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Thomas Wolfe LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL Modern Library Giant c. 1957 in Dust Jacket
Unknown Binding
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February 12, 2024
I'm incredibly glad I finally read this American classic. It's brilliant. Some passages are breathtaking. I feel a better person for having read this novel.
BUT there's a rather important caveat for the modern reader: Thomas Wolfe lived in North Carolina in the first part of the 20th Century. He was unlike most people in many ways, with his incredibly vivid observations of people, but he was very like most people in the South in that period. In short - throughout the book are references to black people that would be offensive to most people nowadays. I gasped several times - my wife would ask what had happened - I would have to say, "Oh, just Wolfe throwing in some ugly crap about black people again." --
Like any book from a different era, Wolfe must be read with an understanding that he may seem flagrantly racist to us now, but he was just simply out front and commenting as people in the South did. He wasn't unusual in his casual disregard for people who weren't white. Keep this book in its historical perspective and you can thwart your possible desire to toss the it out the window once in a while.-- Really - The language is horrible sometimes.
I feel that caveat is VERY important for people to be aware of before people pick up this otherwise amazing one-of-a-kind book. - Give the old author a break if you can. He has much to offer. Ignore the unfortunate dross that crops up once in a while. Your life could be richer for having read this.
BUT there's a rather important caveat for the modern reader: Thomas Wolfe lived in North Carolina in the first part of the 20th Century. He was unlike most people in many ways, with his incredibly vivid observations of people, but he was very like most people in the South in that period. In short - throughout the book are references to black people that would be offensive to most people nowadays. I gasped several times - my wife would ask what had happened - I would have to say, "Oh, just Wolfe throwing in some ugly crap about black people again." --
Like any book from a different era, Wolfe must be read with an understanding that he may seem flagrantly racist to us now, but he was just simply out front and commenting as people in the South did. He wasn't unusual in his casual disregard for people who weren't white. Keep this book in its historical perspective and you can thwart your possible desire to toss the it out the window once in a while.-- Really - The language is horrible sometimes.
I feel that caveat is VERY important for people to be aware of before people pick up this otherwise amazing one-of-a-kind book. - Give the old author a break if you can. He has much to offer. Ignore the unfortunate dross that crops up once in a while. Your life could be richer for having read this.
Displaying 1 of 1 review