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=Thomas Clayton Wolfe by Taylor Franklin Allison=

By most accounts, history vindicates American authors. However, a few notable exceptions prove the rule. Thomas Clayton Wolfe, native son of North Carolina, is one such exception. Shortly after his death in 1938, Wolfe was viewed as on par with the literary greats of the day, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner. In modern times, however, Wolfe is almost criminally ignored, with only his magnum opus, //Look Homeward, Angel//, receiving recognition. While Wolfe's work often lacks cohesiveness, analysis of his canon demonstrates the battle of a man fighting his own desires and instincts to ensconce his own character into his work. This battle defines his writing technique, making his work quite unique in the field of American literature. It is difficult to determine what Wolfe was attempting to accomplish through his writing. Wolfe greatly enjoyed writing, quoted as saying "...(man's) social feeling, his whole understanding and sympathy with the lives of people and with the whole human experience, becomes enormously enriched and deepened as a result of this." Wolfe also suffered from a tendency to discredit himself, and was very insecure about his own writing. However, the process gave him much joy. As such, Wolfe didn't try to revolutionize the writing process. While he inspired many contemporaries, his prose was quite conventional, drawing criticism only for excessive length, and not experimentalism. To properly analyze and understand Wolfe, one must have a fundamental knowledge of the events in his life. Born to a middle class family in Asheville, Wolfe received excellent education, attending University of North Carolina at a mere 16 years old. After graduating, Wolfe drifted from job to job, casually writing, until //Look Homeward, Angel// was met with great acclaim in 1925. Wolfe lived a full life, engaging in an affair with a woman 20 years his senior, moving from city to city in both Europe and America. These wild experiences were of enormous worth to Wolfe's literature, creating the inspiration for his most famous character, Eugene Gant. Wolfe crafts Gant out of his own experiences, creating a passionate character with few checks over his own emotion, a criticism many readers applied to Wolfe himself. Wolfe's struggle to create new characters with new points of view dogged his literary work the rest of his life. Another Wolfe trademark associated with his passion is the bloated wordiness of his novels. The excessive length of Wolfe's prose was often associated as an extension of his lack of control over himself, demonstrated by his love for partying and food. While Wolfe's wordiness creates problems for many critics, his contributions to the field cannot be denied. Without intending to change writing, Wolfe introduced the autobiographical fictional character into writing. Eugene Gant's tales may be called excessive, but their influence is far ranging. The almost confessional nature of Wolfe's characters even reflects the American fortunes of the period - widespread poverty led to depression among the American people, but it also led to a great deal of self realization. As Americans grew poorer, they took stock of their lives, viewing an ugly, stark world. Wolfe gained self realization through his writings - by writing of Eugene Gant's experiences and feelings, Wolfe expressed his own. Wolfe's tales of excess have largely lost popularity among contemporary Americans. However, Wolfe's influence is still felt strongly. The autobiographical nature of Wolfe's work will continue to guide generations of writers to come, long after his actual novels will be forgotten.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bordeau, Steve. "Welcome to the Dark Continent of the Self: Thomas Wolfe and Autobiographical Desire." __Thomas Wolfe Review__ (2004). Ebsco. [|http://search.ebscohost.com]

The article "Welcome to the Dark Continent of the Self: Thomas Wolfe and Autobiographical Desire" by Steve Bordeau goes in depth into the nature of Wolfe's writing and characters, and discusses how Wolfe tries put events of his own life into his novels. This article discusses the autobiographical nature of several other novels, then goes into Wolfe's autobiographic prose. I will use this article to address one of the main facets of Wolfe's writing: his blurring of the line between fiction and nonfiction. I would recommend this article to other students because it deeply analyzes the importance of Wolfe's life in his literature.

Collins, Thomas Lyle. "Wolfe's Genius vs. His Critics." __The Enigma of Thomas Wolfe__. Eds. Richard Walser. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953. 161-178.

The critical essay book __The Enigma of Thomas Wolfe__ by. T.L. Collins contains over two dozen essays, including two by Wolfe himself, that address different facets of Wolfe's writing. The book is divided into three sections: the writer, the books, and the commentators. Each essay is written by a different expert, with each providing a different view on Wolfe's writings. The critical essays contained within provide me information on the symbolism, as well as intent of Wolfe's writing, which I will use for my wiki entry, and to find an important quote. I would recommend this book to anyone researching Wolfe and his writings, as it covers virtually every facet of his life the researcher would need.

Field, Leslie and Johnston, Carol. "Thomas Wolfe." __Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography, volume 1929-1941.__ Eds. Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. 372-390.

The encyclopedia __Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography, volume 1929-1941__ includes excellent information on the lives and inspirations of several American authors in the first half of the twentieth century. The table of contents includes the list of authors in alphabetical order, as well as a preface that tells how to use the encyclopedia. I will use the information in this source to obtain basic autobiographical information as well as a bit of critique on the novels. The entry is excellent to get basic information on Wolfe, but it doesn't go too in depth into the literary analysis of the novels. I recommend this to students to obtain biographical information not found in the literary critiques.

Roberts, Terry. "Resurrecting Thomas Wolfe." __Southern Literary Journal.__ (2000). Ebsco. [|http://search.ebscohost.com]

The article "Resurrecting Thomas Wolfe" by Terry Roberts contains excellent information on the nature of literary criticisms of Thomas Wolfe. The article then discusses the reasons critics use for going after Wolfe and his characters, often based off of himself. I plan to use the information to see why many critics have a negative view of Wolfe, and whether or not it is justified. I found this article quite interesting and informative, and it was engaging and well written. I would recommend this article to students looking for a portrayal of Wolfe as something other than "overblown" or "wordy".