Of Time and the River (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas Wolfe
- First Published: 1935
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Impressionistic literature, Autobiographical fiction
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Parents and children, Traveling or travelers, France or French people, Europe or Europeans, College life, Cancer, Fathers, Home, Drama or dramatists
- Locales: France, Boston, MA, New York
In much of Wolfe's writing, lengthy descriptions of train journeys impart a sense of movement and change. In Of Time and the River: A Legend of Man's Hunger in His Youth, his hero, Eugene, embarks upon a trip northward. Having left college in his native state, Eugene believes that he has become a witness to a vast and panoramic series of images which, taken together, reveal the many faces of America itself. There is to him a sensation of escape from the dark and mournful mystery of the South to the freedom and bright promise of the North, with its shining cities and extravagant...
[The entire page is 1295 words long]
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