Ship of Fools (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Katherine Anne Porter
- First Published: 1962
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Allegory
- Time of Work: August 22-September 17, 1931
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Voyages, Class conflict, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Middle classes, Marriage, Prejudices or antipathies, Alienation, Class consciousness, 1930’s, Obsession, Ethnic relations, Anti-Semitism, Ships, Human behavior, Nazism or Nazis, Germany or German people, Gypsies
- Locales: Oceans, Veracruz, Mexico, Bremerhaven, Germany
Places Discussed
*Veracruz. Port city in Mexico from which the German ship Vera departs. Most of its passengers are Germans returning to their homeland after visiting Mexico for various reasons and lengths of stay. Passengers from other European nations, the United States, and Cuba also board the ship.
The novel opens with a French epigram meaning, “When are we setting forth toward happiness?” It suggests the allegorical nature of the voyage that is to come. The notion of human happiness is set forth as a destination, that is, a place, or a stasis, that the...
[The entire page is 1089 words long]
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