You Can't Go Home Again

Before you read "You Can't Go Home Again," make sure you have read "Look Homeward Angel." Wolfe's novels are essentially romanticized autobiographies, and although Eugene Gant and George Weber are not exactly the same character, they both represent the author struggling with incredible but unfocused talent, trying to find his home in a world that is inhospitable to his genius. If you are at all the creative type, these books will resonate profoundly. If not, you might find them a little contrived. If you are *Southern*, you absolutely *must* read these books. It's honestly difficult to do justice to Wolfe's poetry with a simple review, but I can say that no Southern author even approaches his writing ability, save Faulkner. These two books form the literary pillars of my creative ego; they are at once tragically self-conscious and fervently optimistic. It's such a shame that Wolfe died young as he did. A final note--before reading the chapters about the party in New York, look up the artists Alexander Calder and Joan Miró. You'll find that an otherwise hilarious scene is actually a scathing satire of contemporary art. If you at all share his sentiments, you'll have trouble staying in your chair.

Wolfe weaves, very deliberately, in and out of images and situations from his own lost generation in this, his last novel, largely autobiographical. He was the most lyrical writer of his time, this book no exception, and although at times it's obvious he struggled with structure, Wolfe gives the reader the unique ability to truly understand each of his characters as multi-dimensional and on numerous levels. There's a bit of George Weber in all of us, searching for something we know we've either lost or never found, times when we feel alone, and the world is so large. If you've ever read Fitzgerald, you will enjoy this novel, and even if you haven't, you should. It's a timeless classic, with a theme so prevaliant in literature and society even today, and stated so clearly in the title.

I've been reading these other reviews and I've come to the conclusion that most of these folks just don't GET Wolfe. They keep talking about this being "wordy" and "drawn-out". Hello..Thomas Wolfe could write three pages about a man staring out of a window and have me in tears, contemplating the meaning of life. He's rarely about the story. He's always about the beauty of the moment. For sheer power of description and fearless romantic vision no one has come close to Thomas Wolfe.No one moves me like he does.