A Thousand Acres (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Jane Smiley
- First Published: 1991
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism, Family literature
- Subjects: 1970’s, Family or family life, Parents and children, Suicide, Blindness or blind persons, Midwest, 1980’s, Child abuse, Incest, Cancer, Farms, farmers, or farming, Fathers, Adultery, Sisters, Accidents, Tragedy, Heroes or heroism, Environment or environmental health, Draft, military, Poisons or poisoning, Shakespeare, William, or Shakespearean plays
- Locales: Iowa
If Bob Miller must come to terms with his desire for control and the damage it wreaks, Larry Cook, the patriarch who sets in motion the tragedy of A Thousand Acres, reflects his opposite number: a man whose stunted interior life crashes in upon him as his family grapples with the emotional devastation he has wrought. The third-generation heir to a homestead begun in 1890 and steadily expanded to become the largest farm in the area, Cook decides suddenly to retire and to form a corporation, with his three daughters and sons-in-law as joint stockholders. Quickly bcoming a best...
[The entire page is 1796 words long]
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