One of the most enduring characters in Thomas Wolfe's fiction is Francis Starwick, the Midwestern aesthete who befriends Eugene Grant at Harvard in Wolfe's second autobiographical novel, Of Time and the River. Wolfe created Starwick in order to provide a foil for the artistic development of Eugene: Starwick was the pretentious, narrow-minded dilettante whose response to the arts is all talk and pose, as compared with Eugene, who hopes to express in writing his intensity of feeling about all aspects of life. While writing ...
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One of the most enduring characters in Thomas Wolfe's fiction is Francis Starwick, the Midwestern aesthete who befriends Eugene Grant at Harvard in Wolfe's second autobiographical novel, Of Time and the River. Wolfe created Starwick in order to provide a foil for the artistic development of Eugene: Starwick was the pretentious, narrow-minded dilettante whose response to the arts is all talk and pose, as compared with Eugene, who hopes to express in writing his intensity of feeling about all aspects of life. While writing the novel, however, Wolfe found his manuscript proliferating beyond his control, and he turned to his editor at Scribner's Maxwell Perkins, for help in shaping the final version of the book. In the process of organizing the massive manuscript for publication, Perkins deleted some of the analyses of Starwick's behavior and several of the episodes involving Eugene and Starwick. The result was that the relationship between the two young men was not as fully developed as Wolfe had originally planned. Richard S. Kennedy discovered these excised passages among the Wolfe papers at Harvard University's Houghton Library. In The Starwick Episodes has arranged them sequentially and indicated their position in the original manuscript. In one of them Starwick introduces Eugene to Joyce's Ulysses, and in another he takes him to view the paintings in Boston' Museum of Fine Arts. Additional scenes find the two exploring the lower depths of Paris until at length their true sexual natures are revealed in a visit to a Parisian brothel. Kennedy's research also uncovered the story of the life of Kenneth Raisbeck, the young man whom Wolfe used as the starting point for his fictional creation of Starwick. In his Introduction, Kennedy describes Raisbeck's career, both its brilliant promise and its tragic end, and his similarity to the character in the novel. The presence of Starwick in Of Time and the River is unforgettable despite the omission of some important scenes that Wolfe wrote for him. With the publication now of the deleted episodes, readers may gain an enriched sense of Wolfe's fascinating creation and a fuller understanding of what he was trying to convey.
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Add this copy of The Starwick Episodes to cart. $9.48, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1994 by LSU Press.
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Seller's Description:
Very good. 8vo, hardcover. No dj. Vg condition. Previous owner's name inside front cover. Covers and contents clean, unworn, no marking or writing. Binding sturdy, square and tight. 108 pp.
Add this copy of The Starwick Episodes (Southern Literary Studies) to cart. $11.62, good condition, Sold by BooksRun rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Philadelphia, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1994 by LSU Press.
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Seller's Description:
Near Fine. No Jacket (as issued) 10.5 x 8.1 x 0.9. Hardcover. Book Condition: Near Fine. Jacket Condition: No Jacket (as issued). Thomas Wolfe Society, 1989. 108 pages. Number 135 of 650 copies printed. Nice Firm Clean copy! Size: 10.5 x 8.1 x 0.9. Fiction Modern: General 6367.
Add this copy of The Starwick Episodes to cart. $13.00, like new condition, Sold by Second Life Books Inc. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lanesborough, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1989 by Louisiana State University.
Add this copy of The Starwick Episodes to cart. $13.00, very good condition, Sold by Second Life Books Inc. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lanesborough, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1989 by Louisiana State University.
Add this copy of The Starwick Episodes (Southern Literary Studies) to cart. $16.16, like new condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1994 by Louisiana State University Press.
