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87th out of 134 books
—
38 voters
The Web and the Rock
by
Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Wolfe contended that The Web and the Rock, the precursor to You Cant Go Home Again, was "not only a turning away from the books I have written in the past, but a genuine spiritual and artistic change." To demonstrate his commitment to a new literary direction, he transformed his protagonist Eugene Gant into the more mature and aware George Webber.The Web and the Roc...more
Paperback, 712 pages
Published
May 1st 1999
by Louisiana State University Press
(first published 1939)
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The protagonist in The Web and the Rock, George Weber, writes a novel deemed unpublishable due to its extreme length—lazy editors send him insulting rejection letters without bothering to read the manuscript, alcoholic writers give it backhanded praise after admitting to having only read “a page or two, a line here and there” (even Weber’s lover, who believes him a genius, counsels him to cut a few hundred pages). The critical establishment is portrayed as populated by unsuccessful authors who b...more
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Describing a fist-fight with the tough kids from the wrong side of town, Wolfe says "...they stood there massed against him in the whole concert of their hated qualities...he had to meet them on their own earth of red waning March and Sunday afternoons" - the last phrase a perfect English example of what the Greeks called "hendiadys". He is really only describing one March Sunday afternoon but the rhetorical trope makes a generalization of it.
All the descriptions of his teenaged impressions are...more
All the descriptions of his teenaged impressions are...more
My second time through this one, and I think I liked it better the first time. It ran long in a lot of parts, and, as the introduction points out, Wolfe’s affinity as an author does not run to telling a story. Nothing much happens in this book: George Webber grows up in a southern town, goes to NY, and there falls in love with an older woman. That’s about all of the plot. But, the thing about Wolfe is his turn of phrase, and his insight into life. One review I read said that you could pick up a...more
More than once, while reading this book, I have risen from my chair and crossed the room to a friend, acquaintance or family member. Needing to show someone a passage just read. The thought of the words trapped dark between the pages, unread, unseen -- cause me to take a quick breath, as i prepare to reveal to them a most glorious paragraph -- then a slow exhale, as I realize my impending oft repeated folly. Not ready -- not nearly ready are they to hear. So I return to my seat, and read more. M...more
After finally finishing this book (I should have stopped reading it after the first 25 pages but I kept hoping for better), I am mindful of the need for brevity. Endlessly repetitive. Verbose. Fragmented. Tedious. The ennui of the tortured writer…ho-hum, i.e., “so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness”. Colossal lack of self-awareness cloaked in the illusion of self-examination. This book had an abundance of flaws but my review ends here.
What follows is typical of the sentence length...more
What follows is typical of the sentence length...more
What I learned from this book was patience. It took me over a month to finish this book, and I was ready to pitch it a quarter of the way into it. Thomas Wolfe may be an elegant writing, however his descriptive flowery phases run on and on. This book is not for those who wish to speed read or just enjoy fast pace novels. This book is to be consumed, to be taken fully for his development of each sentence as it leads to similar thoughts though more deeply elaborated as many similitudes strung toge...more
I liked what he was trying to do, but sometimes I felt as if it was words for words sake. This interfered with the story and my ability to connect with the characters, of which, there weren't really many. It was a little too much ego rambling for me. There are better coming of age books out there.
Reading this book was like falling in love. Decades after I closed the book, I still often recall this author's vibrant phrases and the emotions he conveys so well.
I love Thomas Wolfe. I read something today that described him as the Proust of the American South. There are parts of his books that completely blow me away. He lived and observed so intensely, that he managed to create four novels out of his own very short life. That said, he REALLY needed an editor, and The Web and the Rock was not that well edited in my view. It was cobbled together after Wolfe's death, and the beautiful passages get drowned a bit... It says something that this book is now o...more
How can I not like a book that has a fictionalized version of the true story of my grandfather playing QB at UNC and defeating our rival UVA.
God! Parts of it were brilliant and parts of it were pure CRAP. As others have written, the relationship with Esther takes WAY TOO LONG to fall apart and seriously has ANY couple EVER had such conversations?
HOWEVER the bits with Monk growing up in Catawba, the beautiful descriptions of his first encounters with the City, and (for me, the most brilliantly written chapter in the entire novel) the chapter at the end where George goes to the Octoberfest in Munich. No one writes about food and beer a...more
HOWEVER the bits with Monk growing up in Catawba, the beautiful descriptions of his first encounters with the City, and (for me, the most brilliantly written chapter in the entire novel) the chapter at the end where George goes to the Octoberfest in Munich. No one writes about food and beer a...more
A neglected classic. Although the narrative sags at times (especially the mid-to-late sections centered on protagonist George Webber's relationship with Esther), to complain of such is to miss the point of the book. Wolfe is focused on tracing in detail the full psychological and existential contours of one character's mind. As such, plot is secondary (yet there are brief moments of narrative pathos, such as the chapter "Child by Tiger," which would make a moving short story in its own right).
2.5 instead of 2. The first 400 pages of this book flew by when I read them last year. Then Wolfe decides to delve into his relationship & chronicles every word of every argument or discussion he had about his relationship for three years. It is boring, especially when the two get stuck in a rut & argue about the same thing at least 12 times before they break up. I made it through to the end, but Wolfe lost me quite some time ago. At least his other novels still inspire me.
A slow difficult read about a young writer in New York City and his temptestuous affair with a married woman. The writing was beautiful in spots, but diffuse and unfocused for most of the book.
Generally, Wolfe has a congested can't-get-it-on-the-page-fast-enough style, but his manic energy was missing in his last ans post-humorous novel. But at times he captured a moments with soaring fearless language.
Generally, Wolfe has a congested can't-get-it-on-the-page-fast-enough style, but his manic energy was missing in his last ans post-humorous novel. But at times he captured a moments with soaring fearless language.
"In all the world there was nothing but Food -- glorious Food. And Beer -- October Beer. The world was one enormous Belly -- there was no higher heaven than the Paradise of Cram and Gorge." Heaven indeed!
There were some really beautiful moments, but Tom NEEDED an editor. Some of it was quite painfully tedious. I think he had just too many ideas.
I challenge readers to read this and then tell me if it is worth the effort or not. I think it was but what do I know ?
There are some great passages here. It's prose poetry.
But it seems cobbled together. It was, after Wolfe died.
But it seems cobbled together. It was, after Wolfe died.
Don't remember much about the book. :/
May 17, 2013
Chris Mauer
marked it as to-read
May 16, 2013
Isaiah
marked it as to-read
May 10, 2013
Jose Teodoro
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May 01, 2013
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Neill Carson
marked it as to-read
Apr 16, 2013
Julian Mane
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Thomas Clayton Wolfe was an important American novelist of the 20th century. He wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works, and novel fragments. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodical, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing. His books, written during the Great Depression, depict the variety and diversity of American culture.
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“The sight of these closed golden houses with their warmth of life awoke in him a bitter, poignant, strangely mixed emotion of exile and return, of loneliness and security, of being forever shut out from the palpable and passionate integument of life and fellowship, and of being so close to it that he could touch it with his hand, enter it by a door, possess it with a word--a word that, somehow, he could never speak, a door that, somehow, he would never open.”
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4 people liked it
“So all were gone at last, one by one, each swept out into the mighty flood tide of the city's life, there to prove, to test, to find, to lose himself, as each man must--alone.”
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2 people liked it
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