Suttree (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Cormac McCarthy
- First Published: 1979
- Type of Plot: Impressionistic realism
- Time of Work: The early 1950’s
- Setting: Knoxville, Tennessee, and the surrounding area
- Principal Characters: Cornelius Suttree, Gene Harrogate, Abednego (Ab) Jones, Leonard, Harvey, Michael, Reese, Wanda, Willard, Boneyard, Hoghead, J-Bone, Blind Richard
- Genres: Long fiction, Impressionistic literature
- Subjects: 1950’s, Homelessness or homeless people, Friendship, Robbery or robbers, Tennessee, Isolation
- Locales: Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
The Novel
Suttree takes place during the early 1950’s in the slums of Knoxville, Tennessee. Cornelius Suttree, who comes from a prominent family, has abandoned his wife and infant son and has chosen to live on a houseboat near McAnally Flats, among the drifters and derelicts of the town. He keeps himself alive by fishing in the filth of the Tennessee River, but his existence is apparently meaningless, given over to destructive drinking, fighting, and carousing. As the narrator explains in the introduction to the story, “We are come to a world within the world. In...
[The entire page is 2024 words long]
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