Moon Calf: A Novel

by Floyd Dell

Moon Calf is a novel written by Floyd Dell, first published in 1920. The book follows the story of a young man named Tom whom the author describes as a ""moon calf"", meaning he is a simpleton or a fool. Tom lives in a small town and is content with his simple life until he falls in love with a woman named May. May is from a wealthy family and is engaged to a man named Jim, who is also wealthy and successful. Despite the odds, Tom and May begin a secret affair that eventually leads to tragedy.The novel explores themes of love, class, and the struggle between tradition and modernity. It also delves into the concept of the American Dream and how it affects individuals from different social backgrounds. The book is written in a poetic and lyrical style, with vivid descriptions of the rural landscape and the characters' inner thoughts and emotions.Moon Calf was well-received upon its initial publication and is considered a classic of American literature. It has been praised for its unique style and its exploration of complex themes in a simple and accessible way. The book remains relevant today as it offers a timeless commentary on the human condition and the struggles we face in our pursuit of happiness.1920. The book When James Fay died, he had held the office of county treasurer, and the respect of all his fellow citizens, for so long that it seemed as if it had been always so. He was Sawter County's grand old man. It is many years now since his death, and he is still remembered in Sawter County. But the story which keeps his memory alive goes back to an earlier time, when he was not respected by his fellow citizens-to the time when he was old Jimmy Fay the crank. Old Jimmy had not changed; it was not in his nature to change. It was the whole United States, and Sawter County along with it, that had changed. It had taken a civil war to make old Jimmy Fay popular among his neighbors. Old Jimmy was an Abolitionist-at that date perhaps the only one in southwestern Illinois. He hated slavery-profoundly and passionately.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Fiction

404 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1920

Reviews

[Richard S · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a rocky and rather bizarre first chapter related to the Civil War (the tone and style is completely different from the rest of the book - keep going, as it's a little offensive in places), this book turns into one of the finest semi-autobiographical bildungsromans I've ever come across, an American "Of Human Bondage". Felix Fay is born in a small town in southwestern Illinois, and the book traces his growth as a person, writer, and social activist over time. It's a powerful book, one you can't put down, and while in the middle it slips a bit, the end has one of most powerful and intensely real love stories I've ever come across. The book is full of all sorts of literary name dropping, and even a long Walter Pater quote, and while this is perhaps a bit "obvious" and mildly annoying, the description of Illinois at the time is endlessly fascinating and Felix's struggles with abject poverty, his various employment in factories and at a newspaper, his love of libraries, but especially the various people he meets in his journey through life are drawn in vivid detail, not as caricatures but in a highly realistic manner. The description of his family and their travails is particularly well done.

Floyd Dell was a major literary figure of the time (he has a long entry in Wikipedia) - and this was his first novel and a bestseller, after a long period as a playwright and a literary reviewer and social activist in Chicago and New York. He was a huge champion of many more famous American writers, and it's puzzling why this book and writer has remained in obscurity, I would only rank it slightly less than Dreiser (and in many ways it is better). This is Chicago mid-western literature, not Henry James, and it has a sincerity, clarity and even sweetness that greatly recommends it.

This book was included in JC Powys "Modern Books" tour, and although I don't really view it as an inspiration for JCP's work, it fits in well with some of the European book equivalents in his "Best 100 Books". It's a book that JCP would have liked.

[Rupert Wolfe-Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a strange book.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

p. 265: [Wheels] laughed. "We live in a world of chaos and accident. Politicians think they can tame that chaos. They are fools. Dreamers are the only wise ones. They know that they can take fragments here and there out of the chaos, and gild them with their fancy, until they become shining and beautiful. There is no other beauty. The world itself is hideous. You cannot do anything with it. But you can dream beautiful dreams. You are not a politician. Leave that to the fools. You are a poet. ... You will not go back to the factory. The ironic destinies have other uses for you. Your role will be played up in the sunlight. It is not the intention of the gods to starve you, or maim your body. They want to break your heart, and tear your soul to pieces. And so they will feed you with hope, with success, with power. It is useless for me to tell you not to believe in these things. You will. But from time to time, as the gods afflict you, you will remember what I have said, that beauty exists only in your own dreams. Now forget this, and go off and be happy!"

[Felix] started home. "The ironic destinies!—old Wheels has been reading Thomas Hardy."

He turned suddenly and went back to the office. "Go off and be happy!—philosophic mush!"

He went in and drew his pay.

"At least I have two weeks more of a clean-shirt existence. That's that much."

There was in his mind a bitter distaste for the pretended omniscience of old Wheels, and with this was mingled a curious dislike, felt for the first time, of the realistic omniscience of Franz [Vogelsang, the Socialist]. He did not want to go to Central Branch next Friday to share Franz's triumph. That garret Utopia had somehow lost its savour. It was more interesting to live in the real world in which one lost one's job and—yes, by God!—fought to get it back.

"Damn all these people who know everything!" he said.

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This book does exactly what today's whole memoir-mess-trend doesn't, and for that I love it: it gets off its own ass. Yes, this is one of Floyd Dell's semi-autobiographical novels about growing up and figuring life out, which makes it sound pretty run-of-the-mill. But Dell wrote this in 1921 with a journalist's (read: not a self-congratulator's) sense of truthfulness and purpose.

To date I have not read anything that more completely serves as a guide for self-realization as this was for me. As the book's Felix Fay transitions from self to self to self, always thinking he has Arrived until he sees the next more-informed way of being, he slowly grows into a personal identity that does not merely subscribe, but steps into the reality of society.

[Arthur Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had not read Floyd Dell before and, by the time I got to the end of the first section of this book I felt I was in the midst of the best novel that I had read in quite a long time. Eventually, though, the author and the book's leading character got bogged down in Socialism and the story became more about ideals and less about incident. I don't MIND ideals, necessarily, but it represented such a change in the narrative that the thing seemed to come to a screeching halt. It did get back to the prosaic world after a spell, but it never gained back its initial momentum, in my estimation. I discovered that the book is very much autobiographical, so the author hand his hands tied to a certain extent, and it certainly never became dull or even uninteresting. But, at the same time, it didn't live up to the promise of that opening section.

[S Cearley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine enough book. Distinctly mired in its time, but forward enough to still feel mostly relevant as someone who feels there is no solid place for themselves. While it is listed as a book describing the feelings of the post WWI culture, it has a very distinct feeling of the Naturalists, where the story is predetermined, and in fact we feel there is no place for this young man to go -despite all of his intellectualizing- than to someplace bigger, in this case Chicago. Add to the determinism of the story the pig-headed literary realism of the youth ( who learns everything about society from reading, not from participating) makes it even more clear.

A fun, easy read.