or moan.”
Or how about this one:
“He found himself against a little door. The door gave under his pressure and he slipped in, into total darkness. At least it was totally dark as soon as he pushed the door closed behind him. Then he fell.”
Really?
“At least it was totally dark as soon as he pushed the door closed behind him.”
That line had me shaking my head, scratching my scalp and wondering what was wrong with me because I wanted to laugh. It was like Twilight all over again.
Here’s another that begins a chapter:
“The eight maniacal scarecrows burst into the glade.”
Is this a place where a great author made a boo boo? I doubt it. I have to believe someone of this caliber means what he says and says what he means. So where does that leave me if I just don’t like it? Don’t appreciate it and read it as downright bad writing?
As a faithful reader I have to believe that RP Warren knew what he was doing. I have to. He slips into passive voice at random times and you see the word “had” over and over and over and then it disappears. At times you can almost feel the silence and stillness in the room by the way he shortens the lines, repeats words, etc. The author slips a few times into addressing the audience as “you” and I can’t see any reason for doing this.
Again, is there some technique I am woefully unaware of? All of these together made this a difficult read, though strangely it went fast if that makes sense, even with all the rereading I did to backtrack and figure out what I missed when something happened that didn’t make sense.
About the content, I think anyone looking for time period details would find lots of good ones in here: the sutlers, the way people talk, the funky facial hair, the games people played outside their tents, the awful things people did to each other, and what people on the ground really thought about the whole business. I really appreciate when people don’t fall into pat moral categories and just want to get on with their lives. This resonates and feels honest. We are not all heroes in the face of injustice, racism, apathy, greed, bullying, lust and all the rest of it. Some people overcome and some just try to get by.
In the interest of further understanding this author I will also read All the King’s Men. That may be a different read.
Any insight would be appreciated. In the end I felt I got out of this book possibly more than I put in but the experience of reading in general has me feeling again like I have to buckle down, study harder, read more and figure out why I didn’t get most of what the author was trying to do here. I have also been reminded why I may need to be a more generous reader. OR, do I need to knuckle up as it were and be more confident in my opinions? I know what I like and what I don’t. Somehow blowing this particular author off as I would Suzanne Collins doesn’t sit right with me. Something tells me there is an opportunity for growth here. I call on my friends who like to discuss books and exchange ideas to give me feedback and insight.
Thanks for reading.
*I can imagine that MFA or PHD who needs to believe that 100K in school loans was worth it is out there making all sorts of jokes about my intellect. :)
This book is triggering some sort of artistic attack. I read this because I wanted to understand the work of another writer I admire who cited this book as an influence.
As an aside: Robert Penn Warren’s poetry works for me. That says quite a lot since I only have about three poets I can say I enjoy at all. This I found to be a relief! I have always been drawn to vivid imagery (Henry Miller being another example). It is maybe easier to focus on the words and images when I am not trying to keep track of a story--something I had a hard time doing in Wilderness.
What interests me about the book are the poetic tricks my friend talked about. I LOVE the idea of laying down a code that only people who are really paying attention will tune into, or even better to maybe paint a picture they themselves aren’t even aware they are looking at. Yet one more reason to get back on the poetry study I was working through a while back.
The author uses color in a concrete way, repeating words like white over and over, or green, or going on and on mixing the way he repeats the word stone with other descriptions of words like gray, slate, and other things that call to mind a certain solidity and coolness. (I am starting to sound like an English professor wannabe on meth.) But bugs me about myself here is that I am giving the author my patient attention and thoughtful consideration because I know he is someone to pay attention to. Would I have caught this if I was reading the words of one Stanley Kotex or Philbert H. Schlong from the PNWA conference last year? I doubt it. This scares and bothers me.
One thing I can rave about: the characters in the story are not black and white, they are all in the middle of moral and ethical difficulties. They are real. This renews my faith in the human mind’s ability to see the various shades of gray in our experiences and characters (ourselves). So I am thrilled to say I didn’t miss everything!
One example from Wilderness: A character who studied the bible all his life, wanted to be left in peace and found he had to kill the “’scripters” who came to collect him to avoid going off to war and killing any more people. After this he had to live in the wild to avoid being found. One night he wakes his wife up laughing (the giggling and laughter throughout the book make me think half of the cast is insane) and says:
“…the Lawd God said thou shalt not kill and then put a fellow in a tight whar he had to kill to keep from killen.”
What would the writer’s digest book on dialogue say about that one? Here is probably an example of knowing the rules and then bashing them to smithereens.
Back to the character’s dilemma: when you read what this guy turns into, it does make you think the entire world must have been, and still is, totally off it’s rocker and there is no such thing as sanity, morality, or right and wrong. I compare this to the way things work today and feel not a little silly for believing anything different.
Earlier in the book one character explains the necessity of conscription.
“…when the heroes are dead, you have to fill the ranks some way. Even with ordinary mortals. Who much prefer to stay at home and make money and sleep with their wives.”
None of that sounds familiar right… All war books seem to end up being relevant at least in this way.
What bothers and humbles me, is how I will read and consider a writer’s work when I know the author is important (this author won three Pulitzer Prizes for God’s sake!) but if this was an unknown author I would say, too hard to follow. Great details I would say, but if you lose your reader by the second page what good is the rest of it? I wouldn’t have finished the book to draw the conclusions about madness, because I wouldn’t have seen the way he pulled it all together later on. The reason I would miss all this is because it wasn’t obvious by the first two pages eh? To sink in, to be effected takes time. Something almost nobody gets anymore in an age of kindle samples and overworked agents and editors. **
If Robert Penn Warren changes the way he refers to characters--changing from a name, to a description, to a pronoun-- and it confuses me and I can’t tell what is going on, or I am annoyed because I have to go back and reread, what does that say about me? I have no generosity or open mind apparently when it comes to my reading material. I want it to be safe, comfortable and easy to move through (except in the cse of EL Doctorow or Thmas Pynchon, both of whom make it very much worth my while.)
I have been fighting this--the most depressing thought imaginable: maybe some of these old hand wringers are right, what if I am losing my ability to concentrate and focus? I always want them to be wrong, whenever they start up about twitter and the internet, but continue to come across some stinky slimy nugget of truth to what they say when I least expect to.
Here are a few of the more random lines that make me feel like I am missing something because they don’t sit right:
“Adam uttered a grunt, or moan.”
Or how about this one:
“He found himself against a little door. The door gave under his pressure and he slipped in, into total darkness. At least it was totally dark as soon as he pushed the door closed behind him. Then he fell.”
Really?
“At least it was totally dark as soon as he pushed the door closed behind him.”
That line had me shaking my head, scratching my scalp and wondering what was wrong with me because I wanted to laugh. It was like Twilight all over again.
Here’s another that begins a chapter:
“The eight maniacal scarecrows burst into the glade.”
Is this a place where a great author made a boo boo? I doubt it. I have to believe someone of this caliber means what he says and says what he means. So where does that leave me if I just don’t like it? Don’t appreciate it and read it as downright bad writing?
As a faithful reader I have to believe that RP Warren knew what he was doing. I have to. He slips into passive voice at random times and you see the word “had” over and over and over and then it disappears. At times you can almost feel the silence and stillness in the room by the way he shortens the lines, repeats words, etc. The author slips a few times into addressing the audience as “you” and I can’t see any reason for doing this.
Again, is there some technique I am woefully unaware of? All of these together made this a difficult read, though strangely it went fast if that makes sense, even with all the rereading I did to backtrack and figure out what I missed when something happened that didn’t make sense.
About the content, I think anyone looking for time period details would find lots of good ones in here: the sutlers, the way people talk, the funky facial hair, the games people played outside their tents, the awful things people did to each other, and what people on the ground really thought about the whole business. I really appreciate when people don’t fall into pat moral categories and just want to get on with their lives. This resonates and feels honest. We are not all heroes in the face of injustice, racism, apathy, greed, bullying, lust and all the rest of it. Some people overcome and some just try to get by.
In the interest of further understanding this author I will also read All the King’s Men. That may be a different read.
Any insight would be appreciated. In the end I felt I got out of this book possibly more than I put in but the experience of reading in general has me feeling again like I have to buckle down, study harder, read more and figure out why I didn’t get most of what the author was trying to do here. I have also been reminded why I may need to be a more generous reader. OR, do I need to knuckle up as it were and be more confident in my opinions? I know what I like and what I don’t. Somehow blowing this particular author off as I would Suzanne Collins doesn’t sit right with me. Something tells me there is an opportunity for growth here. I call on my friends who like to discuss books and exchange ideas to give me feedback and insight.
Thanks for reading.
*I can imagine that MFA or PHD who needs to believe that 100K in school loans was worth it is out there making all sorts of jokes about my intellect. :)
September 27, 2024
Almost a five star book, but didn’t nail the landing for me. I loved all the people Adam runs into along the journey. Most of it felt bleak and nihilistic to me. It would make a cool movie, though. Doc would be played by John Goodman.
April 29, 2011
This quiet novel follows Adam Rosenzweig from Bavaria to an America in the midst of the Civil War. Adam's idealism and his wish to fight on the side of freedom are challenged by the complicated world in which he finds himself.
February 12, 2024
Βαθμολογία: 9/10
Τον Μάιο του 2022 διάβασα και απόλαυσα το πραγματικά καταπληκτικό και για μένα απόλυτο δεκάρι "Όλοι οι άνθρωποι του βασιλιά", έτσι περίμενα πώς και πώς να κυκλοφορήσουν και άλλα βιβλίο του Ρόμπερτ Πεν Γουόρεν στα ελληνικά. Με το που έσκασε μύτη το "Αγριότοπος" το αγόρασα φυσικά, αν και άργησα λίγους για να το διαβάσω τελικά. Λοιπόν, σε καμία περίπτωση δεν είναι σαν το άλλο βιβλίο του, το magnus opus του, ούτε στο μέγεθος, ούτε στη θεματολογία, ούτε στο βάθος σε πλοκή, χαρακτήρες και ιδέες, όμως είναι ένα πολύ καλό, ιδιαίτερο, με τον τρόπο του δυνατό και συναρπαστικό μυθιστόρημα που ασχολείται με τον Αμερικάνικο εμφύλιο πόλεμο. Η γραφή είναι πολύ καλή ποιοτική, οξυδερκής, εγώ θα την έλεγα και καθηλωτική, με ορισμένες πολύ όμορφες και έντονες περιγραφές τοπίων και καταστάσεων, η ιστορία επίσης αρκετά δυνατή, ενώ δεν λείπουν και ορισμένες αναζητήσεις υπαρξιακής και φιλοσοφικής φύσης, κάποια ερωτήματα που τίθενται, κάποιοι προβληματισμοί που εγείρονται, χωρίς να υπάρχουν πάντα απαντήσεις. Αν κάποιος περιμένει ένα μυθιστόρημα ανάλογο με το "Όλοι οι άνθρωποι του βασιλιά" μάλλον θα απογοητευτεί, όμως αν απλώς θέλει να διαβάσει ένα εξαιρετικά καλογραμμένο, ενδιαφέρον και δυνατό μυθιστόρημα, τέλος πάντων ένα καλό μυθιστόρημα, τότε καλά θα κάνει και θα διαβάσει το συγκεκριμένο. Εμένα μου άρεσε πολύ και δεν βλέπω τον λόγο να μην του βάλω πέντε αστεράκια (τεσσεράμισι για την ακρίβεια).
Τον Μάιο του 2022 διάβασα και απόλαυσα το πραγματικά καταπληκτικό και για μένα απόλυτο δεκάρι "Όλοι οι άνθρωποι του βασιλιά", έτσι περίμενα πώς και πώς να κυκλοφορήσουν και άλλα βιβλίο του Ρόμπερτ Πεν Γουόρεν στα ελληνικά. Με το που έσκασε μύτη το "Αγριότοπος" το αγόρασα φυσικά, αν και άργησα λίγους για να το διαβάσω τελικά. Λοιπόν, σε καμία περίπτωση δεν είναι σαν το άλλο βιβλίο του, το magnus opus του, ούτε στο μέγεθος, ούτε στη θεματολογία, ούτε στο βάθος σε πλοκή, χαρακτήρες και ιδέες, όμως είναι ένα πολύ καλό, ιδιαίτερο, με τον τρόπο του δυνατό και συναρπαστικό μυθιστόρημα που ασχολείται με τον Αμερικάνικο εμφύλιο πόλεμο. Η γραφή είναι πολύ καλή ποιοτική, οξυδερκής, εγώ θα την έλεγα και καθηλωτική, με ορισμένες πολύ όμορφες και έντονες περιγραφές τοπίων και καταστάσεων, η ιστορία επίσης αρκετά δυνατή, ενώ δεν λείπουν και ορισμένες αναζητήσεις υπαρξιακής και φιλοσοφικής φύσης, κάποια ερωτήματα που τίθενται, κάποιοι προβληματισμοί που εγείρονται, χωρίς να υπάρχουν πάντα απαντήσεις. Αν κάποιος περιμένει ένα μυθιστόρημα ανάλογο με το "Όλοι οι άνθρωποι του βασιλιά" μάλλον θα απογοητευτεί, όμως αν απλώς θέλει να διαβάσει ένα εξαιρετικά καλογραμμένο, ενδιαφέρον και δυνατό μυθιστόρημα, τέλος πάντων ένα καλό μυθιστόρημα, τότε καλά θα κάνει και θα διαβάσει το συγκεκριμένο. Εμένα μου άρεσε πολύ και δεν βλέπω τον λόγο να μην του βάλω πέντε αστεράκια (τεσσεράμισι για την ακρίβεια).
January 29, 2024
Το 1863 την περίοδο που μαινόταν ο Αμερικανικός Εμφύλιος ο Άνταμ Ρόζεντσβαίγκ εγκατέλειψε την πατρίδα του και αποφάσισε να ταξιδέψει στην Αμερική για να πολεμήσει. Φτάνοντας στην εμπόλεμη ζώνη ένας μελαμψός άντρας του χάρισε την σωτηρία και τον έκανε να αναθεωρήσει τις ιδεολογίες του.
Ο ”Αγριότοπος” είναι ένα σπουδαίο μυθιστόρημα που από την πρώτη του σελίδα σε κάνει να νιώσεις την ένταση, την αγωνία, τον πόνο και την εξαθλίωση. Ο συγγραφέας δεν ασχολείται μόνο με το ιστορικό υπόβαθρο της εποχής αλλά καταπιάνεται και με το κοινωνικό και ιδεολογικό στοιχείο. Το θέμα του ρατσισμού και των φυλετικών διακρίσεων μπαίνει σε πρώτο πλάνο. Ο Άνταμ ήταν ένας άνθρωπος που το σακάτικο του πόδι έγινε η αφορμή να δεχτεί τον χλευασμό και την αποστροφή.
Αυτό που θα κρατήσω από το βιβλίο είναι οι ζωντανές εικόνες και οι περιγραφές του Warren που με έκαναν να αισθανθώ τις αρνητικές πλευρές της ανθρώπινης μας ψυχοσύνθεσης που είναι το μίσος, η εκδίκηση και ο τρόπος να επιβαλλόμαστε στους άλλους με τον χείριστο τρόπο.
Ο ήρωας του αναγνώσματος μας είχε βαθιά επίγνωση της παραδοξότητας που είχε ο πόλεμος και αυτά που βίωσε τον έκαναν να παραμείνει άνθρωπος σε ένα κόσμο που κατακρημνιζόταν κάθε μέρα και πιο πολύ.
Ένα βιβλίο που αξίζει να το διαβάσετε και να το προτείνετε.
Αναζητήστε το και καλή ανάγνωση.
Ο ”Αγριότοπος” είναι ένα σπουδαίο μυθιστόρημα που από την πρώτη του σελίδα σε κάνει να νιώσεις την ένταση, την αγωνία, τον πόνο και την εξαθλίωση. Ο συγγραφέας δεν ασχολείται μόνο με το ιστορικό υπόβαθρο της εποχής αλλά καταπιάνεται και με το κοινωνικό και ιδεολογικό στοιχείο. Το θέμα του ρατσισμού και των φυλετικών διακρίσεων μπαίνει σε πρώτο πλάνο. Ο Άνταμ ήταν ένας άνθρωπος που το σακάτικο του πόδι έγινε η αφορμή να δεχτεί τον χλευασμό και την αποστροφή.
Αυτό που θα κρατήσω από το βιβλίο είναι οι ζωντανές εικόνες και οι περιγραφές του Warren που με έκαναν να αισθανθώ τις αρνητικές πλευρές της ανθρώπινης μας ψυχοσύνθεσης που είναι το μίσος, η εκδίκηση και ο τρόπος να επιβαλλόμαστε στους άλλους με τον χείριστο τρόπο.
Ο ήρωας του αναγνώσματος μας είχε βαθιά επίγνωση της παραδοξότητας που είχε ο πόλεμος και αυτά που βίωσε τον έκαναν να παραμείνει άνθρωπος σε ένα κόσμο που κατακρημνιζόταν κάθε μέρα και πιο πολύ.
Ένα βιβλίο που αξίζει να το διαβάσετε και να το προτείνετε.
Αναζητήστε το και καλή ανάγνωση.
March 6, 2025
A moving portrayal of a young Jewish man who manages to come to America to fight "for freedom" in the Civil War. He can't join the army because of a deformed foot, but he brings along his deep sense of morality, along with a yearning to find out what it means to be a man in the midst of the horrors in life. He feels that every man's horrible act had a history and cause in the man's past. One quote that the boy hears was worth remembering: "God used to be the reason for things, but He got tired of it and decided to let history do the job." and "History is the agony people have to go through so that thigs will turn out as they would have anyway." The young man, Adam, is saved by a Negro man who is portrayed realistically with all his flaws. He and Adam's lives are woven together as Adam is caught up in the war. Adam is never sure what he is after in life, but wants to search through this war. One line was seminal to the book was, "The only way to know why you do a thing is to do it." I thought the book was well worth the read, and hard to put down.
January 7, 2024
Η θεματολογία του βιβλίου και ο χωροχρόνος, στον οποίο διαδραματίζεται η αφήγηση, δεν ανήκει στα κύρια ενδιαφέροντά μου. Το διάβασα επειδή είχα ήδη διαβάσει το αριστουργηματικό “Όλοι οι άνθρωποι του βασιλιά” του ιδίου συγγραφέα και περίμενα κάτι σχεδόν ανάλογο. Καμία σχέση. Όχι ότι το ύφος ενός μεγάλου συγγραφέα δεν αναγνωρίζεται, αλλά το εγχείρημα είναι τραβηγμένο απ�� τα μαλλιά. Βρισκόμαστε σε μια συνεχή ομφαλοσκόπηση του ήρωα αφηγητή, τόσο εξαντλητική και τόσο υπερβολικά και μπερδεμένα συναισθηματική, που καταντάει κουραστική.
Υπάρχουν μακροσκελείς περιγραφές για τα πάντα, ακόμη και για τα πιο ασήμαντα και άσχετα με το θέμα, ενώ για να γεμίσουν 304 σελίδες, το βιβλίο κατακλύζεται από “χειμάρρους βερμπαλισμού” (όπως θα έγραφαν ως παρατήρηση στις εκθέσεις μας το πάλαι ποτέ). Αν έλλειπαν 120 έως 180 σελίδες από το τελικό κείμενο(ο μάγος Μπόρχες θα το είχε συμπυκνώσει σε διήγημα), τότε αυτό θα είχε αξιωθεί ακόμη ένα αστεράκι από την ημετέρα μετριότητα.
Υπάρχουν μακροσκελείς περιγραφές για τα πάντα, ακόμη και για τα πιο ασήμαντα και άσχετα με το θέμα, ενώ για να γεμίσουν 304 σελίδες, το βιβλίο κατακλύζεται από “χειμάρρους βερμπαλισμού” (όπως θα έγραφαν ως παρατήρηση στις εκθέσεις μας το πάλαι ποτέ). Αν έλλειπαν 120 έως 180 σελίδες από το τελικό κείμενο(ο μάγος Μπόρχες θα το είχε συμπυκνώσει σε διήγημα), τότε αυτό θα είχε αξιωθεί ακόμη ένα αστεράκι από την ημετέρα μετριότητα.
June 29, 2017
Adam Rosenzweig, a German Jew from Bavaria, leaves for America following the death of his father. Adam's father was jailed by the Prussians following the failed revolution in 1848. Adam would like to become a soldier for the Union to fight for freedom but he was born with a deformed foot. His ship lands in New York City in time for Adam to encounter the New York City draft riots in 1863.
Adam journeys south with a suttler and an escaped slave who saved Adam's life during the draft riots. The action, such as it is, climaxes when Adam finds himself caught between Union and Confederate troops during the Battle of the Wilderness.
I found Adam's philosophical navel gazing wearisome. If you want to read a historical novel, then I recommend that you read Michael Shaara, Jeff Shaara, Bernard Cornwell, or Howard Fast, among others.
Adam journeys south with a suttler and an escaped slave who saved Adam's life during the draft riots. The action, such as it is, climaxes when Adam finds himself caught between Union and Confederate troops during the Battle of the Wilderness.
I found Adam's philosophical navel gazing wearisome. If you want to read a historical novel, then I recommend that you read Michael Shaara, Jeff Shaara, Bernard Cornwell, or Howard Fast, among others.
January 14, 2024
Ο Αγριότοπος είναι διαφορετικό βιβλίο απο το Όλοι οι άνθρωποι του βασιλιά . Στον Αγριότοπο πρωταγωνιστής είναι ενας αθώος νεαρός ο Εβραίος Άνταμ Ρόζεντσβαϊγκ που αναζητά νόημα στη ζωή του γιαυτό αναχωρεί από ένα γκέτο της Βαυαρίας για την Αμερική, όπου μαίνεται ο εμφύλιος Βορείων και Νοτίων . Παρά την αναπηρία του θέλει να πολεμήσει κατα της αδικίας. Αγριότοπος είναι όλη η Αμερική τότε λόγω πολέμου και φυλετικών διακρίσεων, Αγριότοπος η περιοχή όπου γίνεται μια μάχη στο υπέροχο τελευταίο κεφάλαιο του βιβλίου. Το βιβλίο έχει ενδιαφέροντες χαρακτήρες, όπως ο μαύρος Μοουζ Κρόφορντ που συνόδευσε τον Άνταμ στο ταξίδι του προς τον Νότο . Το τέλος του βιβλίου δίνει ένα αισιόδοξο και δυνατό μήνυμα αλλά σε αφήνει και με την απορία τι απέγινε ο Άνταμ. Πολύ ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο με δυνατές περιγραφές τοπίων και ανθρώπων.
February 9, 2024
Ο Άνταμ, ένας νεαρός εβραίος ιδεαλιστής από τη Βαυαρία, μεταναστεύει στην Αμερική για να πολεμήσει για την ελευθέρια. Μπορείς όμως να μείνεις πιστός σε ιδεολογίες και γενικές ηθικές αρχές, όταν η πραγματικότητα τις συντρίβει; Μπορείς να πιστέψεις στην καλοσύνη του ανθρώπου, ακόμα και αν είναι ο ίδιος σου ο εαυτός, όταν αυτός σε προδίδει κάθε στιγμή; Μήπως και η καλοσύνη δεν μπορεί να είναι η άλλη όψη της δειλίας του να είσαι ο εαυτός σου; Ακόμα και έτσι όμως, αποστερημένος απ' τις μεγάλες ιδέες και τα όνειρα σου, θα πρέπει να σηκωθείς και να ψάξεις για μια νέα αλήθεια που θα σε κάνει να προχωρήσεις.
October 1, 2018
Strong character development made this a great read as well as new historical information for me. This book filled in my quest for knowledge about the Civil War. I had never read anything about the emigrants that were recruited to fight in the war with citizenship as their reward. Poorly trained they suffered a high mortality rate.
May 14, 2022
One of the best novels set in the Civil War I've ever read. Engaging characters, a plot that moves along, historically accurate setting and deep insights into war, history, and human motivation. When an immigrant comes from Germany to the US to "fight for freedom" he gets a lot more than he bargained for.
March 1, 2024
Znów o wojnie secesyjnej. Ale jednak nie eo konca secesyjnej. O wojnie w ogole i o spustoszeniu jakie sieje. I o tym, ze nie ma wygranych ani przegranych, czy wojska. Są ludzie. Poranieni, skrzywdzeni, nieszczęśliwi i niespełnieni.
December 20, 2024
It took me nearly a month to read this 190-page book, that's how boring it was. I fell asleep almost every time I picked it up, I wish I'd not wasted my time on it. Recommended for insomniacs only. But what do I know.
June 8, 2023
I was reminded a lot of Cormac McCarthy. I read this in conjunction with The Killer Angels and The Southern Tradition at Bay, with which it partnered well.
April 21, 2024
Με έναν εβραίο ιδεαλιστή από την Γερμανία που ζει τον εμφύλιο μέσα από το καραβάνι προμηθευτών προσπαθεί να μεταφέρει τηνεικονα του αμερικανικού εμφυλίου κλπ
January 3, 2024
Πώς αλλάζει ο πόλεμος τον άνθρωπο; Ποια η επίδρασή του στις ανθρώπινες συνειδήσεις; Ποια η επίδρασή του στη φύση; Ποια η επίδρασή του στον ίδιο τον πόλεμο;
Αυτά και άλλα ερωτήματα απευθύνει στο μυθιστόρημά του «Αγριότοπος» ένας μάστορας του λόγου, ο Robert Pen Warren. Σκηνικό του ο Αμερικανικός Εμφύλιος Πόλεμος (1861-1865). Ο υπότιτλος του βιβλίου το καθιστά σαφές: «μια ιστορία του εμφυλίου πολέμου»
Ήρωάς του ο τριαντάχρονος Άνταμ Ρόζεντσβάϊγκ, ένας «Εβραίος της Βαυαρίας με σακάτικο πόδι», μεγαλωμένος με τις γλώσσες της ελευθερίας, ελληνικά και αγγλικά, ο οποίος, από το γκέτο της Βαυαρίας, φεύγει το 1863 για την Αμερική, προκειμένου να πολεμήσει με τους Νότιους για την ελευθερία και τη δικαιοσύνη. Στην πορεία ανακαλύπτει ότι ο πόλεμος δεν αφορούσε μόνο την απελευθέρωση των υπόδουλων μαύρων και πολύ περισσότερο την απονομή ισότητας μεταξύ των πολιτών. Ο ρατσισμός κυριαρχεί τόσο στις τάξεις των Νοτίων όσο και σε κείνες των Βορείων, Ένα μυθιστόρημα χαμηλών τόνων που μιλά όχι μόνο για το αιματηρό αποτέλεσμα των μαχών στην πολιτεία της Βιρτζίνια, αλλά, επίσης, για την ανθρώπινη κατάσταση όταν ο ιδεαλισμός του ήρωα έρχεται σε επαφή με την πραγματικότητα. Η αντίθεση μεταξύ ιδεολογικών πεποιθήσεων και των πράξεων είναι στον πυρήνα του "Αγριότοπου".
Ο Άνταμ ανακαλύπτει, στη συνειδητή πορεία του, ότι ο αμείλικτος πόλεμος μπορεί να αλλάξει όσα πιστεύουμε για τον εαυτό μας και τις πεποιθήσεις μας. Πολλοί οι χαρακτήρες στο μυθιστόρημα που το πιστοποιούν. Χαρακτηριστικός είναι ο λευκός άνδρας, γιος ιδιοκτήτη σκλάβων, που ενώ υποστήριξε ως μάρτυρας έναν κατηγορούμενο μαύρο, με αποτέλεσμα να αποβληθεί από τα πατρώα εδάφη, στη συνέχεια, εκδηλώνει κυνικές ρατσιστικές τάσεις. Ή η οικογένεια που ξεκληρίστηκε μετά τον θάνατο του μοναχογιού στη διάρκεια του πολέμου. Ή ο ίδιος που αναγκάζεται να σκοτώσει έναν λιποτάκτη. Ο πόλεμος αφήνει πίσω του έναν «αγριότοπο».
Με αφορμή τα «αν» της ζωής που τον ταλανίζουν, την αγωνία του αν υπάρχει αλήθεια στον κόσμο, ο Άνταμ καταλήγει πως θα έκανε τα ίδια «αλλά με διαφορετική καρδιά». «Στη δημιουργία της κάθε στιγμής που ζούμε…δυσκολεύεται κανείς να θυμάται πως και οι άλλοι άνθρωποι είναι άνθρωποι…Μα μόνο έτσι μπορείς να είσαι άνθρωπος κι ο ίδιος. Μόνο έτσι μπορείς να είσαι οτιδήποτε». Και αναρωτιέται: Ξέρετε τι είναι ιστορία; Είναι η αγωνία που πρέπει να περάσουν οι άνθρωποι για να εξελιχθούν τα πράγματα όπως θα είχαν εξελιχθεί ούτως ή άλλως.
Ένα βιβλίο που πολύ αγάπησα, με εξαιρετική διεισδυτικότητα στην περιγραφή των χαρακτήρων, με σκηνές πρωτοφανούς καθαρότητας τόσο από τα πεδία των μαχών και τις βαρβαρότητες κατά τις ταραχές όσο και από τα μετόπισθεν. Όλα αυτά με μια πανέμορφη γραφή που την αποκαλύπτει ικανοποιητικά η ωραία μετάφραση της Άννας Μαραγκάκη. Η λογοτεχνία στα καλύτερά της. Η αφήγηση τριτοπρόσωπη, γίνεται πρωτοπρόσωπη όταν εκφράζει τις ανησυχίες του Άνταμ. Ο δε στοχασμός του, όταν ολοκληρώνει αυτό το ταξίδι αυτογνωσίας, είναι αντάξιος των ανώνυμων ανθρώπων και των δεινών τους.
https://lesxianagnosismaroussi.blogsp...
Αυτά και άλλα ερωτήματα απευθύνει στο μυθιστόρημά του «Αγριότοπος» ένας μάστορας του λόγου, ο Robert Pen Warren. Σκηνικό του ο Αμερικανικός Εμφύλιος Πόλεμος (1861-1865). Ο υπότιτλος του βιβλίου το καθιστά σαφές: «μια ιστορία του εμφυλίου πολέμου»
Ήρωάς του ο τριαντάχρονος Άνταμ Ρόζεντσβάϊγκ, ένας «Εβραίος της Βαυαρίας με σακάτικο πόδι», μεγαλωμένος με τις γλώσσες της ελευθερίας, ελληνικά και αγγλικά, ο οποίος, από το γκέτο της Βαυαρίας, φεύγει το 1863 για την Αμερική, προκειμένου να πολεμήσει με τους Νότιους για την ελευθερία και τη δικαιοσύνη. Στην πορεία ανακαλύπτει ότι ο πόλεμος δεν αφορούσε μόνο την απελευθέρωση των υπόδουλων μαύρων και πολύ περισσότερο την απονομή ισότητας μεταξύ των πολιτών. Ο ρατσισμός κυριαρχεί τόσο στις τάξεις των Νοτίων όσο και σε κείνες των Βορείων, Ένα μυθιστόρημα χαμηλών τόνων που μιλά όχι μόνο για το αιματηρό αποτέλεσμα των μαχών στην πολιτεία της Βιρτζίνια, αλλά, επίσης, για την ανθρώπινη κατάσταση όταν ο ιδεαλισμός του ήρωα έρχεται σε επαφή με την πραγματικότητα. Η αντίθεση μεταξύ ιδεολογικών πεποιθήσεων και των πράξεων είναι στον πυρήνα του "Αγριότοπου".
Ο Άνταμ ανακαλύπτει, στη συνειδητή πορεία του, ότι ο αμείλικτος πόλεμος μπορεί να αλλάξει όσα πιστεύουμε για τον εαυτό μας και τις πεποιθήσεις μας. Πολλοί οι χαρακτήρες στο μυθιστόρημα που το πιστοποιούν. Χαρακτηριστικός είναι ο λευκός άνδρας, γιος ιδιοκτήτη σκλάβων, που ενώ υποστήριξε ως μάρτυρας έναν κατηγορούμενο μαύρο, με αποτέλεσμα να αποβληθεί από τα πατρώα εδάφη, στη συνέχεια, εκδηλώνει κυνικές ρατσιστικές τάσεις. Ή η οικογένεια που ξεκληρίστηκε μετά τον θάνατο του μοναχογιού στη διάρκεια του πολέμου. Ή ο ίδιος που αναγκάζεται να σκοτώσει έναν λιποτάκτη. Ο πόλεμος αφήνει πίσω του έναν «αγριότοπο».
Με αφορμή τα «αν» της ζωής που τον ταλανίζουν, την αγωνία του αν υπάρχει αλήθεια στον κόσμο, ο Άνταμ καταλήγει πως θα έκανε τα ίδια «αλλά με διαφορετική καρδιά». «Στη δημιουργία της κάθε στιγμής που ζούμε…δυσκολεύεται κανείς να θυμάται πως και οι άλλοι άνθρωποι είναι άνθρωποι…Μα μόνο έτσι μπορείς να είσαι άνθρωπος κι ο ίδιος. Μόνο έτσι μπορείς να είσαι οτιδήποτε». Και αναρωτιέται: Ξέρετε τι είναι ιστορία; Είναι η αγωνία που πρέπει να περάσουν οι άνθρωποι για να εξελιχθούν τα πράγματα όπως θα είχαν εξελιχθεί ούτως ή άλλως.
Ένα βιβλίο που πολύ αγάπησα, με εξαιρετική διεισδυτικότητα στην περιγραφή των χαρακτήρων, με σκηνές πρωτοφανούς καθαρότητας τόσο από τα πεδία των μαχών και τις βαρβαρότητες κατά τις ταραχές όσο και από τα μετόπισθεν. Όλα αυτά με μια πανέμορφη γραφή που την αποκαλύπτει ικανοποιητικά η ωραία μετάφραση της Άννας Μαραγκάκη. Η λογοτεχνία στα καλύτερά της. Η αφήγηση τριτοπρόσωπη, γίνεται πρωτοπρόσωπη όταν εκφράζει τις ανησυχίες του Άνταμ. Ο δε στοχασμός του, όταν ολοκληρώνει αυτό το ταξίδι αυτογνωσίας, είναι αντάξιος των ανώνυμων ανθρώπων και των δεινών τους.
https://lesxianagnosismaroussi.blogsp...
February 5, 2015
Robert Penn Warren's seventh novel is set in Civil War times but though he draws on his studies of that conflict, it is really about something else.
Adam Rosenzweig, born a club-footed Bavarian Jew, sets out on a quest to honor his recently deceased father. His intent is to fight for freedom, that having been the defining mission of his father's life. He gets himself a special boot to correct his deformed foot and takes a ship to America where he plans to join the Union Army and fight for the freedom of the slaves.
Of course nothing turns out as he planned. He spends time in army camps in an area called the Wilderness, working for a sutler. His only friend is a Negro fellow employee and he experiences all the grit and suffering and insanity of war without ever fighting as a soldier.
Thus the novel becomes a story about living according to one's passion, no matter how innocently conceived nor how badly carried out, because to live any other way is hardly to have lived.
I liked the book. At times it reminded me of The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride. The voice and major themes of RPW's writings come through loud and clear.
On the night Adam's father was buried he thought, "This was the moment when the dead realize the truth: This is it, it will never be different. To be dead, he thought, that was to know that nothing would ever be different. He thought: I am alive."
And so we carry on.
Adam Rosenzweig, born a club-footed Bavarian Jew, sets out on a quest to honor his recently deceased father. His intent is to fight for freedom, that having been the defining mission of his father's life. He gets himself a special boot to correct his deformed foot and takes a ship to America where he plans to join the Union Army and fight for the freedom of the slaves.
Of course nothing turns out as he planned. He spends time in army camps in an area called the Wilderness, working for a sutler. His only friend is a Negro fellow employee and he experiences all the grit and suffering and insanity of war without ever fighting as a soldier.
Thus the novel becomes a story about living according to one's passion, no matter how innocently conceived nor how badly carried out, because to live any other way is hardly to have lived.
I liked the book. At times it reminded me of The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride. The voice and major themes of RPW's writings come through loud and clear.
On the night Adam's father was buried he thought, "This was the moment when the dead realize the truth: This is it, it will never be different. To be dead, he thought, that was to know that nothing would ever be different. He thought: I am alive."
And so we carry on.
February 14, 2013
Adam Rosenzweig leaves Bavaria to travel to the United States to fight for the North in the Civil War. In his desire to fight for freedom he encounters more than a civil war, but people who challenge his view of himself and his world.
Adam has a deformed foot which colors how he is treated and how he views himself. He meets a variety of characters from the very wealthy to the poorest. He sees very little actual war action himself, but comes along after the battles have been fought and sees some of the aftermath. The civil war in this case, is within himself as he learns more about himself and how he can take his place in the world.
His physical deformity is a symbol and a reflection of the imperfections he finds in the people around him and the chaos in the country at the time.
Adam has a deformed foot which colors how he is treated and how he views himself. He meets a variety of characters from the very wealthy to the poorest. He sees very little actual war action himself, but comes along after the battles have been fought and sees some of the aftermath. The civil war in this case, is within himself as he learns more about himself and how he can take his place in the world.
His physical deformity is a symbol and a reflection of the imperfections he finds in the people around him and the chaos in the country at the time.
January 9, 2024
I'm deeply impressed with this book for its style and structure, and for creating an idealistic character who from the start has many of his idealistic illusions destroyed by the realities he finds on his journey over to - and in America during the Civil war.
The reality is that war brings out the savagery in human beings, and that there is no honor in war, and very little humanity left in people during war. There is only survival and the beauty of nature - in the physical wilderness, and perhaps in the wilderness of each person's soul?
The reality is that war brings out the savagery in human beings, and that there is no honor in war, and very little humanity left in people during war. There is only survival and the beauty of nature - in the physical wilderness, and perhaps in the wilderness of each person's soul?
January 25, 2015
An idealist from Bavaria goes to America to "fight for freedom." He encounters reality. Superb characterizations throughout. No vast and sweeping battle scenes; the narrative describes Our Hero's journeys, and the people he deals with. If such journeys of self-discovery are your bag, go for it.
August 12, 2016
Not very edifying.
June 17, 2015
Good thought provoking book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews