Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe
Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe is a 1987 biography of Thomas Wolfe by David Herbert Donald. It won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Biography.[1]
 | |
| Author | David Herbert Donald |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Biography |
| Published | 1987 |
| Publisher | Little, Brown |
| ISBN | 9780316189521 |
| OCLC | 925224109 |
Harold Bloom called the book the definitive biography of Wolfe.[2] Library Journal called the book the most successful of Wolfe's three biographies to that date[3] (It had been preceded by Elizabeth Nowell's (1960) and Andrew Turnbull's (1967) books,[4] both titled Thomas Wolfe: A Biography; other biographies have been published since). Publishers Weekly wrote that Donald documented Wolfe's life and work "[m]ore fully than any previous biographer."[5] Leslie Field wrote that Donald writes of Wolfe in "incisive, graceful, and forceful style" and has many advantages that Wolfe's earlier biographers did not, including access to material, letters, and papers that had not been available before.[4]
Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe is not particularly kind to Wolfe's editors. Donald is hostile to Maxwell Perkins' editing, feeling that Wolfe and Perkins did not have compatible visions and that Perkins was more concerned with producing a best seller than a transcendent work of art.[4] Donald excoriates Edward Aswell even more, accusing him of butchery: "Greatly exceeding the professional responsibility of an editor, Aswell took impermissible liberties with Wolfe's manuscript, and his interference seriously eroded the integrity of Wolfe's text. Far from deserving commendation, Aswell's editorial interference was, both from the standpoint of literature and of ethics, unacceptable". (Harold Bloom demurred, writing that "Mr. Donald, an admirable biographer and skilled historian, ought to have avoided writing literary criticism of Wolfe" since Wolfe's prose is "less tiresomely obtrusive after being worked over by Aswell".) [2]
References
- "Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe, by David Herbert Donald (Little)". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- Harold Bloom (February 8, 1987). "Passionate Beholder of America in Trouble". New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- Arthur Waldhorn in Library Journal, quoted at "Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe [product description]". Amazon.com. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- Field, Leslie (Winter 1987). "Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe, and: The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe (review)". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. Johns Hopkins University. 33 (4): 681–683. doi:10.1353/mfs.0.1252. ISSN 1080-658X. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- "Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe". Publishers Weekly. January 1, 1990. Retrieved November 14, 2018.