Knowles, John 1926–

An American novelist, Knowles is the author of A Separate Peace and Indian Summer. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 17-18.)

John Knowles achieved an early and substantial reputation with the publication of A Separate Peace. Since then he has written a second novel, a European and Near Eastern travel book, and now a third novel, Indian Summer. On the dust jacket of each of these is the wistful identification of John Knowles as the author of A Separate Peace, an identification which has begun to suggest, by Indian Summer, that Knowles' reputation is based altogether on the success of his first novel. There is a kind of justice, however, in the association, for all of Knowles' later works are concerned in one fashion or another with the same theme as that of his first—the necessity for one to conquer the forces within himself that work for his destruction and concomitantly to...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass